Pro 6.6 Beta 1 - HTML Storage - Message for which storage engine we are using

urchindesign · January 15, 2025, 7:03am

Not sure I missed something.

I went to the settings, turned on the HTML storage and clicked migrate. This seems to take a while so I moved on with something else on another site.

The notes say clicking migrate is basically a toggle.

As there was no message when I returned to the site I’m using to test the beta, I have no clue if it was successful or not or which engine I’m using.

My question, how do we know if we are using the HTML storage or the shortcodes? Is it possible you can add something to indicate clearly which storage engine we are on?

scotbaston · January 15, 2025, 8:25am

I agreed a success message would be very helpful

urchindesign · January 15, 2025, 8:38am

And preferably a message to tell us which engine we are using.

Or just a note on the button. So the button says Migrate to HTML or Migrate to Shortcodes depending on which storage type is active

JvP · January 15, 2025, 10:01am

Yeah, right now you’re left guessing.

charlie · January 15, 2025, 4:22pm

Great ideas on making it clear what migration is going to take place. And we can certainly add a success message. If you didn’t receive any message currently, it means it was successful for clarification.

Would it be more clear if the toggle said “Storing as HTML” and “Storing as Shortcodes” conversely?

urchindesign · January 16, 2025, 6:22am

Just something that states which engine is active. Those words sound perfect.

whitemedia · January 16, 2025, 10:04pm

When trying to migrate a website (three attempts) I invariably get the message (also see screenshot):

{"readyState":4,"responseText":"<html><head><title>500 Internal Server Error</title><style>@media (prefers-color-scheme:dark){body{background-color:#000!important}}</style></head><body>\n<h2>Request Timeout</h2>\n<p>This request takes too long to process, it is timed out by the server. If it should not be timed out, please contact administrator of this web site to increase 'Connection Timeout'.\n</p>\n</body></html>\n","status":500,"statusText":"error"}

The Migrate button says “Loading” until the error appears. On this particular site, the process to error takes about 8-10 minutes.

Afterwards, the screenshot shows the Migrate button back to default.

Thanks,
Christopher

charlie · January 17, 2025, 6:52pm

It’s unfortunately going to timeout on sites with a large set of content. It’s something I’ll fix by beta3.

@whitemedia I’m not sure what you mean by layout broke though, could you start a new thread with some screenshots or a site to look at? Was that after the migration?

Thanks for testing. Have a great weekend.

whitemedia · January 17, 2025, 7:39pm

Thanks Charlie.

Unfortunately, with this site, despite being on beta, as it was from last Spring, this one is getting close to going live (but I wanted to try and use the amazing masonry row settings) and I was with the client this morning. The whole layout broke, which they pointed out to me. The main issues were top and bottom margins were almost eliminated between sections. In this case, most sections are actually Parameter-based Components. There were also “shadow” buttons below one section where there were no buttons. Unfortunately I did not manage to get any screen-grabs, due to time-sensitivity.

I am not sure if the beta caused the problem in itself, or if the HTML migration attempt was the issue.

In the meanwhile, I restored the website to an All-In-One WP Migration backup, as attempting to reinstall the current live Pro version over the beta caused even more layout issues!

I will create a new staging site for this staging site and see if we can replicate this. When done, I will start a new post.

Thanks,
Christopher

charlie · January 20, 2025, 3:16pm

In beta2 I’m going to change the migration a bit. It really shouldn’t change any post meta in the update and hopefully that will prevent any issue you experienced. Apologies for the issue in the demo.

urchindesign · January 22, 2025, 8:57am

I’m still finding the activation and migration process confusing and I still have no idea which storage type I have active.

If I opened the configuration and clicked the migrate button. The system showed the migration and showed a success but I never actually activated HTML storage. Now if I click the on off button the messages switches back and forth so I still don’t really know what I am on. I get that we need to activate it, but what happens if we don’t migrate or if we deactivate it but don’t click the migrate button to migrate back.

Still very confusing and I still have no idea whether it is on or off or which storage I am using.

The messages need to determine which storage I am actually using and show messages based on whether the migration has taken place or not.

Perhaps there shouldn’t be a configuration option. Rather just the on off toggle. If we turn it on or off there is a pop up that prompts us to perform the migration. The pop up can have the message that is found in the configuration. If we cancel then the storage remains off / on based on the current setting. If we confirm then the migration takes place. Then we see a message confirming the storage that is currently active.

charlie · January 22, 2025, 6:49pm

Is the power button throwing you off here? Would a select box where “Shortcodes” is be more clear as it’s more of a choice then a on or off situation.

I can certainly hide the button when you enter the page and you are still on your current storage type. I can also update the message in the section to display better info on what type you are using. I would really rather have a section to display the steps needed before migrating. If you switched to HTML mode, any post save or post creation would be saved as HTML letting you try it out on a case by case basis too before doing a full migration. Let me know if that sounds good.

whitemedia · January 22, 2025, 10:50pm

Hi Charlie,

Apologies for the delay in replying - hectic few days. I have created a staging at the following link. The website was at the latest released version 6.5.15. Beta 2 was installed, and HTML conversion was run (thanks for the new step by step meter!).

Once run, pages were broken. See new post, please - Site Broken After Beta 6.6.0 beta2

Thanks,
Christopher

urchindesign · January 23, 2025, 6:12am

Hi Charlie,

From what you are saying this is my understanding:

I can have the html storage set to on without converting the storage type. In this instance new pages, new headers etc. would use the html storage but everything else in the site would use shortcodes.
I can turn HTML storage on, then convert to HTML storage and then turn HTML storage off. In this instance new pages, headers, layouts etc. would use shortcodes but everything else would use HTML storage.
I can turn HTML storage on and off at will and not convert or convert. In this instance I could have any number of pages as either html or shortcode storage.

I see what you are trying to do here but I just wonder if this is the best path.

The issue I have is that there is no clear way to know what is going on. Right now it is fine. i.e. I’ve turned it on and converted the storage engine and I know everything is using HTML, but if I’ve built a site and come back to it in a year how do I know what storage type I am using, how do I know if I have half the site converted from one or the other and how do I know which pages are using which storage type. Or for that matter if I turn it on and off and build stuff. This time tomorrow I wouldn’t know which pages or elements use which type of storage.

If you want to do it like this then I would recommend in the admin there is an indicator in the pages list of what storage type each is (/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=page). Also on each page in the admin there should be an indicator (/wp-admin/post.php?post=13&action=edit). And in Cornerstone itself it should indicate each page, header or layout etc. and which storage engine it is. There should also be a possibility to convert only a specific page or layout etc.

Personally I think HTML storage should either be on or off and if on everything should be built as HTML storage. The above just creates confusion and too many options. If HTML storage is the future I get giving people the choice to switch but besides that choice I don’t think having a mix of both makes any sense.