I sure hope not :-) Well, I felt defeated the other day when I lost all my Blinklist bookmarks because I wanted to make some mass changes and figured that the Blinklist XML backup format would be the best to work with to do it. Go figure. They have a wonderful site and it is so useful and easy to use with its nifty Ajax widgets. You would think that their own backup format could be imported back into the system. No, leave it to me to find an undocumented feature and lose all of my 2400+ bookmarks!
Well, I did not lose them totally. I still had the Blinklist XML format file. For restores/imports, Blinklist also accepts several other formats, including JavaScript Object Notation or JSON. So, what could it take? Flip a few tags, change a few names? I started by reading an article on O'Reilly's XML web site about converting between XML and JSON. The article gives a very straightforward set of examples of how the structures vary and rules binding the conversion.
I did find a few modules out on CPAN that did conversions, but most were small code fragments that would have required more work than I had time to tie together. I took a look at the Blinklist XML file. The XML was well-formed and appeared to be a straight one-to-one conversion to JSON with a few minor tag/ID name changes.
So, I put together 70 lines of perl code and converted the Blinklist XML file into a new JSON file. I tried it first on the dozen links I already added to my new (temporary I hope) Blinklist, exporting in both XML and JSON formats, creating my own JSON version, comparing the two, and then importing both to check for differences. None found!
So why I am asking if I may have caused some heartburn for Blinklist is that... well... no response from the helm, Mr. Scott :-( Just in case my Blinklist is locked during import and the reason I am not seeing it, I went to the root page of the web site and... well... nothing there either :-( Mike, if you are scurrying aroun, trying to get the servers back on the air, my apologies if it was my little ol' fault. I find that doubtful, but best to cover all the bases.
Soon, I hope to report that my full Blinklist is back in business!
Update! SUCCESS! My old Blinklist is back online!
Recently in WebGadgets Category
As I have done on many previous occasions, I have asked for an invite today to get on Pownce, yet another social networking tool. I find it curious how the invitation systems work or don't. Sometimes, the invite comes, geez, almost before I click the submit button. Sometimes, they never come (like Orkut, which I finally signed up for today).
Now mind, I am not a sign up for every new thing that requires an invite type person, although I do like to be an early trier (and adopter if I like it). I am though the kind of person who, if they really (really) likes something, I will use it, hype it, and share it with everyone I know. Conversely, if it sucks, I will let the world know that as well.
So, I hope the good folks at Pownce see this and, if their product is up to it, will send me an invite. Oh, for those who are not dramatically inclined, the title reference is to Samuel Beckett's play in which the characters wait for someone who never arrives.
Ok, I admit it. I do love to find fun, silly, little devices to toss up here. And this one is in the ultimate silly category. While reading the About entry on a blog, I just had to chuckle. I figured what the hell, let's see how I can approximate me on this site.
The web site is called Meez and it has a super easy interface that walks you through the process which yields an exportable animated GIF file. They used a lot of imagination in this process, so much so that I could actually get pretty close to how I appear and what I am doing right now.
So, what are you waiting for? I know you can't wait to try it yourself! Using that link will gain you 5 extra coinz, the currency used to get extra special additions to your Meez. I admit it - I get 5 as well. And, yes, I know they are aiming at the younger crowd, but us more mature people can have fun, too, right?
(via Grilled Cheese)
