Add features to export

[wpmuguru]

The attached path will add optional date range, post category, content type & post status to the export function.

[wpmuguru]

export patch

[janeforshort]

Moving to 2.9 since this is a new feature, not just an enhancement and should be in a full release, not a point release (which generally fix bugs and security issues).

[dd32]

attachment export.diff added

• I'd like to see the use of and replaces with &&
• I'm not sure subselects are supported by WP's minimum MySQL version yet.. But it will in time.

I think a better exporter is needed by WordPress, and this is a start.

See Also: #10476

[wpmuguru]

The ​nested queries are supported by MySQL versions 3.23 and newer.

[dd32]

The nested queries are supported by MySQL versions 3.23 and newer.

That link (And my memory) say its 4.1+, WordPress still requires MySQL 4.0+ - ​http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-includes/wp-db.php#L1021

I do believe there is already something else using subselects (Taxonomy under very very certain case which would only ever be triggered by a certain use by a plugin), And that has raised the idea of requiring MySQL 4.1+ for WordPress 2.9.. So it might not be a point to care about right now.

[wpmuguru]

I could modify the patch to check mysql version and remove the category select on 4.0.

[wpmuguru]

checks for nested query support

[scribu]

WordPress 2.9 officially requires MySQL 4.1, so export.diff should do.

[westi]

As 2.9 is pretty much feature frozen now I am going to move this to the 3.0 milestone for consideration next time round.

[janeforshort]

Have asked lead devs to review this one to decide on inclusion before we hit freeze.

[westi]

This patch looks generally sound.

Doesn't apply fully at the moment so needs a little merge love.

Will commit soon once I have a working test install to check it out on.

[WraithKenny]

Would it be hard to add custom Nav Menu data in the export while refreshing the patch? (enhancement request for 3.0)

[jshreve]

westi:

I couldn't get it to apply either because of some minor changes made to wp-admin/includes/export.php since the time the patch was written. export3 applies cleanly against revision r13420.

Once I got it running I tried out wpmuguru's changes. It adds some nice options to make the export tool better. I had no problems with it in my test so +1 here

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

the current patch isn't custom post type friendly, but it would be a good first step if we want to go this path.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

also, the pending status is missing.

[wpmuguru]

Downloaded the patch. If I have time tonight I'll give it a run.

[wpmuguru]

(In [13573]) add features to export, see #10317

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

#12501

[nacin]

#12501 closed as a duplicate.

[dd32]

After [13573] what other changes are needed here for 3.0?

[nacin]

Replying to dd32:

After [13573] what other changes are needed here for 3.0?

Use the API to retrieve public post types, taxonomies, and registered post statuses.

[nacin]

Untested. Whole feature needs urgent massaging to bring it up to par.

[nacin]

I've posted a new patch here that needs some testing and probably serious massaging. Anyone up for it?

It attempts to leverage the post types, taxonomies and stati API as much as possible, though that may require a new export flag or something (for cases when 'all' is selected), as I don't think we'd want to show "Trash" or "Menu Item" in the drop-downs, or as it is now, not show them and then export them when "All" is left selected.

Anyway, could use someone to pick this up and run with it.

[nacin]

I'm checking in a small part of this patch, an enhancement for the authors drop-down.

Currently, it loops through a distinct array of post author ids, calling get_userdata on each one (thus a new query for each if the user isn't cached), when all it needs is the user ID and the display name.

Commit changes it to a single query joining posts and users, which also provides the added benefit of an alpha sort on the display name, versus an order based on their first appearance in the posts table.

[nacin]

(In [14153]) Optimize the Authors drop-down in export.php. Makes it one query, also orders authors by display name. see #10317.

[blepoxp]

First revision of nacin's latest diff - more will be needed.

[blepoxp]

I downloaded nacins diff and brought it up to latest revision of trunk, fixed several errors (his was untested) that happened on export. At this point XML file gets created successfully w/o any errors. I had a custom taxonomy defined with several posts added to two different terms in that taxonomy.

At this point, on import to a different blog running same version of trunk, the custom taxonomy and terms are imported, but the posts are not successfully associated with them.

