Advice for Importing a Blocs site into Pulse5 CMS

#6

Many thanks for the detailed response Tim. It’s really appreciated. Pulse CMS feels all very new and is quite alien to the way I’ve traditionally worked in the past with Dreamweaver / Muse and Business Catalyst – auto-syncing from local machine to host server etc. So your explanations on what is happening, bring a lot of clarity.

In fairness to me though, I have been following the Pulse CMS video tutorials on YouTube to the letter. That’s why they’re there, right? So I know about the .htaccess file etc. The screen dump I originally included was the result of me following the Pulse CMS/MAMP video. Of course the video hasn’t been updated and uses Pulse 4 not 5. So I wasn’t sure if there were any differences. In that video Michael changes the path name in line 18 of the Config.php file code and “Boom!”, as he says, everything appears. Not in my case though using Pulse 5, but I had more success when I was using Pulse 4.

I’m like you, and prefer to set up development sites that clients can access and see work in progress. At the moment that approach using Blocs app and Cushy CMS works like a dream - see this version of my site – I guess that is because Blocs spits out HTML files and a directory structure that I’m familiar with, and I can FTP them using Transmit. However Cushy can’t provide the Blog element that many of my customers require, hence my investment in Pulse CMS. When I export my site from Blocs app as a Pulse 5 theme I’m provided with 2 directories that I don’t know what to do with, and there seems to be very little online or written documentation on how to integrate these with Pulse CMS.

Today I managed to get around the unreachable Pulse CMS homepage issue, and download the Pulse 5.1 beta. I then white labelled it, so that my customers know its a product that I trust and I’ve chosen for them. More importantly I now don’t get any 404 page errors. So far, so good. You can see my progress here.

What I now what to do is replace the default pages of this site, with the files that were generated by the Blocs app. These are in two folders called “Content” and “Template”. In addition I want to maintain all CSS styles, links to pages, links to image files and video etc. This sounds very simple, but its proving very hard to do. If you, or anyone else, can provide me with some tips on how to do that, then I’ll be a very happy chap indeed.

Once again, thanks for your reply.

Derek

#7

OK great. Let’s try this;

The template folder is going to contain all of the files required for Pulse to display each page. This is essentially the base design of the site - a sort of master page. Make a backup of the files you’ve already FTPd into the Pulse template folder (just in case) and FTP these files and folders into the directory. If you refresh your site now you should see the existing site content with the new design you created in Blocs.

The content folder contains all of the page, blog, blocks and images (media) that make up the content of your site. Again FTP this whole lot into place into the Pulse install. Again make a backup of the old data if you’ve changed or added anything from the initial install.

Again refresh the site and you should see your new site design with the new content you defined in Blocs.

#8

Thanks for the instructions and explanation.

Following them, I opened Transmit and connected to my server.
Then I located the Template folder on the server and FTPed the contents back to my local machine - just in case.
Next I opened the Template folder, that was created by the Blocs app, on my local drive and FTPed the content to the Template folder on the server.
When offered the choice, I chose to replace folders rather than merge content.
I had a quick look in a browser and the cookie policy was in the right place, but obviously the layout, design and content wasn’t correct.
On the server I opened the Content folder and FTPed everything inside back to the local drive - just in case.
Next I opened the Content folder created by the Blocs app on my local drive, and FTPed everything to the server. Again I chose to replace folders rather than merge.

What I now have is a complete mess. From what you told me yesterday, it appears that the .htaccess isn’t functioning correctly as page links don’t work, and I’m still missing images. So in summary I’m no further forward than I was about a week ago. Can you still feel my frustration here? I so want this solution to work, but I’m rapidly losing patience.

Any thoughts? For example, should I merge contents of folders rather than replace them? Is that causing the problem?

Derek

#9

Thanks for the detail reply Derek.

Looking at the source code for that page I can see the PHP code in the HTML. This should be getting run by the server which makes me think that the server may not be configured correctly.

If you create a simple plain text file and call it info.php with the following code in it, FTP it to the server, and look at the page with your web browser do you see a long list of information about the server or just the code?

<?php
   phpinfo();
?>

If the server is running PHP (which I would suspect if you’ve had other CMSs running before) then this file should tell you.

If you want to DM me your FTP details I can take a look at the server for you.

