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Newbie - Importing Links

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Newbie - Importing Links
Hello. I hate to post a new question about this, but I couldn't find an answer via search. I purchased Links SQL back in October, but I've been too scared to switch over from Links Ext.

I am running Links Ext at http://www.indylinks.com/. I've got about 2,000 links and I'm looking to add at least another 3,000. I'm adding the links myself for now, hoping to attract members by being the largest link database in Indianapolis.

I've been using Links Ext. and it is working pretty well and I've gotten good support. I've had some problems though with the control panel add link function . . . and that's not good for customer service. Plus, I understand that the bigger your database the better to use SQL.

(Yes I did buy Links 2.0, then Links Ext., then Links SQL.)

I've had some luck MANUALLY adding links to the links.db file under Links Ext. There is no way I could have gotten 2,000 links added and categorized through the admin interface (I've posted previously about this issue.)

Here is my question. I noticed while surfing around the Links SQL admin area, that there is a link for MySQLman which has a link for Tables which has a link called "browse". Under that link there is an option to IMPORT.

I realize it is risky to manually edit the database, so I'm wondering if I could "append" or "import" a flatfile to get the links into Links SQL. I'm probably going to want to add a least 100 links a week for awhile.

If you can use MySQLman for this purpose, would any of you recommend a book about MySQL that I could purchase?

Sorry about the long message . . . I've been really worrying about this.

What do the rest of you do? Do you add links one by one through the admin panel?

Best regards and thanks for helping. April
A. Lougheed
IndyLinks.com
webmaster@indylinks.com
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Re: [aprillougheed] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
Quote:
I've had some luck MANUALLY adding links to the links.db file under Links Ext. There is no way I could have gotten 2,000 links added and categorized through the admin interface (I've posted previously about this issue.)


Why? The admin interface is quick, clean, and designed for speedy additions. When I surf the net, I usually have a window open, and cut/paste urls in as go along. The new interface allows moving categories and links around using a javascript interface.

Trying to make sure all the fields in a file line up has _got_ to be harder than using the browser!

The only time it's not, is if there is already a pre-generated list of links, that needs to be imported.

Just because it's familiar, shouldn't deter you from learning new tricks with cut/paste and such.

There was a thread a short while back (week or so) that addressed this issue. It _can_ be done, it's just not the way the program was set up.

As for books, I have a list at the FAQ site, (click the link below) .. [yes! It's back! It's not fully debugged, but the internal links don't work right yet]


PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.

The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
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Re: [aprillougheed] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
Thanks for your response.

I agree with you that cut-n-pasting JUST a URL (http://www.whatever.com/) would be simple. However, I also need the Title, Description and Keywords which entails View Source and three different cut-n-paste operations.

It takes forever and is very hand, wrist repetivive motion intensive. You can't just drag and drop from the View Source File. You have to highlight the text withing each meta tag before you drag or paste it.

Moreover, I have a "spyder" program that goes out and gets me 100's of links at a time and puts them into a flat database in exactly the order of my database. I use Excel to sort, renumber, and fill in categories. Then I save it to flat *.db file.

Not really sure what you mean about "keeping all the fields" lined up. The Spyder program and Excel do that just fine - never an issue.

In any event -- different strokes for different folks. No sense trying to convince each other what's easiest. :)

Anybody able to answer the question about MySQLMan?

Best regards, April
A. Lougheed
IndyLinks.com
webmaster@indylinks.com
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Re: [aprillougheed] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
The problem has to do with the way Links SQL stores the records. A "link" no longer has a category associated with it. Category <=> Link relations are stored in the CatLinks table.

MySQLMan cannot maintain this relationship.


Refer back to this thread for more info:

http://gossamer-threads.com/p/175487


PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.

The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.

Last edited by:

pugdog: Jan 20, 2002, 5:59 PM
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Re: [aprillougheed] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
Hi aprillougheed

Quote:
Moreover, I have a "spyder" program that goes out and gets me 100's of links at a time and puts them into a flat database in exactly the order of my database.
Which spider do you use? Is it available?

What would be really nice is if the spider gathered the data, then auto-submitted an introductory email to the site owners asking them if they would like to be added to the directory.

The intro email could include the Title, Descrip, and other stuff for the site owner to view and later edit.

Perhaps there could be some sort of "proposed links" type of location (different from links awaiting validation) where the site owner could go and edit the proposed data before it is submitted for validation.

This auto-email feature would be nice for any spider.

I know that this reply is a bit off target for the main idea of this thread, but I thought I'd bring it up here because of what april mentioned.

Many thanks.

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Re: [DogTags] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
I use several programs:

http://www.internet-soft.com/extractor.htm

http://www.micro-it.com/

http://www.esalesbiz.com/extra/

And there are many more. See Tucows - extrators.



April
A. Lougheed
IndyLinks.com
webmaster@indylinks.com
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Re: [pugdog] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
Thanks PugDog - I got the referenced post. I know you must get tired answering the same issue over and over. Looks like I can import from a file, but then not MANUALLY edit database after than.

BTW -

Do you cut-N-Paste? Just URL or more?

Do you use Notepad to ViewSource?

April
A. Lougheed
IndyLinks.com
webmaster@indylinks.com
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Re: [aprillougheed] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
What is happening, is something I mentioned above. If you use a "list" or pregenerated database, it's faster to do an import. And that is what you are doing. You have a spider running around, and work to create a database of links. (I used to do something like that to generate payroll years ago from a list of download counts where I had to do a screen capture, then use macros to yank the counts, format them, insert them into a spread sheet, etc, etc.)

When I go surfing, I usually visit the site, so I cut/paste the URL from the status bar, enter the other information, and move on to the next site.

I have never found a spider that worked the way I wanted/needed it to. I guess I'm just a control freak <G>

Oh, and yes, I just use notepade (view->source) to gab any meta tags or keywords, but as I said, usually those are pretty worthless (only about 1 in 5 sites has usable meta tags). Their tags are blind, shot gun, and often irrelevant attempts to get a search engine listing. I need "better" than that :)


PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.

The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.

Last edited by:

pugdog: Jan 21, 2002, 9:00 AM
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Re: [aprillougheed] Newbie - Importing Links In reply to
Thanks very much, april!

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