[Coco] Archive volunteers?
Roger Taylor
operator at coco3.com
Sat Sep 12 02:47:21 EDT 2009
Because there are so many messages to round up, I'm asking for the
help of others in this project and have included the required XML
format for those interested.
The following shows a sample XML file that would import 2 posts. 1
of the posts has 2 comments attached. It's rather simple.
A post is inside of the <item> element. Comments to an <item>(post)
are inside of that <item> element but use a slightly different
format. You can see the date format required and other basic
information for each post or comment. Basically, the post text goes
inside of the [CDATA[.....]] tag. HTML is allowed, with all
characters output as-is, including carriage returns. I think the
only character that might need to be encoded is the [ or ]
character? < and > are to be output as-is. Some of the HTML
characters (special) like Non-breakable space is to be output as
&nbps; etc. so Special characters are to be output in the Special
character format.
For all-text messages like from a mailing list or old Compuserve
archive, etc. would go inside of the [CDATA[]] tags as such:
[CDATA[Hello guys,
This is a message with natural carriage returns.
This is a separate line.
However, an HTML line break is to be stored as a <br> since it's HTML.<br>]]
The author nickname should always be "admin" for these types of
imports because no nicknames from the old archives will be used or
linked to existing coco3.com accounts. In other words, no past
messages will be hijacked in this fashion because it would allow
further editing or deleting by the user linked to those posts. My
own CoCo Forums from 2004-2009 *are* being linked to existing users
because the messages are coco3.com user messages already.
Once a script is written to take a text file and parse it to obtain
the post date, author's name, content, the author's name can be added
to the post as a tagline for reference but no actual e-mail address
will be shown for obvious privacy reasons. Nothing private needs to
be exposed, although all these old posts clearly show the author's
e-mail address most of the time. I wouldn't complain if the e-mail
is broken down as "somebody at somedomain.com" and attached to the
tagline info, but that is up to the person doing the translation, I guess.
The category tag should really be based on the Domain and Category to
be separated on coco3.com later. Like Compuserve CoCo forum, or
Compuserve OS-9 forum, Delphi CoCo Games, etc. Just use the whole
string as the category name, and then the "nice name" should be the
same string with dashes - for the spaces. I'll import each of these
category files separately and sort them to keep things from all being
in one root category.
If you make a goof on that, I can always find/replace some of the
strings, so it's no big deal on that.
So far I see the Compuserve, Delphi, and maltedmedia archives
(possibly the Princeton archives, but where are they?) makes 4 major
archives that need to be preserved in modern format for easy
browsing, searching, and reading.
For the first person to offer a working import of any given archive,
I will give what products I can from my stash of goodies. Namely, a
CoCo mug, Super CoCo Archive DVD, EPROM Pak board, Rainbow IDE
registration, and registered copies of Jeweled and Mary ATB
games. Basically everything except the RS-232 Pak which is nearing
an end of production (pending decision).
Lothan did the hardest work so far by working with an SQL database
for the forums and it took him a few days to generate a working
import file, so I feel that processing text-based archives won't be
nearly as hard, but we'll see.
Any takers? This will allow me to catch up on past due coco3.com
orders before people start coming after me. I'm struggling to catch
up while also deeply involved in this archive project, but I know
which chores I have to do first. Thanks ahead of time for any help
at all getting our past history brought into a format which "can't die".
Long Live The CoCo.
Roger Taylor
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
xmlns:excerpt="http://wordpress.org/export/1.0/excerpt/"
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
xmlns:wp="http://wordpress.org/export/1.0/">
<channel>
<title>The TRS-80/Tandy Color Computer SuperSite</title>
<link>http://www.coco3.com/community</link>
<description>Home of the CoCo Community</description>
<pubDate>2009-09-08 23:56:31</pubDate>
<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4</generator>
<language>en</language>
<wp:wxr_version>1.0</wp:wxr_version>
<wp:base_site_url>http://www.coco3.com/community</wp:base_site_url>
<wp:base_blog_url>http://www3.coco3.com/community</wp:base_blog_url>
<item>
<category><![CDATA[Compuserve]]></category>
<category domain="category"
nicename="compuserve"><![CDATA[CoCo Forum]]></category>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[cocotower]]></dc:creator>
<title><![CDATA[Welcome to the forums]]></title>
<pubDate>2004-04-12 17:15:04</pubDate>
<wp:status>publish</wp:status>
<wp:post_date>2004-04-12 17:15:04</wp:post_date>
<wp:post_date_gmt>2004-04-12
21:15:04</wp:post_date_gmt>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Hello
CoCoNuts,<br><br>I hope you enjoy the forums that were recently added
to the site.<br><br>If there is anything you would like to know about
the Tandy Color Computer or how to emulate one on your PC, just post
your questions here.]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<category><![CDATA[Compuserve]]></category>
<category domain="category"
nicename="compuserve"><![CDATA[CoCo Forum]]></category>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[cocotower]]></dc:creator>
<title><![CDATA[SuperIDE from Cloud-9]]></title>
<pubDate>2004-04-22 04:23:52</pubDate>
<wp:status>publish</wp:status>
<wp:post_date>2004-04-22 04:23:52</wp:post_date>
<wp:post_date_gmt>2004-04-22
08:23:52</wp:post_date_gmt>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Has anyone ordered
the SuperIDE Interface from Cloud-9?<br><br>I am wondering if anyone
has had a chance to experiment with it enough to share some of your
project ideas, etc.<br><br><img
src='http://www.coco3.com/img/SuperIDE_b.gif' border='0' alt='user
posted image' />]]></content:encoded>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[admin]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email />
<wp:comment_author_url />
<wp:comment_author_IP>24.35.123.116</wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date>2004-12-30
04:33:48</wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt>2004-12-30
09:33:48</wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I just
ordered one. He is building it now, so I guess I'll have it sometime
in January. Have you tried his SCSI card? Works really
well!<br>]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved>1</wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type />
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[admin]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email />
<wp:comment_author_url />
<wp:comment_author_IP>24.217.64.203</wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date>2004-12-30
12:54:34</wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt>2004-12-30
17:54:34</wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Wow...
That's quite a BUMP! there...<br><br>BTW, which interface did you
order? The one with the clock or without? Once you get it, could you
tell us if it's worth the money?<br><br>-M.<br>]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved>1</wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type />
</wp:comment>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
--
~ signature section for all e-mails-
~ While I have seen Many annoying taglines over the years, I've never
really complained, but here's mine:
~ Roger Taylor
~ http://www.americafedup.com
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