Answered Create a seperate test and live environment with Modx Revolution

FYI,
I am completely new to CMS, but I am very knowledgeable in HTML/CSS coding.
Specs:
Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
PHP 5.5.11
MySQL

I have been tasked to create a new Modx site with Revo for my company's intranet.
I would like to know how to setup the live(main) site, then setup a test site that i can do all my experimenting with. because i have had to reload my main site 4 times now because i broke it with template installs.

i have found many tutorials on how to move a site, but i havn't been that successful in finding a site or tutorial around the internet that can help me with my issue that doesn't require more knowledge than i have, to walk thru the tutorial.

i mean, i don't mind walking brainlessly thru a tutorial that will accomplish what i need, but being able to expand on that tutorial knowing what i am doing so that i can make changes better suited to my needs would be the best things ever.

Thanks in advance.

I set up a subdomain (ie, "test.domain.com"), and make a separate instal. Then just copy any changes over to the main site once they are tested. I also keep the databases separate to make it easier to wipe the test site and start over (with a copy of the main).

You can also use Vapor or teleport to sync the servers.

Vapor works just as well for backup and import from or into any MODX installation. It creates a standard transport.zip file, much like the initial core.transport.zip file, that is installed via Package Manager. I use it to install pre-developed basic sites into new installations. You can have Vapor transport packages for basic multilanguage sites, for whole startup sites based on different templates, for backups, or anything else a full site transport package might be useful for.

Teleport would probably be even more flexible and useful, but I haven't worked with it. Too many dependencies to set up, and I've gotten lazy.

Susan, have you got Vapor to work with a hardened setup?

No, I think it only works with standard installations. Teleport would be the solution for hardened installations, I would presume. It generates a site profile which then allows it to create the package (or whatever it does). Anyone doing serious development shouldn't have any problem setting it up, I just haven't had the need to bother with it.

The problem is that in a hardened install, the config.core.php files will almost always contain hard-coded paths that won't translate to the target site.

It's possible that if the config.core.php files contain a generic relative path (e.g., '../core/' and ../../core/) it might work, but Vapor would have to have write permission for the target directories.

Teleport is the advancement of Vapor in a lot of ways but hrhartist also mentioned running Windows Server which I think rules out both of those options in the large part due to their command line requirements.

It's kinda hard to advise on the best solution as I'm not sure on what hrhartist is actually after .... is it just having a test site or is it more the case of moving changes between test and live that's the issue. More information on specific requirements would be great

Quote from: BobRay at May 31, 2014, 10:19 PM

A separate MODX install on the server as WillyP describes is one common way.

Another is to set up an Apache server on your local computer with XAMPP (or LAMP).

Once you have the server set up, you can move a copy of the existing site to your local machine by following the steps here: http://rtfm.modx.com/revolution/2.x/administering-your-site/moving-your-site-to-a-new-server.

You should know up front that MODX is not particularly good about having a "staging" site and then deploying changes to the live site. The most common method is to use the second site for testing and occasionally cut-and-paste things from there to the live site.

i figured the cut/paste method would be what i would need to do.
but, if i setup an apach or xampp server when i do cut/paste things over it will be compatible with my windows/iis 8.5 setup correct?

i doubt we use it for more than testing out different/new look and feel changes and if the plugins we find are what we want

If you're just editing CSS, HTML, and PHP code, the platform shouldn't matter.