Converting ning urls to JR urls question...

I remember reading a couple of months ago somewhere here- about some function by which URLs within our imported Ning content can be converted from Ning urls to their new JR counterparts...so that members on our new JR site don't get taken to thousands of clicked-on dead ning links once we cancel our Ning networks. Am I remembering this correctly as being possible?

Is this something that gets done automatically when we import of Ning archive in order to go live to JR, or do we site owners have to perform specific actions to make it happen? Anything need to be done or installed beforehand regarding this particular function?
Also- Is this done AFTER the Ning archive is imported and in place, or Before? (Or maybe even during?)

Thanks for any enlightening.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 04/29/15 11:44:10AM

You will want to install the URL Mapper module:

https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/networkmarket/179/url-mapper

you'll need to then manually add in the URL forwarding i.e.

/old-ning-url -> /new-jamroom-url

Let me know if that helps.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

You mean I have to paste in each URL manually one at a time? =8-*
Ok so this is done AFTER my final ning import, continuing after I go live, and doing it 'over time' then I guess...?

Will the 'new JR url' tend to be the same except for the ning/JR part of the url? I mean, if the ning link is dead, then one would assume there IS no corresponding JR url then yet. ?

Realistically, on an active older ning site there are likely to be hundreds or thousands of such urls to be re-mapped after the fact then, correct? Tell it to me straight, I can take it.


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Oh wait- does this module work by remapping whole categories of content urls, rather than individual urls?


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

How would the module "know" what your old URLs are? And what you wanted them mapped to?


Yep.


If your domain is the same then yes. For example if you had the domain "jrtest.com" mapped to a Ning site and had a URL like:

jrtest.com/latest-cool-videos

then you could map that URL on your jamroom site - i.e.

jrtest.com/latest-cool-videos -> jrtest.com/videos


I don't know - it depends on the URL structure of the site. In your case it looks like you are changing domains as well, so I don't think you would even need this module (or maybe I am not see what you would use it for).

Let me know if that helps.


--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net
updated by @brian: 03/29/15 12:25:10PM

"I don't know - it depends on the URL structure of the site. In your case it looks like you are changing domains as well, so I don't think you would even need this module (or maybe I am not see what you would use it for)."

Yes I am changing domains. Are you saying then that I will just have to live with whatever defunct ning URLS are lurking in my site?
Let me just get this straight- For example, if a year ago someone in a forum post or in a Group discussion on the ning site inserted a hotlink to their new video they uploaded, or to their ning profile page. It would just lead to a dead end, right? And someone else from two years ago on Ning posting a link to one of the ning site Groups suggesting someone to go join...that link would now be defunct too, right?
No 'instant gratification buttons', huh? Especially since I chagned domain names.. sigh...


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

So... are you saying with that module I cannot use it with two domains for converting urls, like this way:

musicfriends.com/latest-cool-videos -> musiccrazies.com/videos


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

You can, but both "musicfriends.com" and "musiccrazies.com" would both have to be Jamroom sites.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

Yes - unless you map your EXISTING ning domain to a Jamroom site. Otherwise how is Jamroom going to "know" when a request comes in on your old domain?


Yes - IF you are on a different domain.


The only way you can do this is if:

- you setup a Jamroom site on the OLD domain with the URL Mapper
- AND redirect these "old" URLs to your NEW domain

Let me know if that makes sense.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

And to add it would be easier just to:

- host the old domain on Jamroom Hosting
- have us setup a special .htaccess rule to redirect ALL incoming requests on the old domain to the NEW domain.

That's cleaner and doesn't require a second JR install - BUT we do have to have access to the old domain.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

I see. So this wouldn't work for my ning URL of: http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/ because it would need to have the "ning.com" part of the url and that belongs to ning. Correct?

Kinda sounds like more trouble than it's worth overall. Over time, there would tend to be fewer people clicking to older links and older content anyway.

Is it true though?- that if I come across any really important instances of defunct URLS that i 'could' go into the database manually and edit those links 'if' I had the content on a new url and could edit the link from within? Or simply remove the link if it were causing repeated frustrations?

I sure appreciate your explanations.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Exactly - you don't own ning.com so cannot "control" where the mountaindulcimer sub domain gets routed to.


Not if they are on the mountaindulcimer.ning.com domain - you cannot do anything with routing or URLs on that domain.

However, you can use the URL Mapper to map any URL to another URL that you want - that's up to you. But that's why I indicated earlier this would likely not be something that is going to really help you. Unfortunately (and it is just the way it is) you built your existing community on a domain you don't control. Ning loves this because this provides a significant "lock in" for them as they know that if you leave you're going to lose the URL.

Let me know if that helps.


--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

I actually still have the ability to switch or route my live ning site to point to my own dedicated domain- Ning offers that ability I believe through some setup they have. Soaring would know more about this. BUT at this stage of the game I don't think I really even WANT to bother with all that. And that plan may not continue working anyway once I shut my ning site down.
Happily, members tend to interact more with new content that is newly posted anyway. And all my vids and music audios and photos and stuff will be working...members will be focused on new content most of the time.
These dead links will come up periodically though, as members navigate the site and come upon older posts and content. I'm sure my members will be understanding however...they are good folks.

