Some questions about ModX Revolution

• • 
  • 4 Posts
  th Reply #1, 16 years, 3 months ago

  Hi
  
  I’m thinking about giving ModX a real try. So far I have used Textpattern, I love it’s simplicity, but there are a few nagging points. What really caught my eye with modx was that I can output just about anything, including plain text, which is not so nice in Textpattern. And, more importantly, Textpattern forces some output syntax on me (some tags automatically add their own XHTML skeleton, which cannot be changed without changing the core code).
  
  Besides that I’ve been thinking about nice-to-have features and possibilities in a CMS. And I’m absolutely unsure whether modx fits the bill.
  
  Let me explain what I would love to see, one point after another. Please tell me whether and how this is supported (links to documentation, fora messages etc are fine, of course). And note that these aren’t must-haves, but the more I can accomplish with modx, the better.
  
  

  
  
  • Multi domain support
    I know that there is multi domain support via .htaccess, but is that also fully supported in the backend? Can I have something like Textpattern’s sections with several domain names assigned to those sections (and several sections to one domain name)?
  • Free URLs and URL routing
    I do have a historically grown URL structure and would really, really like to keep it. Without having to set up manual .htaccess rewrite patterns for every article. Can I define some kind of URL template for my sections?
  • URL management
    Sometimes articles are deleted. Or their URLs change. Is there a way to get automatic redirects (permanent) if the associated URL changes? To get a response "Gone" when an article is deleted?
  • Database requirements
    Any plans to support something different than MySQL in the future? Personally I love SQLite, since my sites aren’t too heavy on traffic and you can easily backup a file in the file system.
  • Caching, part I
    Can I influence caching HTTP headers like Cache-Control:, ETag: or Expires:? On a resource-by-resource basis?
  • Caching, part II
    Is there a way to make the generationof the actual output dependent on some counter, flag or other condition? What I’d love to see is modx not working hard to assemble the whole HTML page (including all this snippet evaluation and template-filling) and respond "304 Not modified" after only evaluating said condition (maybe a comment counter encoded into the ETag)?
  • Test server
    How easy is it to have a test or staging server with a different host name and to copy the database and the file system? I suppose I’d have to alter several entries in the data base to make it work with another hostname?

  
  Okay, I think these are my most pressing questions.
  
  Thanks!
• • ☆ A M B ☆
  • 3,141 Posts
  Mark Hamstra Reply #2, 16 years, 3 months ago

  Hiya Th, welcome to the Forums
  
  I’ll see what I can answer for you.
  
  Quote from: th at Jun 26, 2010, 03:07 AM

  
  Hi
  
  I’m thinking about giving ModX a real try. So far I have used Textpattern, I love it’s simplicity, but there are a few nagging points. What really caught my eye with modx was that I can output just about anything, including plain text, which is not so nice in Textpattern. And, more importantly, Textpattern forces some output syntax on me (some tags automatically add their own XHTML skeleton, which cannot be changed without changing the core code).
  
  Besides that I’ve been thinking about nice-to-have features and possibilities in a CMS. And I’m absolutely unsure whether modx fits the bill.
  
  Let me explain what I would love to see, one point after another. Please tell me whether and how this is supported (links to documentation, fora messages etc are fine, of course). And note that these aren’t must-haves, but the more I can accomplish with modx, the better.
  
  

  
  
  • Multi domain support
    I know that there is multi domain support via .htaccess, but is that also fully supported in the backend? Can I have something like Textpattern’s sections with several domain names assigned to those sections (and several sections to one domain name)?

  
  I’ve never done this before, but a quick google gave me this tutorial: http://www.modxcms.de/multiple-domains-with-modx.html
  
  Also, in Revolution (which is nearing RC3 and should be PL next month-ish afaik), you can have different "contexts". As it’s not pl yet and still relatively new, the documentation is not as huge as for evolution, but you can find some information here: http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/revolution/Using+One+Gateway+Plugin+to+Manage+Multiple+Domains
  
  

  • Free URLs and URL routing
    I do have a historically grown URL structure and would really, really like to keep it. Without having to set up manual .htaccess rewrite patterns for every article. Can I define some kind of URL template for my sections?
  • URL management
    Sometimes articles are deleted. Or their URLs change. Is there a way to get automatic redirects (permanent) if the associated URL changes? To get a response "Gone" when an article is deleted?
  • Database requirements

  You can set Friendly URLs with different aliases per resource (page). You can use friendly alias paths also when using folders so you could have /news/todays-weather-forecast or anything. When you travel to an url that can not be found, MODx will serve the visitor a 404 page which you can modify exactly like a regular resource. You could have it say "Gone".
  
  If you must get a different response after a news item has been removed, it is possible to work something out using a Template Variable. Then, in your template (maybe in conjunction with a plugin) you can have it return an error you describe, or send the page to your "gone" page.
  
  

  [list][li]Any plans to support something different than MySQL in the future? Personally I love SQLite, since my sites aren’t too heavy on traffic and you can easily backup a file in the file system.

• Caching, part I
  Can I influence caching HTTP headers like Cache-Control:, ETag: or Expires:? On a resource-by-resource basis?
• Caching, part II
  Is there a way to make the generationof the actual output dependent on some counter, flag or other condition? What I’d love to see is modx not working hard to assemble the whole HTML page (including all this snippet evaluation and template-filling) and respond "304 Not modified" after only evaluating said condition (maybe a comment counter encoded into the ETag)?

• Test server
  How easy is it to have a test or staging server with a different host name and to copy the database and the file system? I suppose I’d have to alter several entries in the data base to make it work with another hostname?

Okay, I think these are my most pressing questions.

Thanks!