Help - Time sensitive - Get Templates etc. back

[Moscool]

Greetings from a very shaky amateur... 

I have inherited a CMSMS-based web site and I am doing my best to add content and customise templates/style sheets as best as I can. Many times it's a case of cloning something that works and making minor mods...

I have read some of the topics in this section and some of the concepts are way above my understanding, so here is the question directly:

- Today I was trying to modify the width of columns in a template, so I created a new one, copied content, modified it etc. It also required the editing of one of the main style sheets. For some reason it hasn't worked. I have since found another way of doing things, so the idea was to revert to the previous version.

- This where my troubles began: I wanted to delete the new template and ended up deleting another one (fat finger)! I don't know which one and, although most pages seem to load okay at present this is going to come back to bite me. Is there a way to revert back to: (i) a previous version of the Templates list and (ii) a previous version of the Style Sheet? I have looked everywhere on the server and the files don't seem to exist. My host provides backups for several days so I may have an opportunity to get something back that way, but I don't know what to retrieve! Also, I have done quite a few content additions today, so I don't want to clone back the whole site.

Thanks!!!

[jmcgin51]

by default, the templates and stylesheets are stored in the database, not on the webserver, so you will need to restore an earlier version of your database.

I would back up the database as it is now, so you have a copy of your most recent edits, then restore a prior version (preferably the latest backup prior to your accidental template deletion).  Then restore your current database on a separate installation (probably a local install rather than on your host, but could potentially be done either way), and manually copy/paste the recent edits from the local install to the live install.

[Moscool]

I think it makes sense. Would be even better if I could use the old version as a local install and then simply pick up the couple of things I have deleted by mistake from there and add them back to the live install...

Now, how do I create a local install (on a Mac)?

Many thanks

[jmcgin51]

if you don't already have a webserver running on your local Mac, you need to install server software.  A package like MAMP (http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html) is very convenient.  For the record, I am a Windows/Linux user, so I have no first-hand experience with MAMP.

Also, keep in mind that the current version of CMSMS does not support PHP 5.3, so you'll need a webserver package with 5.2.x or earlier.

[Jan Cobb]

If you are running OSX, you should already have a version of the Apache web server installed; go to System Preferences:Sharing to see if it is already activated. You will have the opportunity to set up a site in /Users/yourUserName/Sites/ that should be viewable at http://localhost/~yourUserName/, or set up 'global' sites under /Library/WebServer/Documents that are accessible from http://localhost.

Use Google to find more detail about setting up the Apache server on your version of OSX; you will need to make changes to /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf (use the Finder's 'Go:Go To Folder...' to open the hidden folder), but make sure you BACK IT UP FIRST!