Ported ExportFileFilterAndGenBook and ExportFileFilterByIndexList from VBA to BlogBackupToBook VB.Net single project of Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition

Last updated on 21 Nov. 2023 

BlogBackupToBook software creates HTML blogbook(s) from Blogger blog XML Backup/Export files. It also allows for filtering the output HTML blogbook(s) by content matching strings, by published and/or updated date range and by an index(es) list where the index(es) are positions of posts and pages entries in the Blogger XML Backup/Export file. 

Github: https://github.com/ravisiyer/BlogBackupToBook

Quick-Info:

• Top-level folder share: VB-ExportFileFilterAndGenBook, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UU8pdbI-PJ_PgpuG01_xsL4biYEb_uMs?usp=drive_link
• Sample files:
• Input file: 20231113-ravisiyer-blog.xml (18.8 MB), (use download link to download to computer) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OMMh9tUideo_hRYIzhiDHxxDibjxOQr4/view?usp=drive_link
• Output file a: Split 1 of 4 of HTML blog book with internal content links - 20231113-ravisiyer-blog-BlogBook-Split1wCLs.html (4 MB), (use download link to download to computer and view downloaded file in browser)  https://drive.google.com/file/d/18YKJZPWhPoxQ3Bgf15tx6jqLUakw93Gt/view?usp=drive_link
• Output file b: Full HTML blog book: 20231113-ravisiyer-blog-BlogBook.html (15.3 MB), (use download link to download to computer and view downloaded file in browser)  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g2j2bWwLyG1iBZrbcEbf_oCXZjHgHVvy/view?usp=drive_link
• Version v4 sub-folder:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zxJOGtFWXeKqH0LaJNnwMktnpo1BsDbK?usp=drive_link , file Info.txt gives an overview of the tests and connects to files describing individual test runs, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A6en1Uj8vekyZrjboklHfRoVQXYNhi1t/view?usp=drive_link .
• Version v4 source code is also put up on Github:  https://github.com/ravisiyer/BlogBackupToBook 
• Version v3 sub-folder: setup sub-folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zVL2Q-qLqheI_GHLMP2YjTtOvhlIdKhO?usp=drive_link  ; source code sub-folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yzVjL8TI-fimSsUQHPsG0YZjjFxi_kIO?usp=drive_link 
• Version v3 source code is also put up on Github:  https://github.com/ravisiyer/BlogBackupToBook/releases/tag/v3 , https://github.com/ravisiyer/BlogBackupToBook/tree/v3
• Version v2 sub-folder: setup sub-folder:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oh_ZqEW26aVreJZSFAAV9yoMFAST6Fgi?usp=drive_link ; source code sub-folder:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XgLe-vcrcN2zAn_JPHA-MLhOssxN5Gds?usp=drive_link 
• Version v1 sub-folder:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1C9f1R8v1K09CtQv_h_NtOo8A0-K1qx_E?usp=drive_link

End Quick-Info

Start-Update-18-Nov-2023

Given below are the key publicly shared folders on Google Drive having useful input and output files of some test and other runs of version 4 of BlogBackupToBook software:

• Blog XML Backup/Export files: [My Drive -> Public -> Latest-Blog-Export-Files -> 20231113-Blogger] https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PJj0WtJik4moVJunB8ek85M2Tx2_BWYl?usp=drive_link . 
• Complete blog book files (with split blog book files in some cases) and log files: [My Drive -> Public -> BlogPrint-MyBlogs-Latest-Versions]: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IyWM3yGN10hUMDjfCVojyXwjF1KPvliz?usp=drive_link . Within this folder one has to navigate to [blog-name e.g. ravisiyer-blogspot-com] -> [blogbook-files e.g. 20231113-ravisiyer-blog-BlogBook.html].
• Filtered XML Backup/Export files created from original XML Backup/Export file by omitting indexes of few very long unwanted pages and posts: [My Drive -> Public -> Latest-Blog-Export-Files -> 20231115-BloggerExclSomePP] https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1S6cubBggLgxllnmpZQBhhetsfskgI8Dw?usp=drive_link . 

End-Update-18-Nov-2023

Start-Update-14to16-Nov-2023

I stopped work on this project around end Sept. 2023. Now in mid Nov. 2023, I have completed some standard test/usage runs of the software and confirmed that they largely work as expected or at least seem to do so. I do not have the time to do thorough testing of the software and bug-fixing as I have got busy with other stuff. But I have quickly documented current state of the software through these standard test/usage runs and provided some info. that may help me and any other interested persons to use the software for the tasks that it does properly.

Version 4 is the latest version which is just the same main project code but without setup project. The latest test runs and info. for version 4 are in Google Drive folder: VB-ExportFileFilterAndGenBook/v4, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zxJOGtFWXeKqH0LaJNnwMktnpo1BsDbK?usp=drive_link , In this folder, the file Info.txt gives an overview of the tests and connects to files describing individual test runs.

Some other parts of this post below may also be updated but not encapsulated within these update tags.

End-Update-14to16-Nov-2023

25 Sep. 2023 Update

Version v2 in above Quick-Info section, incorporates ExportFileFilterByIndexList functionality. Further the program has been renamed as BlogBackupToBook. Windows Setup files (setup.exe and BlogBackupToBookSetup.msi) have been created for it and placed in Setup folder of v2 folder. It needs to be seen whether Google Drive flags these setup files as inappropriate to put on it, in which case I will have to remove them.

I installed the BlogBackupToBook program on a Dell Mini Laptop running Windows 10 but which does not have Visual Studio installed. I faced the following issues with the install process and later test run of the program:

25 Sep. 2023, Issues faced with setup program install on DML

1) Windows defender warns against installing app as publisher is unknown. [On digging into the issue, it seems that I will need a code signing certificate but that does not seem to be available for free even for open source projects! See Free Code Signing Certificate – Where to Find One?,  https://codesigningstore.com/free-code-signing-certificate , and Fixing Unknown Publisher Security Warning in Windows 10, https://cheapsslweb.com/resources/what-is-an-unknown-publisher-warning .

2) After install, running the program gives an error of x64 runtime for .Net 6.0 missing or something like that, and provides a button to download (and install) it. Download and install of it is straightforward. After it is installed, BlogBackupToBook program executes and comes up with main form. [The exact dialog box seems to be the one shown here: "You must install .NET Desktop Runtime 6.0.4 (x64)" error, https://superuser.com/questions/1716891/you-must-install-net-desktop-runtime-6-0-4-x64-error .]

3) Prompt for Input and Run button has word Run cut out. [I think it happened as when I designed the form, my monitor scaling was set to above 100%. Now I think I have fixed the button sizes issue.]

4) Other tests of the program with the following input files: 20230801-tns-blog.xml and 20230801-tns-blog-Index-List.txt (shared in Google Drive public folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qU0hXDy25eXzgeifJwr--JM45zxW_Xt2?usp=drive_link) seem to be successful.

End-Update 25 Sep. 2023

This post follows up on my recent post: Was able to port ExportFileFilterByIndexList from VBA to VB.Net of Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2023/09/was-able-to-port-exportfilefilterbyinde.html .