Due to this I decided to move to WordPress as my blog engine. Initially I thought this wouldn’t be that hard but its been a reasonable challenge to get things working the way I would like. The platform I am running is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 X64 with IIS 7.5. Basically this is what I did to get my blog up and running with WordPress.

1. Install MySQL, configure this for remote connections and add users and a schema. I also installed the MySQL Workbench which is a great tool for managing your databases.
2. Install FastCGI as a role service for IIS 7.5. This is required if you want to use PHP.
3. Install PHP. The default options will automatically add the handler mapping for you to IIS.
4. Install WordPress.

While these tasks sounds reasonably easy, they are time consuming. Once WordPress was up and running I had to migrate my posts across from Graffiti. This was a much harder task. I had a heads up start by using a tool I found here: http://www.sagara.net/post/… This exporter allows you to connect to your Graffiti database and export out to MoveableType’s import format. I tweaked this utility a little to work with my environment and settings I required. The exporter runs well and you will get out a .txt file with your posts. Using WordPress’s import tools you can easily upload this .txt file and import the posts in. We then hit a little problem. The importer does not import your existing tags across. This is a problem and a fix can be found here: http://www.simonecarletti.com/blog/… 

Once posts and tags are in the database things start to look quite a bit better. It was then onto sorting out my redirections. Graffiti uses a different URL structure so I had to tweak things. I used the URL Rewrite plug-in for IIS 7.5 that allowed me to redirect any requests over to PHP. I then used a custom permalink within WordPress. I also used this plug-in to handle existing permalinks out there and hand off .aspx pages to PHP.

So far things are running well. There are a few things I have to clean up in the backend but WordPress is running very well and I am pleased with the performance. I have also been able to merge my archives blog into this one blog so that was really good. I have a number of new ideas for my blog so I will be working to add these in over the next few weeks.

For those wanting more detail on how to move across from Graffiti, drop me a email and I can give you a few tips and tricks to save time.

And the result is what you see above. By default the map in the header will load using the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight.

If you do not have the Microsoft Silverlight installed, the map in the header will load using the ArcGIS API for Flex.

If you do not have Adobe Flash installed, you will see a prompt to install Microsoft Silverlight.

Having a fully interactive map really adds some value. It allows visitors to not only see parts of New Zealand but also interact with the map and control what they see browsing around the country. I think this showcases the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight and the ArcGIS API for Flex quite nicely.

Talking to Morten this morning, he has built on my idea and added a few tweaks to his blog. He has replaced the header image with a ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight map which zooms to different extents giving you an ArcGIS Explorer feel. With the automated zoom to the map is not interactive though. You can see his version of my idea here: http://www.sharpgis.net/

I have a few more ideas where I will be integrated the API’s into my blog. Have a play and see what you think. Let me know if you have any comments or feedback.

The new Telligent engine is pretty cool. So fast and easy to do anything. I had some time over the last few evenings, so I thought I would come up with a new look and feel for my website. This a rather quick and easy process. I headed over to www.freecsstemplates.org and ran through their list, choosing one I like. I then dug into the theme engine and began porting it to work with Graffiti CMS. Here is the result.

A nice clean look theme! I hope everyone likes it. I am still working on bits and pieces here and there but this should be done very soon. The search is also out of commission, there is a bug in beta 2 which is making it return 0 results for any search you carry out. Telligent is looking into this.

Would love feedback on the new theme

I have been getting daily emails from people asking how come I stopped blogging or if I am going to be blogging again, well I’m back! Sorry for the short break, lots has been happening personally and at work.

On the work scene, I have moved from our Professional Services Team into our Technical Solutions Team. This is a newly formed small team responsible for presales and research and development activities. It’s fun and challenging as you are playing with the latest technologies and creating demos or applications in very short time periods.

On the personal scene, it’s been summer here so lots of bbq’s and parties! Need I say more?

So you are probably asking what’s with the new domain name? Well I don’t really know myself, I guess it was one of those spontaneous decisions (aided by my flatmate).

I have decided to start fresh hence a new domain name and a new blogging platform. I am using Graffiti which is a new content management system from Telligent. It’s quick, easy to maintain and really effective. It’s basically Community Server cut down to bare bits and made simple. I am running my new website mandown.co.nz on the newly supported Vistadb which is supported by Telligent in Graffiti.

For those looking for all my older postings, these can be found at the same previous link: http://se7en.co.nz/cms/scrappad. I have decided to leave this site going but only as an archive, therefore the search results and links will work from Google as well as others linking to me. The link can also be found on my new website.

I have been working on some pretty cool stuff over the last five months which includes quite a bit of work with ArcGIS 9.3. While I can’t talk about it, I can post about all the other cool things I have been doing with ArcGIS Server 9.2 and the mobile scene, so that will be coming soon, keep an eye out