0.9.7, Contexts and availability via SVN

Hi all, I’m new to the MODx community so if I’m starting this topic in the wrong forum do let me know

We’re currently developing a multi-site/multi-domain solution for a client. We did a fairly extensive review last year of existing CMSes out there, and MODx came out on top (really like the flexibility it gives us code-monkeys!). One minor issue was the lack of proper multi-site support, but with 0.9.7 and the promises that it would include Contexts we were confident that we made the right choice.

Fast-forward nearly a year, and we’re still at the same stage. A few months back we looked into helping MODx development, however the lack of a 0.9.7 beta didn’t help, and the public SVN didn’t seem to include the 70% of completion that Contexts was said to have at the time. Looking around for more information or alpha code gave us no results.

We would appreciate it if the MODx developers could give us an indication if Contexts will actually appear in 0.9.7, and if so point at the code they are working on so we can help out. We understand that this is a community-developed project, so if there is anyone to blame for our decision to use MODx it is our own, however for our client lack of multi-site support is a deal-breaker.

If actual development of Contexts has yet to be started, then we will gladly modify MODx to support multiple sites/domains with one install and give back the changes for the MODx developers to use as they please. The current state of us not knowing what is being done and where we can help out is becoming rather frustrating, however.

I hope that the MODx developers can give a clear answer about 0.9.7 and Context-support. Either way, thank you for an awesome CMS.

Contexts are complete in 097.

that’s interesting, we’re in exactly the same situation. We decided that for projects that can’t wait we will customise the 096 version, try to use modules and snippets as much as possible to extend the core with the needed functionality, and wait what and when 097 will bring us.

Olaf

Quote from: rthrash at Aug 15, 2007, 01:03 PM

Contexts are complete in 097.

how can we get our grubby little mitts on it?
i, too, am quite interested in using modx for multi-domain setups.

There is a lot going on with 0.9.7 development right now, and though context support is complete in the API/framework, it is still being incorporated into the new manager interfaces.

However, let’s clarify the difference between the concept of Contexts and multi-site/multi-domain MODx usage.

Contexts are basically just a simple data structure which will serve as an organizational tool allowing system configuration settings to be overridden when accessing them, using the same core code, configuration, and database. Resources (documents, weblinks, etc.) can be isolated within or shared amongst them. The manager is a context, as is the front-end of the site.

From here, the scenarios for multi-site and multi-domain configurations and usage will vary greatly, and I hope that what will happen is...
[*] Users will identify detailed scenarios for multi-site/domain usage they are looking for and several distinct groups will emerge with sets of related requirements.
[*] Each group will help foster the development and maintenance of add-ons and extensions to the core which can be distributed as targeted packages for each set of related requirements.

For instance, consider a one-core, one-database, one manager, multi-domain installation where all domains are served by a single ’web’ context (i.e. a single index.php serves all domains). In this situation, a plugin to detect the domain the request is coming from could be used to quickly initialize a separate context with different pages.

Or another situation might be one database, one manager, one core, and multiple domains each with it’s own web root and context (separate index.php for each domain). In this case, each domain will be instantiating a unique context specific to the domain by default.

We can even find ways to support multiple-database, single manager, single core, multiple domains scenarios in the future. But the point is that those words (Contexts, Multi-Sites, Sub-Sites, etc.), by themselves, do not fully describe the problem or solution. Contexts do provide us the foundation on which to construct the solutions however. I imagine though that each scenario will need some specific support in the manager interface, so it makes sense to me that we strongly consider creating separate multi-site distributions that include those custom feature sets.

I know this is an old thread but just wondering what happened to contexts in the Evolution branch since 0.9.7.
I can’t seem to find any documentation about that.
Thanks.

Contexts were never a part of Evolution; 0.9.7 is Revolution.

Oh,
thanks for the clarification Susan.