Need automated page building software.

[Cashcows]

I am in need of software that will let me import a template and then build pages based on that template but change the article on the center of the page. I have several hundred articles I need to publish and cuting and pasting each one for a page takes too much time in almost any software. So I am looking to automate the process and still keep the look of the existing site.

I would like to be able to have it call the articles from a flat txt file with some kind of seperator. I would much rather build these pages with a few click than a few thousand clicks!

Does anyone know of any software that will do this or the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

[bill]

welcome to WebmasterWorld Cashcows

Sounds like you might be in the market for a small scale CMS (Content Management System) or modified blogging software. There are a ton of them out there, many of them free. Take a look at opensourceCMS.com to see a good collection of them that you can try out online.

Since you mentioned you wanted to use a flat file text base, I recall that Blosxom worked that way, and some members here had recommended it in the past...

[thehittmann]

I use blogspot for my poetry website. write a new poem then just add it in, easy done. I ditched their crappy template though and made up my own to suit "my theme".

[added]Welcome to Webmaster World[/added]

[Cashcows]

Thanks guys, if anyone else has an Idea please let me know. I am looking more for a windows based template building system almost like a doorway page builder but with different content for each page as they are not doorway pages but actual artcles.

[thehittmann]

you could use frontpage or dreamweaver and save a template. The just add what you want in to make each one unique later.

[Cashcows]

Right but I need to automate the process becuase I have several hundred bodies of text (articles) that need to be put into the middle of the page.

I need a way to build pages automatically from a template that will insert the article and build the page. And take the text from a flat file. If If I save 1 minute a page I save 500 minutes so I am looking for the fastest way to do this.

I really do want to build 500 pages manually if I don't have to.

[Marcia]

There's one out there for Windows that works with an Access database, but off-hand I can't remember the name of it. There's also a Perl program that works with a template type system and generates static pages.

Hunt around for content management systems, something should have the right features.

[webpagemakerguy]

Depending on how you're going to run the site, you may run into performance problems pulling data from a text file. If you go with a software solution, you'll need to be sure the format of your text file can be used by the application. Either way, you're going to be looking at some pretty serious scripting or editing of your data. Browser security disallows scripts from accessing the client filesystem and since HTTP is stateless, you can't connect directly to your data file.

Have you given thought to ASP, PHP, or similar and using a database? That way you can have your layout totally separate from your content and get the performance gains of having an indexed data set.

[TheWhippinpost]

webpagemakerguy pretty much sums it up when he says:

you'll need to be sure the format of your text file can be used by the application. Either way, you're going to be looking at some pretty serious scripting or editing of your data.

If EVERY article has proper line breaks in the correct places, then I guess you can make, or find a batch command that'll parse and insert <p> tags appropriately. Then it's a case of pullin the result into the template, naming each resultant file and saving... which'll probably mean having numerically named pages unless each article has a heading which can be parsed, grabbed and used as the filename instead - Which comes down again to having consistently formatted articles.

... then there's the linking them together bit!

Of course there's the Access database suggestion which again, if you can be sure of consistent formatting, could be used to import the delimited files from which you could write a routine to pump the data into a template.

... or an XML solution?

[gregdi]

I think WebMerge could do this for you. You would want to store your articles in a data file and make a template for your pages.

You can get to their web site at:

fourthworld dot com

[edited by: caine at 9:04 pm (utc) on Feb. 11, 2004]
[edit reason] url drop - against tos [/edit]

[europeforvisitors]

Right but I need to automate the process becuase I have several hundred bodies of text (articles) that need to be put into the middle of the page.

With FrontPage, you could easily get the job done in a single day.

I receive press releases by e-mail from various PR firms and tourist offices, and I just paste them into a template with FrontPage 2003's "Edit/Paste Special/Normal paragraph with line breaks" command. It takes only a couple of seconds per page unless I'm making revisions.

Of course, if you plan to import such files on a continuing basis, and in reasonable quantity, it may be worthwhile to use a CMS. But investing in a CMS and getting it set up the way you want it for a one-time job may be overkill.

[playinaround]

Your needs sure seem to fit the exact use of programs like PhPNuke or Xoops, and the like.

Those are freeware and are offered by lots of hosting companies (or you can download the program yourself and host it).

[europeforvisitors]

PHP-Nuke, PostNuke, etc. may be useful for some applications, but they require a certain amount of technical knowledge and tweaking to get the layouts right, avoid problems with search engines, etc. They seem like a lot of bother for somebody who just wants to import 75 text articles into a Web site.