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Where is the Data

WBCE CMS creates a so-called "access file" for each page. This differentiates it from other CMS which create their pages completely virtual - but nevertheless you will be disappointed if you expect to be able to edit the contents of your WBCE CMS website by simply accessing the content of the /pages directory by FTP, because the access files contain only a few lines of code:

$page_id    = 13;
require('../../../index.php');

Literally spoken, these lines mean that at first the variable "page_id" is set to the value "13" (the $ indicates a variable name in PHP). Then, the PHP interpreter should get the code of the index.php in the root, which is one of the most important files of each WBCE CMS instance.

And that's all. So it is obvious that the real content seems to be stored somewhere else.

Let's look back to the installation process: There you had to enter the connection details for a database. So this was not just because the installation would be too easy otherwise. Instead, WBCE CMS stores its information in this database. (Other CM systems may store their information in XML or plain text files, but the use of a database is quite common and has several advantages, e.g., indexing the contents for the website search).

So this means if you want to backup your site or have to move or copy it, you need the files which are stored on the server as well as the contents of the database.

It is not easy, but still possible to restore a website with only the content from the database (at least the text information. The media files are NOT stored in the database).  For example, if the files on the server are corrupted due to a hacker's attack.

On the other hand, you have no chance at all of restoring a website if the database is missing or corrupted, or tables are deleted or lost in which the information of the website were stored. So always remember to make a backup of the database as well!