phpwcms Support Forum

Hi all.

I've got a production site running 1.2.4-DEV, and I have a local version (my development version) as well.

Typically, I make all my changes to the local copy, and then when it comes time to upgrade production, I export the "article", "article_content" and "file" tables, and import them on production.

That's worked fine until lately. Now, on production, the customer has the ability to modify their own articles - change some static pages, add news items, etc. Which is great, that's what they want to do and it means I don't have to do trivial changes for them anymore.

Problem is, now how do I update production? If I make structure or content changes on my local copy, I can't export/import because it will overwrite the changes they've made in production (which of course I don't have on my local copy).

How do the rest of you get around this problem?

What method do you use to upgrade production?

How do you merge or integrate changes you've made locally, with changes the customer has made on production?

Thanks for any advice.

PS: My 2 PHPWCMS websites are:
http://www.gosfordnetball.com.au
http://www.iceinspace.com.au

Cheers

Mike

Hi iceman,

What method do you use to upgrade production?

Online only.

At all sites I have created a HIDDEN section where customers can play around a little bit.
Small changes as modify/creat articles or add a news are settled on the fly.
For large changes determined divide into the hidden range copied, worked on and tested. Mostly thats my part.

My sites don´t use hacks.
I try to work always with automatik and relative navigation (Level-based).
Articles are provided with as many CPs as possible.
One critikal point for customers are the handmade absolute- internal- linking.

For bigger updates I make a quick backup.

Thats my way.

Gruß Knut