Time is flying. The conclusion of this week marks the midway point of the Summer of Code, and the supposed ready for core date I set back in the beginning of summer. So, how did I stack up?

This Week

This week saw the addition of Atom URI detection based on the straight blog URL. To detect the Atom URI, I have to parse the HTML page for the RSD page, then parse the RSD page for the Atom URI. It’s a multi-step process, but the most reliable should TypePad ever change the Atom URI on me. In fact, I’d like to mention that every single URI (comments, paging, etc) is automatically detecting within the importer, so the importer should be URI future proof.

In addition to AtomPub URI detection, I added a progress bar this week. I thought this would be a huge process, but thankfully the coding was relatively simple. I learned some techniques to force PHP to dump the output buffer, essentially updating the page. Paired with some simple Javascript, I was able to create a fairly responsive progress bar. I chose this method over a completely Javascript method since the Javascript method would require additional time to run (I can explain this technically if anyone wants to know why).

Overall Status

Since we’re at the midway point, I thought now would be a great time to look back at the overall status. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I choose this date as the ready for core inclusion date. Since the release cycle for WordPress 2.6 has been pushed up, core inclusion will most likely be pushed back since the AtomPub importer will not be ready for 2.6. Regardless of the actual core inclusion, the deadlines have not changed in my mind.

According my requirements for core inclusion, by now the importer should be converting AtomPub data in to actual WordPress data. That’s occurring, so I’m definitely still on track.

The Second Half

So, where’s the importer going from here? Well, I plan to start working on the media importing portion of the importer next week. I’m figuring that may take at least two weeks. By then, WordPress 2.6 should be near release, so core inclusion can be considered once trunk goes bleeding again. After the importer is included in core, I can start getting real feedback from users. That should allow me to find and fix bugs, in addition to working on speed enhancements on a much larger scale.

The Importer In Action

I thought I would leave you this week with a look at the importer action. A few notes for the video:

1. The first item takes a while to display since the first 20 posts need to be requested, plus two requests for comments, in additional to the standard trackback and draft checks.
2. I would like to add a throbber to the in progress page to make the wait for the first post less painful.
3. You’ll notice the importer semi-stall after 20 posts. This is because it needs to request another group of 20 posts.
4. By the time the average WordPress user sees this, I would really love to see the importer work ever faster than this, and will strive the second half to make that happen.