Migrating BlinkList bookmarks and Powermarks bookmarks to del.icio.us

It´s done. I was suffering constant problems with BlinkList and I decided to move to del.icio.us. I also decided to rescue the old powermarks 3.5 bookmarks from the oblivion and import them to del.icio.us too.

BlinkList gives you the option of exporting your bookmarks in JSON format via the Options ->Export links. (here is the link)

So grab the json file and save it somewhere in your disk.

Then you have to use the script below to load the bookmars into del.icio.us but first make sure that you have ruby or jruby, rubygems, json-jruby or json-ruby, jruby-openssl and rubilicious installed.

If you use jruby you can install everything in the following way:

jruby -S gem install json-jruby  jruby-openssl rubilicious-0.2.0.gem

Then use the following script to load all the bookmarks in the json file to del.icio.us. Just change the filename and username and password to suit your needs.

#!/usr/bin/ruby
 
require "rubygems"
require "rubilicious"
require "json"
require "date"
require "time"
 
 
def getTime(item)
  dateadd = item['dateadd']
  return Time.at(dateadd) unless dateadd == false
  return Time.now
end
 
def getIsPrivate(item)
  isprivate = item['private']
  return "checked"==isprivate
end
 
def getTags(item)
  item['tag'].gsub(' ', '_').gsub(',',' ')
end
 
json_string = File.new("blinklist20080710.json").read
 
result = JSON.parse(json_string)
 
r = Rubilicious.new('your_delicious_username','your_delicious_password')
 
i=0
for item in result do 
  i += 1
  puts "#{i}: #{item['url']}"
  #next if i < 3229
  r.add(item['url'],item['name'],item['description'], getTags(item), getTime(item), true, getIsPrivate(item))
end 
puts "ended"

If the script fails in the middle of the import don´t worry. just uncomment the “#next if i < 3229″ and change the 3229 to the last bookmark id that was loaded. Rerun the script and it will skip all bookmarks up to the one you write there.

Loading the old powermark file into del.icio.us is a little more complex. You will need two files:

1) state_pattern.rb (from maurice codik’s blog). I´m copying it here for completeness sake

#!/usr/bin/ruby
 
#   Copyright (C) 2006 Maurice Codik - maurice.codik@gmail.com
#
#   Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and
#   associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction,
#   including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute,
#   sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
#   furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
#   The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial
#   portions of the Software.
#
#   THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
#   LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
#   IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
#   WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
#   SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
 
# an example:
#
# class Connection
#   include StatePattern
#   state :initial do # you always need a state named initial. this is where you begin.
#     def connect
#       puts "connected"
#    # move to state :connected. all other args to transition_to are passed to the new state's constructor
#       transition_to :connected, "hello from initial state" 
#     end
#     def disconnect
#       puts "not connected yet"
#     end
#   end
#   state :connected do
#     def initialize(msg)
#       puts "initialize got msg: #{msg}"
#     end
#     def connect
#       puts "already connected"
#     end
#     def disconnect
#       puts "disconnecting"
#       transition_to :initial
#     end
#   end
#   def reset
#     puts "reseting outside a state"
#     # you can also change the state from outside of the state objects
#     transition_to :initial
#   end
# end
 
# how's it work:
# Each call to state defines a new subclass of Connection that is stored in a hash. 
# Then, a call to transition_to instantiates one of these subclasses and sets it to the be the active state.
# Method calls to Connection are delegated to the active state object via method_missing. 
 
module StatePattern
  class UnknownStateException < Exception
  end
 
  def StatePattern.included(mod)
    mod.extend StatePattern::ClassMethods
  end
 
  module ClassMethods
    attr_reader :state_classes
    def state(state_name, &block)
      @state_classes ||= {}
 
      new_klass = Class.new(self, &block)
      new_klass.class_eval do
        alias_method :__old_init, :initialize
        def initialize(context, *args, &block)
          @context = context
          __old_init(*args, &block)
        end
      end
 
      @state_classes[state_name] = new_klass
    end
  end
 
  attr_accessor :current_state, :current_state_obj
 
  def transition_to(state_name, *args, &block)
    new_context = @context || self
 
    klass = new_context.class.state_classes[state_name]
    if klass
      new_context.current_state = state_name
      new_context.current_state_obj = klass.new(new_context, *args, &block)
    else
      raise UnknownStateException, "tried to transition to unknown state, #{state_name}"      
    end
  end
 
  def method_missing(method, *args, &block)
    unless @current_state_obj
      transition_to :initial
    end
    if @current_state_obj
      @current_state_obj.send(method, *args, &block)
    else
      super
    end
  end
 
end

2) The script that parses the powermarks file and load it to del.icio.us

#!/usr/bin/ruby
require "rubygems"
require "rubilicious"
require "json"
require "date"
require "time"
require "state_pattern"
 
class Parser
  include StatePattern
 
  attr_accessor :name, :url,:desc,:tags ,:date , :r
 
  state :initial do     
    def parse(line)
      #puts "initial: #{line}"
      if line  =~ /<a href="(.*)">(.*)<\/a>/
        @context.name = $2 
        @context.url = $1  
        transition_to :read_keywords        
      end
    end
  end
  state :read_keywords do 
    def parse(line)
      if line =~ /<!--keywords-->(.*)$/
        @context.tags = $1.chomp
        transition_to :read_keywords2
      end
    end
  end
 
  state :read_keywords2 do
    def parse(line)      
      #puts "read_keywords2: #{line}"       
      if line =~ /<!--/
        if line =~ /^<!--desc-->/
          transition_to :read_desc
          @context.current_state_obj.parse(line)
        end         
        if line =~ /^<!--mdata/
          transition_to :read_metadata
          @context.current_state_obj.parse(line)
        end
        return
      end
      @context.tags += " " + line.chomp      
    end
  end
 