Additionally, we'll probably need to think through error situations and prevent export, show notice. One instance I know of is it currently allows you to select an export with november 2009 as start and february 2009 as end. There are probably more as well.

I'll look into why its associating posts with custom taxonomies on input. Let me know if you see anything else.

[nacin]

Thanks for this!

At first I thought about using wp_list_archives() to spit out a drop-down by month/year combos, but it was too much to hack to do so, so I left it as is. I would much prefer two drop-downs indicating a start and an end (less need for poka yoke), and it shouldn't be too difficult to do probably by starting with code in wp_list_archives().

Also, I added ux-feedback here for two reasons -- one, the UI (such as date limiting), and two, things like how we want to handle private statuses and post types (see my above comment for more).

[blepoxp]

Still hunting down the reason posts aren't associated with their custom taxonomies. I think the loop isn't printing custom taxonomy elements for each post on export (although it does in the taxonomies block).

Also, I noticed that the export is grabbing auto drafts, menu items, and menu taxonomies. It seems like we should either exclude them or add GUI options to the export screen. Thoughts?

[nacin]

Also, I noticed that the export is grabbing auto drafts, menu items, and menu taxonomies. It seems like we should either exclude them or add GUI options to the export screen. Thoughts?

I thus like the idea of an export flag for post types, taxonomies, and post stati. I imagine it should default to the value of the public flag for PTs and tax. (That however would not export revisions by default, so those would need export=>true manually.) For stati, export should probably be true when internal=>false.

[blepoxp]

Sound's good. What about menu items?

Also, I think I've narrowed the association problem to the /wp-admin/import/wordpress.php script.

Lines 445-461 do some regex parsing to grab all the tags and categories associated with that post. There is nothing there to grab custom taxonomies.

Additionally, lines 515-558 then add the post to the above captured tags/cats... there is not addition of the custom taxonomies (which haven't been captured anyway) in this block.

RegEx is my weakest link and I'm about done for the day. If anyone wants to take a look at that, feel free to go for it. Otherwise, I'll check in tomorrow.

[nacin]

Let's just stick to the export. As long as the export is solid, the importer can be improved separately. (That might be something we can do during the code sprint, if this is solid by then.)

Menu items are a post type, so those would be set to export=>false manually.

[blepoxp]

Improved dropdowns for start and end dates

[blepoxp]

The above patch modifies the dropdowns for start_date and end_date. Right direction? Still need to add validation.

[wpmuguru]

(In [14441]) add export property to post types, see #10317

[wpmuguru]

(In [14444]) export improvements, props blepoxp, see #10317

[johnonolan]

Possible to add screenshots for UI/UX feedback, or note whether it's something that definitely required applying the patch to test? I can apply patches, but I'm not particularly quick or good at it so if screenshots are possible then this would be a massive help!

[blepoxp]

It's in trunk so no need to patch technically. If you don't have trunk though, you can check out this 3 minute screencast: ​http://screenr.com/PtC

[johnonolan]

Replying to blepoxp:

It's in trunk so no need to patch technically. If you don't have trunk though, you can check out this 3 minute screencast: ​http://screenr.com/PtC

Ah sorry, total brainmelt, I didn't even notice the changesets or I would've just take a look at trunk! I think this looks fine from a UI/UX point of view, no complaints.

[michaelh]

Change to $monthyears to include all post_types and stati and return in ASC order

[wpmuguru]

(In [14506]) include dates from all post types/stati. props michaelh, see #10317

[wpmuguru]

(In [14509]) make end month in export inclusive, see #10317

[ryan]

Anything else to do here for 3.0?

[nacin]

Nope, I think it just needs some testing. We can highlight that further in the RC.

In the end, it's a huge improvement. If there's a bug in how perhaps two options clash, we'll get it.

[nacin]

(In [14794]) Less clunky export UI. see #10317

[demetris]

@nacin: Thanks. That part is much better now.

I was working on it earlier today but did not got around to submitting the patch.

My changes were about the same as yours. I also added a short explanation, which I am attaching now for consideration. (I am not absolutely certain an explanation is necessary there, but I thought I would just add one to see how it looked.)

[demetris]

Short explanation for the filters section

[nacin]

:-)

This ticket is already marked for ux-feedback, but I think it's clear without the explanation at this point.