Thread Starter
pearcy
(@pearcy)
I am creating a movie database and would like to import all fields including images, if that is possible.
There seems to be a few plugins out there that help with importing data but I haven’t seen any that will handle mass text & image imports (movies poster image files).
I will have about 2,000 movies to list.
As a developer, I get asked to to quote this type of project about once every two weeks — I should have a canned response ready for this. In any application, however, importing/exporting is a tricky operation that is always more complicated than one would think, so I only get hired to actually write such a script about once per year (!). A 2-dimensional CSV or other flat-file is simply not a good vehicle for transporting multi-dimensional relational data from a database. Add references to external assets like images, and you’ve got yourself a complex and pricey project indeed.
Furthermore, the WP table architecture is poorly conceived for this type of usage in the first place — in other words, if your’e serious about efficiently storing your data, then there are better apps out there.
It’s possible I’ll write a tool like this for the pro version of the plugin, but it’s a tall order since nearly every case is unique (they all require custom tweaks), but for now, unfortunately, mass import is not possible.
Thread Starter
pearcy
(@pearcy)
Thank you for the detailed response. It is much appreciated.
I did find two import tools: WP All Import & WP Importer.
http://www.wpallimport.com/
I know these aren’t your tools but they claim to work with your CTM. Any feedback on these. I realize that you said that this is complex and the structure of the WP database is not ideal for this but I don’t have many other options.
I can live with 400 movie titles and could upload the images individually.
What you say makes sense. I am just wondering if this is a “fail” or if it’s more of a case of not functioning optimally (slower performance, manual upload of some of the data, etc).
I would like to discuss importing/exporting options (I will also need to supply a feed to a sister site). Is this the best way to reach you via this form?
http://tipsfor.us/contact/
I’m unfamiliar with WP All Import or WP Importer, so I can’t vouch for their viability.
When import operations fail, it’s usually not immediately obvious… that’s one reason why they are tricky. You might think you got everything and then 3 months later you realize some critical link or bit of data is AWOL, so in a good import script, a significant portion is devoted to verifying the import.
The gotcha with the CCTM comes with “repeatable fields” — you can put yourself to sleep reading the longwinded discussion on it: https://code.google.com/p/wordpress-custom-content-type-manager/wiki/CustomFieldsDataStructure but in a nutshell, the structure I opted for gets you paginated result-sets and optimized database queries, but it could poise unexpected hurdles for any 3rd party import tool. If your data does not use any “repeated fields”, then the task becomes much simpler and 3rd party tools become more viable. If that works for your project, then that’s great — it would represent the simplest and cheapest option. If not, then you can use the contact form above and the message should get to me.
