5  Import

The archive list shows the available archives and the operations that can be done on each.

When overwriting a site, the current master manager's details are added so that they can log in immediately after. Any similar user from the source archive will have a _ added after their user ID.

Not all elements undergo the same processing.

Only one element is selected for import, and any descendant elements will be imported along with it unless excluded. Elements like files or users are self-contained, so they will be imported by themselves. Most of the other elements can use files, so any that are duplicates of those already in the current site can be excluded, though there are advantages to temporarily keeping them. Similar with elements owned by subsites or categories which might also be excluded. After any exclusions, categories and articles must have their new owner in the current site selected.

 Element Subsite 👇👇I3✔Category 👇👇I👇✔Article 👇👇I👇✔File 👇VI3✔User 👇VI3✔Phase Select the
import
elementSelected
elementImportSelect the
ownerDone👇I3IVLegend:SelectImport ☐ImportView only 

An element in the archive has to be selected.

Drill down to select the one element to be imported. 𝝙 indicates an element that will be renamed to prevent duplicates. Subsites and categories can use files, indicated by a + after the number of categories or articles respectively.

Some elements allow their descendants to be excluded from the import.

Click on each element to exclude. Click again to re-include. Files listed under subsites, categories or articles are a link to their entry under Files, which can be clicked on to exclude them. If JavaScript is enabled (default) in the browser, the file list will be expanded to show the file. For each file, there is a list of which elements use it, so check that to make sure that the file will not be needed.

Categories and articles are only ever owned by one element, but files may be pointed to by several, which means that care must be taken to not exclude files that might be used by multiple imported elements, even if they result in duplicates. The duplicates can always be deleted after all the new elements that point to them are repointed to the existing file versions. Doing it this way, rather than risking dead pointers by aggressive exclusioning will allow the site to maintain its operational and visual integrity without having to rush to fix up anomalies.

After the highlighted ID of the selected category or article, clicking the Import button allows its new owner to be selected.

After the highlighted ID of the selected subsite, file or user, clicking the Import checkbox, then the new Import checkbox, then the new Confirm button imports the element and any included descendants.

Clicking the Deselect button in the navigation bar re-presents the Select import element drill-down list.

For a selected article or category, the new owner element must be selected.

For a selected article or category, there is no way to automatically know where they will need to be imported to, so its new owner in the current site must be clicked on. Drill down to find it. After selection, another element can be selected from the archive for import.

All the elements to be imported are listed, including any changes to prevent duplicate identifiers.

After selection or modification, the list always includes all elements to be included in the import, along with any changes to identifiers that will be made.

All the elements that were imported are listed as jumps to their respective pages.

The list will be available until the archive is deleted or another element to import has been selected. It provides the status of all elements imported, even if renamed or deleted, so it can be used to keep track of what has happed to the elements since importation. A list is retained for each archive used to import from, so if wanting to import more elements, while still wanting to keep track of the previously imported elements, use another archive.

The relationships between the elements of site can be complex, so importing other elements into a site may create conflicts if not prevented.

Imported elements might have the same names as existing elements, and they will be suffixed with numerals. These will be documented in the list of elements to be imported, and will need to be renamed to something ending less cryptically. The selected element will be hidden or disabled when imported. Descendant categories or articles of them will have their original show status, but will be effectively hidden by the selected element's status. Dependent files will be enabled.

The relationships between elements are maintained by unique date-based identifiers which are normally invisible, but may need to be automatically changed to prevent inadvertent conflicts when elements are imported. These are itemised in the Import elements list. Subsites, files and users are automatically added to the existing site's host elements, while categories and articles will need to be pointed to their new owning element, even though internally they are added to their type's host element, otherwise they would be hidden from discovery.

Descendent elements of the element to import will still point to it, even if their internal identifiers have to be changed to prevent duplicates. If some of those descendants were excluded because there were already versions of them in the existing site, some links in the elements that were imported may have to be manually re-pointed to those existing elements. Files are pointed down to in a uses type of relationship, whereas articles and categories point up to an owning element in a belongs-to type of relationship.

While every imported element will have a home in the existing site that allows them to be drilled down to, specifying exclusions will usually require a review of the resulting structure to make sure there are no gaps or dead links. Importing missing elements later will not restore any relationships they had to other elements in the archive they were imported from, so those relationships will have to be recreated. It is better to import potential duplicates so that relationships are maintained than try remembering what they were, and then repoint them and delete any orphan elements afterwards.