How to flatten the MODX learning curve?

Hi, I dont think my experience is enough to know what would really help the most, but I wonder what are the prime suspects when talking about getting the system to be more easy to be adopted. And I dont think I need to explain why getting this curve flatter is so important.

For me, I just had to jump in and figure it out, didn't have any options really. And of course it was hard at first. But I don't know what the biggest barriers are across user experiences.

So, what do people think? What are the biggest barriers to people getting started with MODX?

There are plenty of excellent tutorials, videos and otherwise, it's just a matter of finding them. Of course, now with the Manager changes in 2.3 they will need updating...

Yeah, there is a mish-mosh of different resources spread out over the net, and no way to easily know what is old info and what is fresh. Ubuntu is the same way. For me it was knowing how to cut the website up into chunks, and the css that gave me fits. And I still don't know how to deal with anything but pure html and css.

But i wonder for newer people, what made them hit the wall and contemplate at least going in another direction. For instance, recently I had trouble with login and register, well login wasn't too bad I guess, but registration was a bit of a pain with multiple interlinking resources...

I am thinking, identify those areas where the curve is steep, and create a solid if basic solution to lower the grade (here a good thing to do). Do that three times and the curve is much more managable.

A low curve is like an open doorway, inviting and attractive. A high curve is a big padlock on that path.

There are many shortcuts but unfortunately newcomers don't know about them. For example, register can be really confusing, even for experts, but the Subscribe extra will handle most of the register headaches for you. There's also (I think) a blog post I wrote about the various Register resources, but even I can't find it.

The site in my sig. has lots of information for new MODX users. So does my book: http://modx.com/learn/modx-books/modx-the-official-guide/, though many people may not want to buy the book until they're sure they want to use MODX -- catch-22.

http://discovermodx.com is good resource.

I now have a commenting feature enabled in the Cookbook (cookbook.sottwell.modxcloud.com) in each topic page (well, some of them, I'm slowly getting things done). So if there is an area where someone thinks some "recipes" would be helpful, don't hesitate to say so! [ed. note: sottwell last edited this post 12 years, 3 months ago.]

I want a recipe for upgrading a traditional distribution site that's been hardened by moving the core outside the web root and renaming the manager.

I've tried just upgrading with the advanced distribution, but although it may have worked, the version number displayed in the Manager didn't change.

Hm. I don't see where in 2.3 it displays the version number at all.

Quote from: BobRay at Jul 18, 2014, 12:32 AM

I want a recipe for upgrading a traditional distribution site that's been hardened by moving the core outside the web root and renaming the manager.

I've tried just upgrading with the advanced distribution, but although it may have worked, the version number displayed in the Manager didn't change.

Here u go:

1. Download the latest trad install.
2. Backup EVERYTHING
3. Copy the Setup and Core folders into the root of the site, If you have split frontend and backend, add these to the root fo the backend.
4. Copy the components from your old core into the new one:
/myoldcore/components
/mysite/core/components
5. Open the file: /mysite/setup/includes/config.core.php. Add the CONFIG_KEY of your site here.
6. Make this file 777 writable
7. Copy your actual config file from your old core to the new one you just copied up:
/myoldcore/config/my_config_key.inc.php
/mysite/core/config/my_config_key.inc.php
Make shure its 777
8. Open the config.core.php in the root of your site (and the one in connectors and point it to the new core you just copied up:
/mysite/config.core.php


/mysite/connectors/config.core.php


9. Run the installer http://mysite/manager/setup/
10. Choose Upgrade and make MODx installer tick all the boxes by making folders 777

At this point u have update the DB, but not the files.
Your CMS will most likely be horribly broken.

11. Copy the contents of the traditional manager folder over your files
assets
controllers
min
templates
index.php

12. Copy the connectors from the download over your files
13. Clear the site cache => This should get the manager working

You will now want to put the core back where it belongs, IE where the old one was outside the webroot.

14. Move the core to its new home!
15. Open
/mysite/config.core.php
/mysite/connectors/config.core.php

Update these to point to the new location of the core.
Clear cache....U should be done.

PS: Would appreciate feedback on the above.
I've done it 20 times now, so I might be missing some steps I do without noticing.

Thank you. I do have some comments.

First, I find it hard to believe that there isn't an easier way with fewer steps. I certainly hope so, since that's a pretty tortuous process to do for every upgrade.

Second, I'm probably just being dense, but I can't make any sense out of the second half of step three. What do you mean by "If you have split frontend and backend"? And when you say "Copy the Setup and Core folders into the root of the site" I assume you mean the new ones from the downloaded, but that should probably be more explicit.

Since it looks like you're doing a destructive copy of the core folder (rather than a merge), you might need to copy more than just the components folder if you've put anything else under the core directory (though you probably shouldn't).

Finally, I think setting the files to 777 may make things fail on any of the many hosts that use suPHP, suExec, or similar, because they like to have folders set to 644.