Upgrading from Revo 2.2.0 to 2.2.4

I'm running a site on 2.2.0 revo, and now a blog is required on the site. After looking around i discover the add-on called Article which can be used to create a blog. However, the latest version of this add-on is at 1.6.2 and it states that it can only run on modx revo 2.2.1 and above, meaning i need to upgrade. The problem with upgrading is that, as i understand it, i first need to make sure all other add-ons are updated, and the last time i did this for tinymce it rendered that add-on un-usable and took many days to finally get it working again. On a thread i started to try and solve the problem, immediate reactions where that the reason tinymce broke down was because i updated it (see https://forums.modx.com/thread/?thread=76418&page=2 . So my worry is updating anything in case it causes conflicts with anything else and renders it useless, and overall i'm just looking for some pointers on what to do next...

I have many add-ons installed via package management and the site now works Ok so i worry about potentially risking this on a live site. Any help or advice would be well appreciated. Thanks

(my alternative is to manually install an older version of Article, but it states this is not recommended and that latest versions should be installed).

Articles is nice, but not necessary. Really, all it does is cause the blog posts to not appear in the Tree, and inserts a lot of pre-configured getPage and getResources calls into its templates. You can use a "branch" of the Tree for your blog just fine. You might even find something like FrontPage or NewsPublisher more appropriate for your situation.

Ok, thanks. like i said, i only just started looking for a blogging solution on revo since i've not implemented it before. When you say use a 'branch' of the tree for a blog, how do you mean exactly.. & i really need something like a conventional blog where say comments can be left, with some kind of captcha / anti spam inclusion, and probably excerpts from the blog to be displayed on another section of the site such as a right column in site-wide template.

Just because the last upgrade wonked tinyMCE, doesn't mean it will again. 2.2 offers other goodies that you'll like such as media sources, and of course Articles.

If you're building the blog from the ground up, Articles sure does simplify it and also offers a UI for settings that you wouldn't necessarily have otherwise.

Can you create a duplicate of your site on localhost and run the upgrade there first to test it?

Articles just uses Quip for commenting. Again, something that you can implement yourself.

Really, while Articles is very convenient since everything you need gets installed with it, and it has a Custom Manager Page for configuring almost everything in one place, there's nothing that you can't set up yourself, except for the part about the resources not being listed in the Tree.

• getResources
• getPage
• Archivist
• tagLister
• Quip

Thanks again for your comments, i'll look into these areas suggested. So back to my original conundrum, whether or not to upgrade from 2.2.0 to 2.2.4, is this something revo users do regularly- updating to the latest versions?

Yes, I update quite often, and seldom have a problem.

Ok Susan, and when performing an upgrade, are system settings affected? Over time i have made a number of changes to these settings, but i'd have to think carefully if all the changes i've made would be lost or reset in the event of an upgrade. Generally, what is the best practice or process you follow when upgrading?

And other settings such as user controls and permissions, are these affected at all. I'm still very new to site development let alone modx revo, so excuse my lack of knowledge here.

They shouldn't be. The database shouldn't have any existing values changed; all an upgrade would do would be to add fields or tables if necessary. Old core files will get overwritten, but any files you have added, such as your images or .js files, won't be disturbed.

Of course, it goes without saying that you make a full backup before doing anything.