Sitewide variables in Evolution?

I’m new to ModX (just started using it a few days ago). I have an extensive amount of experience building custom CMS solutions with my own framework, but I’ve been asked by a client to use ModX to create a large series of websites that are going to be very similar to each other but have a different subject based on geographical location.

My problem is that I need to make each site configurable to make the replication of the site each time as easy as possible. I need to make site-wide variables such as the banner image, footer links, etc. I’d also like to avoid using chunks for this, so these elements can easily be managed in a sensible way by someone that does not understand HTML. I also have some settings that are used by a part of my existing PHP code to access a third-party API, and this should ideally be manageable as it will vary from site to site.

It seems from what I read that the "Evolution" "Revolution" version has everything I need for this, if I understand correctly, through the Context Settings. However, since we’re not sure about the stability of that version, we’re not sure if we should go with it for what are important production sites. Is there a way to simulate Context Settings in Evolution, or is there an add-on that accomplishes this? Will I need to write my own module? This isn’t a problem if I have to, as I said I’ve built a ton of CMS solutions from scratch, but if it’s not necessary I’d rather save myself from the extra work.

Should we just upgrade to Evolution Revolution? Once I start replicating the site I’m going to want to make sure we have the right solution installed. I know there’s other threads about this, but is it stable enough to use in production? If not, how close is it? It also seems that Evolution Revolution has much better features, such as using Smarty templates, which is a vast improvement over the Evolution templates.

I think you have Evolution & Evolution mixed up I think some of you *Evolution* should be Revolution.

Evolution is the Older more stable Version 1.0.3

REVOLUTION in the newer kid on the block Version 2.0 RC1

Revolution seems quite stable MODXCMS.COM runs on this.

There are quite a few other sites running Revolution. (I think a lot are not listed)

As you are a programmer yourself I would suggest Revolution if it does what you need.(Context Settings)

Not as much pre done as Evo but the main things are there.

Might need more input on your side, but with XPDo is a dream to work with DB’s

Revolution seems much more customisable than Evo to me.

The developers have done a realy great job IMHO.

Hope this helps.

The choice is yours in the end.

How long do you have to finish. I believe GR is not far away(@OpenGeek or @spittingred could advise better re timeframe).

Quote from: allanb at May 13, 2010, 09:56 AM

I think you have Evolution & Evolution mixed up I think some of you *Evolution* should be Revolution.

Oops, you’re right. I’ve edited my original post.

Revolution is definitely stable enough for use (it’s running a number of live sites now -- including this one).

There are two issues that you should be aware of, however:

1. There is no direct upgrade path from Evolution to Revolution.

2. Revolution currently doesn’t work with IE7 (and possibly IE8), which could affect some of your users.

Quote from: allanb at May 13, 2010, 09:56 AM

How long do you have to finish. I believe GR is not far away(@OpenGeek or @spittingred could advise better re timeframe).

I wish it was done yesterday. However, tomorrow would be nice. The site has already been replicated three times, but not in MODx. The three existing sites are just PHP and static HTML with no database, which was very fast to produce, but will quickly be unmanageable if the number of sites grows significantly.

So all of the site code for the static site is done, it just needs to finish being ported to MODx for the first time. I have most of it done inside Evolution, and building it with replication in mind, this issue stuck out. Of course it’s also nice for a normal site that is not being replicated to have manageable site-wide variables, which is why I’m kinda surprised I don’t see any features for this in MODx Evolution.

Quote from: BobRay at May 13, 2010, 10:07 AM

1. There is no direct upgrade path from Evolution to Revolution.

I read in the PDF documentation that automatic upgrades were supposed to happen in the release candidate. So this didn’t happen as planned? Is there any guides that have been written for transferring from one to the other?

Quote from: BobRay at May 13, 2010, 10:07 AM

2. Revolution currently doesn’t work with IE7 (and possibly IE8), which could affect some of your users.

I assume we’re just talking about the front-end display of the admin side here, right? I don’t think this is too much of a problem. We can always tell users to use Chrome or something.

There are still no simple upgrade solutions for moving from Evo to Revo. This is planned, but I don’t know how far off it might be.

Most of it is fairly straightforward except for permissions.

I believe that you can now export and import the site_content table using PhpMyAdmin. All tags need to be changed to the new Revolution-style tags, but you could do that in the SQL dump file with search and replace or regex.

I think any custom snippets or plugins will have to be cut and pasted and some might need to be rewritten for Revolution.

MODx standard snippets and plugins (e.g. Wayfinder, getResources, TinyMCE) need to be downloaded using the Package Manager in Revolution.

The user permissions (if any) would have to be redone from scratch.

There is some information here that might help: http://bobsguides.com/migrating-revolution.html

Hope this helps.

I think we’ve decided we’re just going to cut our losses as far as learning the other system and go with Revolution. It looks very promising and should only get better. Thanks for all of the input it was very helpful.

Most of what you’ve learned will transfer fine and what you’re planning is the safest approach.

Welcome to MODx.