Brian when i said: "Is it true though?- that if I come across any really important instances of defunct URLS that i 'could' go into the database manually and edit those links 'if' I had the content on a new url and could edit the link from within? Or simply remove the link if it were causing repeated frustrations?"...
---I meant IF i had the content on a new url on a website of my own other than Ning...or if I wanted to delete the dead link altogether from an old post in my JR site I could do that through the database, rightI know I cannot reroute from a ____.ning.com url to a JR url.

Yes, ning sux in general. Used to be awesome for what it was, but now it just bites. l o l


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Did you try the URL tool that Paul made thats in Ning Tools?

Oh, I hadn't seen that, Curtis- interesting.
I'm not sure I understand exactly how it would be used though. I'm afraid the instructions are not turning on any lightbulbs for me. I feel dense today, didn't get enough sleep last night. :-\

This function changes the base url for imported text strings that reference files in the Ning Archive. Use this tool if you have moved your imported Ning site to a new domain or a new folder.
Current URL:
Enter the URL to search for
New URL:
Enter the URL to replace it with

I don't suppose someone could give a specific example of how I would use the tool...?


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Enter the url you are using now- and enter the url you want to search for to replace

'The url I'm using now'...you mean on my ning site? Or do you mean the JR url after I go live?

Not sure what you mean by 'the url I want to search for'. Sorry, I'm just not getting the descriptives. You're pretty much saying the same thing as the JR instructions, which I'm just not understanding.

Curtis can you describe an example, please? (I'm still on my ning site which has a ___.ning.com domain...and I now have a new ___.com domain for my jr site)




--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 03/29/15 04:55:33PM

The "current Url is the url you want to change- this is what its going to search for
New Url is the url you wish it to be

like

myoldsite.com
mynewsite.com

At least thats how I used it..

if you used {$Jamroom_URL} in place of http://www.mysite.com/image then you wont have to change image urls

If you didn then you will need to go through and replace myoldsite.com/images with {$Jamroom_URL}/images

not sure if you knew this- I found out the hard way ahd to change a dozen or so image urls

Ok I 'think' I get what you are saying. At least i know which is which in the old vs. new URL instructions(!). Thanks for pointing this tool out to me Curtis- I'm sure it's going to come in handy after I go live.
So if I'm understanding this correctly, Paul's tool does not actually need to go to the ning site at all...instead, it's just a tool to search and change URLs that are posted already on your JR site....and changes them within your JR site.

An example (and correct me if I'm wrong) would be:
I've migrated and gone live and shut down my ning site. Members ask why when they click on a hotlink to my profile site that someone posted in an older forum post, they get a page not found. The hotlink is actually pointing to my old ning profile page URL. So I type in that ning url into the tool, and then under it I type in my correct current JR profile page URL. The tool then searches for all the instances of that bad url on my JR site and changes them all to the new URL for me, in old posts etc?
Does this tool actually work that way? That's be fabulous if so!

That's kind of what I thought the URL Mapper Module was, but maybe Paul's tool works better for someone in my scenario...?


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

There are two different things being discussed here.

The URL Mapper module is for when you have migrated from Ning but are using the same domain. Ie. if http://mydomain.com did point to your Ning site but now points to your Jamroom site. It re-maps domain folders so if, say, on Ning your page that lists all groups was http://mysite.com/groups but on Jamroom it is now http://mysite.com/group it can handle that and any search engine or external links to http://mysite.com/groups will find their way to the Jamroom site.

The tool in the Ning Import module is used if you subsequently change the Jamroom site's domain after the import. Ie. if you imported to http://mydomain.com/ImportedNingSite then moved it up http://mydomain.com all the absolute references in the imported text/comment fields etc. would need to be changed so embedded images still work. This is what that tool is for.
hth


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

So Paul...is my description of how I might use your Ning Import Tool that I wrote in my post above your post accurate? Or am I not understanding it still?

Will this tool be handy for me after I do my Go Live import from myningsitename.ning.com to my JR site at myothernamesite.com ?

...and I guess I can just delete the URL Mapper module since I'm changing domain names anyway, right?


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Sort of - See my post above for what it actually does.
You should not need to use this tool at all as you are importing directly to http://myothernamesite.com and the NingImport module takes care of this during the import.
Its only needed if you subsequently change the domain.


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Honestly?- well then I guess I shouldn't worry about this dead link issue then?
That would be a relief!

Hey Paul Mr.ImportMan...while I have your attention- the last test ning import I did was around december. Do I recall that improvements in the Ning import tool were made that now removes all the true duplicate images and files that bloat our Ning archives so much? See my screenshot of a typical folder of ning archive contents- a Groups folder that has many many duplicate images with only differing file numbers...I know that most of these images were not used twice in my ning site.
-The JR ningimport module now sheds these unreferenced duplicates during import, correct?
-And, the new Import tool enables us to actually delete the Ning_Archive folder when all is said and done, correct?


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 03/29/15 07:31:59PM

There may well be the same images with different file names in the archive and the importer has no way of knowing about these. However the latest import module does make the most efficient use of the archive that it can. When you come to the 'final import' I'd reset 'resetting' your site (keeping all your work, of course) and doing a full import of the latest archive. Let me know when you are ready for this and I'll help.


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Yes thank you Paul, a complete overwrite/re-import will definitely be the best choice.
It won't be long now! That's why I'll be asking lots of questions now that have to do with going live. And yes, I hope to have your help for the actual scary blast-off...thank you!


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015