Questions on Modifying the ModxHOST Template

Okay, I have several questions that I hope somebody could answer for me:

1. I’m using version 0.9.6.1p2. Is there a new version? How would I upgrade to the new version without messing-up any changes that I have already made to the ModxHOST template for my site?

2. In the ModxHOST template, I would like to remove the right dark-colored sidebar with the Login bar and the Metatag sections and expand the white screen background all the way over to the right. How would I do this?

3. I would like to remove the search bar on the top right and change "Modx" on the top left to reflect the name of my church for which I am creating the site.

Can anyone help?

Quote from: suttles95 at Aug 12, 2009, 03:23 PM

Okay, I have several questions that I hope somebody could answer for me:

1. I’m using version 0.9.6.1p2. Is there a new version? How would I upgrade to the new version without messing-up any changes that I have already made to the ModxHOST template for my site?

You are kidding ,right?

Yes, there is a new version and there have been others in between. The newest kid on the block is called MODx Evolution It’s all over the modxcms.com website.

Upgrade guide:
http://wiki.modxcms.com/index.php/Upgrading_Guide

ps: As usual, do backup everything first before attempting an upgrade - files, database, assets and the like.

cheers/k

Holy crap!

How do I know what exactly needs to be saved with a different filename, and how do I do this? I’m completely illiterate at this and figured that once I set-up my website and made any changes to templates (all of which have been done with assistance from others) that they would remain unchanged through any upgrades.

Also, can anyone help me with my other questions as well?

All the Manager templates should be under the assets/templates folder.

For future reference, whenever I modify something that comes with MODx, I duplicates it and add "My" as a prefix. That way none of my changes will get overwritten in an upgrade.

If someone has modified a number of the built-in components of MODx without renaming them (or at least making a list of the changes), you are in a world of hurt. Probably the only thing to to is to do the updgrade and see what breaks.

BTW, it’s always a good idea to back up your whole site and the MODx database before upgrading so you’ll have something to revert to and refer to in the future. In your case, it’s critical.

I think you can get rid of the search form by deleting this line from the Modxhost.tpl file:



I think you’ll find a sidebar div in the same file, but you may want to empty and restyle it rather than deleting it unless you want to redo the site’s CSS.

You can use FireFox with the FireBug add-on to see where the CSS is coming from and play with changing it. Definitely worth learning.

I’m not sure which MODx you’re referring to, but in Tools | Configuration, change the site name and see if that does it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks...

But I can go back into the templates or assets that have been modified and resave them with a different name, correct? To do so, would I change the name in the top "Template Name" field to "MyMOdxHost" (for example), or would I need to hit "Duplicate" and save under a different name. Either way, would I then delete the old template or asset? (In other words, if I have 2 different ModxHost templates, how will the system know which one to use?

And this backup thing confuses me...

How would I back-up all of my files at once?

Here’s four ways to backup the files on your site.

One, simply use your FTP client to download everything into a folder on your local machine and zip it up when done.

Two, use your domain control panel (CPanel or whatever) to backup to a zip file on the server, then download that.

Three, install the backup module for MODx.

Of course, if you have ssh access you can manually zip everything up then scp it down to your local machine.

MODx doesn’t care what the name of your template is; it uses the template’s id in the database. In any case, that’s not the important part. The important part is the files in the assets/templates/templatename directory. If you want to use a modified version of the "default" template, simply copy the assets/templates/default directory to assets/templates/mydefault. Then in the MODx Manager, edit the default template to have all its links point to mydefault instead of default. You don’t need to worry about the template in the Manager; it’s in the database and an upgrade won’t affect it. Only when uploading the files themselves will the files in the upgrade replace any files you have of the same name in the same directory.

If you want to use a modified version of the "default" template, simply copy the assets/templates/default directory to assets/templates/mydefault. Then in the MODx Manager, edit the default template to have all its links point to mydefault instead of default.

How would I do this?

Also, where would I find the backup module?

Also, just to be clear...I need rename any modified templates assets. Where would I save the file to? (This probably goes back to my first question...)

I presume you have access to your site via FTP. In your FTP client, select the folder for the template you want to copy, for example assets/templates/default. Then do whatever your FTP client does to duplicate the folder. Or, download the whole folder, rename it once it’s on your site, then upload it again.

You can leave the files inside the folder with the same name, as long as they are in a folder with a different name an upgrade won’t touch them.

For backup:
http://modxcms.com/extras/package/46
http://modxcms.com/extras/package/28

Now that sounds relatively easy...and my FTP client will show the templates as they are currently modified on my site, correct?

I just duplicate from my FTP client and resave under a new name...

But how would I, as you said, edit the default template to have all its links point to mydefault instead of default.?

By the way...thank you so much for all of your help thus far...I am NOT a programmer, and most of this stuff just goes over my head...