I need to redesign a manually created website (PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, etc.) with about thirty tables (created using phpMyAdmin) and redo it using WP. I've already created a few websites using WP, but they're always new or undergoing maintenance.

This site includes, among other things, a membership management system (programmed using PHP, SQL, etc.) with associated tables (e.g., the "members" table).

1/ First of all, regarding plugins: (I know this isn't the topic of the forum, sorry, but really, it's to explain my problem... :-(( )

I looked into the multitude of existing plugins that manage member registration (it's already difficult to navigate!!! :-0), some are free, others paid... I started with the "WP-members" plugin (but I could have used any) (I can display the registration form) but apparently the data is saved and seems "scattered" in the tables adapted to WP (wp-meta-data...)?? But then, if I understand correctly, under phpmyadmin, you can't clearly find the member data like in the initial table where you could explicitly see all the table fields. Actually, I emphasize this point because the The person in charge of administration would still like to view this table, so "in plain language."

2/ Import the "members" table

Instead of re-entering all the members (over 200!), is there a way to import the existing table and "connect" it to the plugin? I think this is impossible because it doesn't have the same table structure, on the one hand (it must be adapted to WP) and on the other (the table was created "manually" in phpmyadmin).

I admit I have a lot of questions about this (how exciting!) because this is a first for me (redesigning from a non-WP site), and I'd like to know your experiences with this, which I think must be quite common. Are there any tutorials on how to do this? Thank you very much ;-)

I need to redesign a manually created website (PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, etc.) with about thirty tables (created using phpMyAdmin) and redo it using WP. I've already created a few websites using WP, but they're always new or undergoing maintenance.

This site includes, among other things, a membership management system (programmed using PHP, SQL, etc.) with associated tables (e.g., the "members" table).

1/ First of all, regarding plugins: (I know this isn't the topic of the forum, sorry, but really, it's to explain my problem... :-(( )

I looked into the multitude of existing plugins that manage member registration (it's already difficult to navigate!!! :-0), some are free, others paid... I started with the "WP-members" plugin (but I could have used any) (I can display the registration form) but apparently the data is saved and seems "scattered" in the tables adapted to WP (wp-meta-data...)?? But then, if I understand correctly, under phpmyadmin, you can't clearly find the member data like in the initial table where you could explicitly see all the table fields. Actually, I emphasize this point because the The person in charge of administration would still like to view this table, so "in plain language."

2/ Import the "members" table

Instead of re-entering all the members (over 200!), is there a way to import the existing table and "connect" it to the plugin? I think this is impossible because it doesn't have the same table structure, on the one hand (it must be adapted to WP) and on the other (the table was created "manually" in phpmyadmin).

I admit I have a lot of questions about this (how exciting!) because this is a first for me (redesigning from a non-WP site), and I'd like to know your experiences with this, which I think must be quite common. Are there any tutorials on how to do this? Thank you very much ;-)

• import

• 2 what you are describing is a very big work. if you want a reliable result, you should better start with writing functional specifications, analysing the data structure, etc. why did someone ask you to do this ? – mmm Commented Apr 4 at 10:01
• Déjà je suis étonné par votre question....."Pourquoi vous a t'on demander de le faire..." :Je pense, pourtant, que c'est une opération assez courante mais n'ayant jamais fait ce genre de processus, – Jean Commented Apr 4 at 12:57
• in english please ;) I ask that because when something works well, we don't remake it. then I wonder what will be added to the website that justifies so much work. – mmm Commented 2 days ago

1 Answer 1

As mmm noted, a project like this will be more successful if you and the client decide what functionality is critical and which parts are nice to have. For example, they want an easy way to see all member data in one view. However, it's probably not critical that this view be in phpMyAdmin itself. Many plugins have both screens in wp-admin, and spreadsheet exports, that can combine all the membership data in one easy-to-read place.

As for picking a plugin, the best approach is usually to set up a test site and start installing some and seeing how they work. A lot of times, once you get a plugin installed and start looking at admin screens, you can see right away whether there is some major reason the plugin won't work for your case. Personally, I like to look through the wordpress free plugins first and especially try out the ones that have a lot of active installs and positive reviews. This should give you a starting point of 5 to 10 plugins you can test drive.

As to importing the data, there's always a way. Depending on how many members there are, and how complex the data is, it may be simplest to just create the members with the plugin's UI. But if you have a lot of data, often writing a custom WP-CLI command to take the data from a CSV, parse it, and put it into the right places for the plugin you choose is the best way to go. It's important to test this sort of process out pretty thoroughly; run the import and manually check a number of users to make sure their data came through into the right fields and formatted properly. This is a common request, so some plugins may have an import utility built in, and all you need to do is take your existing member data and format it into the right columns for the plugin, and it will do the rest.