  state :read_desc do 
    def parse(line)      
      if line =~ /<!--/
        if line =~ /<!--desc-->(.*)/
          @context.desc = $1.chomp
        else
          #puts "not desc"
          if line =~ /<!--mdata/
            transition_to :read_metadata
            @context.current_state_obj.parse(line)            
          else
            raise "don´t know how to parse this in this state #{line}"
          end              
          return
        end               
      else
        @context.desc += " " + line.chomp
      end
    end
  end
 
  state :read_metadata do    
    def parse(line)      
      @context.date = $1.hex if line =~ /<!--mdata=\[\w+\]\[([0-9A-F]+)\]\[([0-9A-F]+)\]\[([0-9A-F]+)\]/
      @context.date = Time.now.to_i if @context.date < 0
 
 
      puts "=============================="      
      puts "name: #{@context.name}"
      puts "url:  #{@context.url}"
      puts "tags: #{@context.tags}"
      puts "date: #{Time.at(@context.date)}"
      puts "desc: #{@context.desc}" unless @context.desc.nil?
      puts "=============================="
      @context.r.add(@context.url,@context.name,@context.desc, @context.tags, Time.at(@context.date), false, true)
      @context.name = @context.url = @context.tags = @context.date = @context.desc = nil
 
      transition_to :initial
    end
  end
 
end
 
 
r = Rubilicious.new('your_delicious_username','your_password')
p = Parser.new
p.r = r;
i = 0
File.new("pm3520070703.htm").each { |line| 
  puts i; 
  i += 1 
  #next unless i >2261
  p.parse(line);  
}
 
puts "ended"

(This script will add all the links as private. If you don´t want that behaviour just modify the last parameter in “@context.r.add(@context.url,@context.name,@context.desc, @context.tags, Time.at(@context.date), false, true)” to “false”.)

Again, if the script fails in the middle of the import don´t worry. just uncomment the “#next unless i > 2261″ and change the 2261 to the line number where you want to resume parsing the powermarks file. Rerun the script and it will skip all previous lines.

Hope it helps anybody that it´s trying to escape from Blinklist and/or Powermarks. I successfully imported 3299 blinklist bookmarks and 4000 powermarks bookmarks (a lot of dupes though). By the way, the first script will replace any previous bookmark with the same url and the second script will not. That´s the way I wanted it but of course you can change it. The parameter before the last one in the call to add is the one that control the “replace”. (see add documentation).

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11 Responses to “Migrating BlinkList bookmarks and Powermarks bookmarks to del.icio.us”

  1. Hi Reubs, I have been meaning to escape BL for a while now, but I have to say I am pretty muck a nw00t when it comes to ruby and all. So if you are still around, and if it is not too much hassle, could you parse my BL JSON file? Just let me know.

    Thanks anyway though take care.

  2. Mike says:

    Hi there,

    Just wanted to let you know that i am sorry that we let you guys down. We are working on BlinkList 2.0 and I hope that we can win you back with a much faster and far improved service in the next few months.

    Mike

  3. Mike, I have to say that I am surprised (in a good way) of the CR of BL !I’ll wait and see for BL2.0 then. At least for the sake of it :-)

  4. JbL says:

    Ruben, I tried to use the Ruby scripts to load my Powermarks bookmarks into Delicious. It ran to completion (over 7000 bookmarks) but went very fast (a couple of seconds) and no bookmarks were actually added to my Delicious account.

    I selected JSON version 1.1 (MSWin32). Should I use a newer version?

    Thanks, JbL

  5. JbL says:

    Sorry, it was actually JSON version 1.1.1. I also tried installing the json_pure gem (version 1.1.3), but the same result. It’s like it’s parsing the entire file, but not actually trying to upload anything to delicious.

    Help!

    JbL

  6. ruben.laguna says:

    does it show anything on the screen?

  7. xcat101 says:

    Im seeing the same problem that JBL has. Apparto from the number of bookmarks processed, I dont see any other message. I have even tried putting a fake delicious account and the script does not complain. I guess the script is never trying to connect to delicious.

    Thanks

  8. ruben.laguna says:

    If you only see a list of number with no url after those. That means that the URLs in the json file are not being parsed by the JSON module. First check that the JSON file is a proper JSON file. Open it with notepad or vi.

  9. xcat101 says:

    I forgot to mention that I’m trying to export from powermarks so there is no JSON file. I also found out that my powermarks file had some tags in uppercase. adding /i to all the regexps of your coded fixed this.

    I’m now getting this error (on the first bookmark)

    ============================== name: CRL Toolkit(Information Retrieval) url: http://crl.nmsu.edu/crltoolkit/crl2.htm tags: CRL Toolkit Information Retrieval Programming Misc powermarks

    date: Mon May 17 16:33:25 CEST 1999

    ./powermarks2delicious.rb:86:in add': wrong number of arguments (7 for 5) (ArgumentError) from ./powermarks2delicious.rb:86:inparse’ from ./powermarks2delicious.rb:43:in parse' from ./state_pattern.rb:104:inmethod_missing’ from ./powermarks2delicious.rb:104 from ./powermarks2delicious.rb:100

    According to the documentation the add function is being called with the right number of parameters. Any clue? (I’m not a Ruby programmer)

    Thanks for your help

  10. ruben.laguna says:

    Are you sure that you installed the right rubilicious version (0.2.0)?

  11. xcat101 says:

    I had installed version 1.4 (which was part of ubuntu). Thanks for your support. I worked like a charm

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