The migrate module <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><a href="http://drupal.org/project/migrate">http://drupal.org/project/migrate</a> was designed for this kind of problem and is a joy to work with. Depends on a few other modules, but one of the end results is that if you can get it onto a MySql database, you can work to get views going with it! Etc. etc.<div>
<br></div><div>Victor Kane</div><div><a href="http://awebfactory.com.ar">http://awebfactory.com.ar</a><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2010/11/17 Alfonso Montero López <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:amontero@tinet.org">amontero@tinet.org</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Hi listers.<br>
<br>
I have recently got in charge of a non-Drupal website and I need some<br>
advice in approaching an issue.<br>
The site is about listing learning centers along their training<br>
courses and allowing users to request more info by filling a form. No<br>
big deal here. You fill the form, data gets dumped into a table and<br>
the webmaster (me) receives a mail.<br>
All the subsequent workflow is done more or less manually on the table<br>
that gets the information requests. However, it's a custom coded PHP<br>
site and expanding or trying to automate the workflow any further<br>
seems not worth the investment as in its current state, it's kind of a<br>
mess. I think it's a good Drupal candidate.<br>
The problem is that the website cannot be replaced quickly enough<br>
because of its design and look that I'm not able to translate to<br>
Drupal. By now, no budget will be allocated to theming and<br>
consequently I can't port it to Drupal. Since Drupal still has to<br>
prove its worth in the eyes of decision makers. A site rebuild with<br>
Drupal from scratch is not [now] an option, since management thinks<br>
"hey! we've invested >6 mo and blahblahblah". I would like to shift<br>
this by creating an extranet to show what can be done and get some<br>
serious attention upstairs :)<br>
<br>
What I'm figuring out how to accomplish is to create a<br>
non-public-facing extranet for the learning centers built with Drupal,<br>
so I can use nodes to get info requests, route them according my<br>
workflow and do all the fancy stuff that Drupal can do with rules,<br>
views, etc. This extranet would be used initially by us and later by<br>
our customers (the learning centers) and not by site visitors, they<br>
should only fill the form in the website exactly as they're doing now.<br>
The missing gap is in how to move data from the custom app table to<br>
Drupal. Thus, I'll be able to do automatic mails, route leads from one<br>
user/departments to another, do reports with views, etc.<br>
<br>
So, here I am thinking in how to approach this one the right way. I've<br>
thought in installing a Drupal alongside the current website, so I can<br>
access the site's MySQL DB from Drupal and someway and import the<br>
records periodically into nodes, but for hosting limitations, it's not<br>
possible now.<br>
<br>
The solutions I found are these:<br>
*Connecting remotely to MySQL via port 3306 and load new leads. Has<br>
firewall issues and may not be supported by all hostings all the time.<br>
Also, seems to require quite some programming effort and still have to<br>
test Data module capabilities. As long as I can see, data will not be<br>
nodes, so I will lose all future workflow, rules, etc. capabilities,<br>
right?<br>
*Create a [password-protected] RSS feed script for the source site and<br>
fetch the leads from it to the Drupal extranet via FeedAPI and alikes.<br>
By now, it's the most elegant solution I've found. I assume that<br>
FeedAPI won't have problems if I periodically empty the source site<br>
leads table and it will gracefully catch up.<br>
*(All and every single alternatives are welcome here)<br>
<br>
Obviously, when the extranet is finished and working, I plan to move<br>
all to a fully Drupal site and make it hit the front page.<br>
BTW, planning to do it in D6.x.<br>
<br>
So, previous experiences and caveats will be very welcomed. I'm sure<br>
awesome ideas from the listers here will come up. I learnt a lot by<br>
lurking here and in devel during 3 years.<br>
Thanks in advance.<br>
<br>
Alfonso.<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
consulting mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:consulting@drupal.org">consulting@drupal.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting" target="_blank">http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting</a><br>
</blockquote></div><br></div>