Thread

just curious how people work with development sites and then incorporate changes into live sites. for me it comes down to two options.

slow rout 1:
export database from dev, import to live. upload all new files. access control panel and change all settings (url’s and paths). usually miss something

OR

slow rout 2:
open two browser windows and copy/paste from dev to live, creating new templates/groups/weblogs/field groups/entries etc… think i’ve done all this before

i’ve tried setting up a development environment as close to my host (enginehosting) as possible, but the differences are too numerous to make any difference.

i think an ideal solution would be to push changed files (templates & groups), and then be able to export/import data, but leave config settings.

so… how do you guys work?

I pretty much do what you listed in #1 - I develop locally using MAMP Pro as my server/db environment, then when it’s ready to go live, I move the database and all files to the server, then quickly go into the CP to change all necessary paths, etc.

It’s not what I’d consider ‘easy,’ but it’s certainly not hard, and it seems reasonable considering what’s being done: moving a dynamic website across servers.

but if you have other people contributing content to either your stage or live environment, you have to go rout 2, which depending on how complex the update, or how frequent can be quite time consuming.