CSV Import – Images

@ Wende

1. Correct, CSV Import does not import images.

2. You wouldn’t use Form, you would use Link. Form is to support moderated submission from unregistered site visitors. Link is to allow a user to maintain their own entry, such as adding a photo.

3. Not sure I understand the question… CSV Import is for importing only. It does not wipe or update existing data.

4. The column header name for Visibility doesn’t matter, but I do suggest “Visibility” so it is easy to recognize. The row values can be ‘unlisted’, ‘private’ or ‘public’ … no quotes.

5. Here an excellent FAQ that deals with the issue and resolves it for nearly everyone.

I hope I’ve thoroughly answered your questions!

@ Wende

2. This is the csv export script another user whipped up for their own use. You might be able to use it. You would have to come up with a method to “marry” the entry table with the email table unless you only really need to get at the email addresses in which case you would only need to export the email table. Sorry, no suggestions on the photos…

4. Yes, all or nothing because that sets that entry level visibility not the entry data specific visibility. Those default to public.

I have discovered that the PHP configuration can only be customized by the server administrator. I have no idea how I’d go about requesting a change or whether it could even be accomodated. Here are the default settings:

max_execution_time– Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds– 90
max_input_time– Maximum time each script may spend parsing request data– 60
memory_limit– Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (128MB)– 128M
upload_max_filesize– Maximum allowed size for uploaded files– 64M

Is there a workaround to get the import to work under these settings? Let me know what you recommend. Thanks!

Hi Steve, the updated csv import extension worked!! Note that at the end of the upload it did not give me a message with the number of records that were imported, but instead brought me directly to a page on my website. But when I went back to the Connections Admin and looked, all the records were loaded. Thanks!

I have a followup question with respect to importing images (question number 1 in my original post above). I’ve figured out I can use siteshot to display my images in the directory since most of my images are stored out on the web. This would allow me to use the “website” field to import my photo locations via csv import so that I wouldn’t have to separately upload all 350 student photos! I can do some further testing, but wondering if you know whether using this feature will greatly slow down the loading of pages for our directory users? I’m using the slim plus template.

Thanks again for your help!

@ BDXAdmin

Great to hear!

Interesting solution, using SiteShot. The images are created using a third party service; WordPress.com. There shouldn’t be a slow down as they’ll create the thumbnail and have it cached for serving. If they do flush the cached thumbnail, you will get their placeholder image until the thumbnail is recreated. usually by the time you refresh the page the thumbnail has been created and will be served. In the end, this could actually have a net page speed decrease; which would be good.