#10

Done that Tim and I see the long list of info about PHP Version 7.0.30

I’ll DM you my FTP detail, and would appreciate you having a look. However, that’s not a long term solution for me. I need a product that I can upload and update without having to call on the help of the others.

#11

Sure. Let’s see if we can’t figure out what’s causing these problems.

#12

Oh, before I forget can you delete the info.php file please? It is best you don’t leave these on the server as it gives a lot of information that could be used to help anyone wanting to hack the server.

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#13

Good thinking. I’ve done that too.

I’ve also re-FTPed the content/media/branding folder back to the server as all the white-labelling on the Admin panel had vanished. Just letting you know.

#14

Was this Blocs site ever set up for Pulse 4 by any chance? I can see the templates Blocs has output are in the older Pulse 4 format (that uses PHP to define the site path). When you exported the site did you export it using the Pulse 5 option?

It looks like either you’ve selected the wrong Pulse version when you output the code from Blocs, have built the site using the older Pulse 4 Blocs integration in the past or that Blocs itself is messing up the tag output.

Hi Tim. Thanks for having a look under the hood of my site for me.

I am going to answer your questions in the thread, rather than replying to your DM, as I feel this topic may be of interest and relevance to others.

To confirm, my test site was created in Blocs 2.5.2. I designed and created a standard site without any CMS areas. I then saved multiple copies of the Blocs file, one of which I applied CushyCMS areas to, and a second that I applied Pulse CMS areas to – changing the Blocs Project Settings of each file to the correct CMS.

To elaborate further, in Blocs I selected elements, then used the right mouse button contextual menu to select CMS > Wrap in Pulse CMS Block. The Pulse CMS version of my site was then exported using the Export > Export As > Pulse CMS Theme > Pulse 5 command.

I only attempted to export my site from Blocs as a Pulse 4 theme earlier this week, when I downloaded Pulse 4 CMS from the site and installed it on the server. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I had more success with that solution, although some image links were still broken.

What is becoming very clear to me, is that Blocs 2.5.2 and Pulse 5.x CMS currently don’t talk to each other. This is a real shame. I believe this combined solution is a viable option for those of us who have been left high and dry by Adobe killing both Business Catalyst and Muse.

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#15

A quick update for anyone following this thread. Norm, the founder of Blocs app, is now aware of the problems I’ve been experiencing with the Blocs & Pulse 5.x integration. He told me at the weekend that he would investigate and come back to me when he’s discovered what the issue is. So it looks like a solution or a fix might be on its way.

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#16

This looks like a simple fix that can be tweaked to make this work. And yes it’s the perfect replacement for the Adobe workflow. Hang on and updates on this shortly :slight_smile:

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#17

Many thanks for this explanation on how PulseCMS does things :slight_smile:

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#18

Great! I’m glad to read that this particular issue is going to be resolved soon Michael. It’s been almost 6 weeks since I invested in both Blocs app and Pulse CMS, and although they work fine individually, they’re currently not playing very well together :disappointed_relieved:

I’m desperate to go back to my clients and showcase this whole solution to them very soon. So I’ll be keeping a keen lookout for announcements.

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#19

Just seen this post from Norm on the Blocs Forum. It appears that us Blocs / Pulse 5.x CMS users will be able to move forward again from tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your advice and assistance with this matter, it’s truly appreciated.

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#20

Fixed in Blocs 2.6.0 BETA 6 Build:
https://forum.blocsapp.com/t/blocs-2-6-0-beta-build-6/3858 :slight_smile:

Glad that they are back in sync - it’s a wonderful combo :star_struck:

#21

Unfortunately they’re not :disappointed:

I still have missing images. Blocs currently exports all images to the Template / img folder, and I believe the issue could be because Pulse CMS is also looking for images in the Content / Media folder.

I’ve also discovered submenus created in Blocs aren’t filtering through to Pulse CMS either.

#22

In addition, this morning I installed the Pulsecms51b4.zip locally and then exported my site using the Blocs 2.6.0 beta. Using that combination I’m back to the missing links and missing images of last week.

#23

The submenu item I was encountering has now been resolved. See my response on the Blocs Forum.

1 Like
#24

OK thanks @DerekDigital
Please post here when the images issue is fixed :slight_smile:
Am sure it will be soon!

Help blocsapp and pulsecms
#25

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