Any easier way to do this?

[taufikp]

Hi guys!

Is there an easy way to transfer contents, templates, stylesheets, menus from development server to production server? Usually I will just copy and paste them. Is there any clever way to do this?

[lollipop27]

You just have to make a dump of the database and transfer that to the other one, or do I get you wrong?

[taufikp]

IMO, Dumping MySQL data only works well for new deployment. Well, I did not explain my point clearly anyway

Usually I'm working in a development server before I deploy the final result into production server, and I;ll transfer the contents, style sheets, or whatever things needed to be transfered, through copy and paste. This is by far the safest method. I once tried to do Mysql dump into a production server and I messed up the prod server badly. I lost the Menu manager, Themes manager and Module manager. That's why I don't do mysql dump anymore.

So I'm looking for another method of data transfer between development server and production server.

[lollipop27]

This is weird, MySQL Dump always worked fine with me...

do you have the complete site on your development server? because then you could just erase the database on the other server and replace it with the one on you development server.... but if you don't want to this, I have no other Idea...

[taufikp]

Actually now my development server has more modules than the production servers. I always try to keep the prod server simple and light, in production server unnecessary modules will not be installed. This is also another reason why MySQL dump method won't work.

[Signex]

You really copy and paste all content pages ? What are you going to do when transfering a website with 200 news items or something?

The only way I know which is simple and fast is getting a DB Dumb and copying your files , edit the config.php and youre done!

Cant you uninstall unused modules before transfering ?

[taufikp]

Yes, copy and paste 200 items would be... UGH!  But yeah, I really did copy and paste all pages, templates, and stylesheets, not the articles though, from dev server to prod server. Fortunately the total items were less than 20. After that, me and my designer were working on prod server exclusively to add more site features.

Uninstalling unused modules in dev server before transferring also seems to be a compromise (sacrifice?) we have to take at the moment. I have to say that uninstalling and reinstalling modules is not a joy.

DB dump is the only easiest and fastest way at the moment? That's true. But if the dev server has more modules than prod server, DB dump won't really help. Here's an example: I did a DB dump from my co-developer machine (CMSMS with standard modules) to my machine (CMSMS with lots of module), only to find that I had to reinstall CMSMS in my machine because I lost Theme Managers, Module Managers, and Menu Managers.

Here's an idea:
How about writing a module that works (and maybe looks) like an FTP client. Instead of transferring file physically, the data transfer is happening from dev's DB to prod's DB.

[kermit]

Actually now my development server has more modules than the production servers. I always try to keep the prod server simple and light, in production server unnecessary modules will not be installed. This is also another reason why MySQL dump method won't work.

by doing your development on an install that has a bunch of extra modules and other clutter; you're only adding extra work for yourself when it does come time to move that site to its permanent home.

when we do a new site, we use a fresh install of whatever the stable release is; installing only what that site needs. when it's done, it's just a couple minutes work to move the site to where it needs to be.

we keep a "loaded" development install for just testing modules before implementing what we NEED for a given site. we also have a straight default install that we can use and abuse.. either one can be 'reset' back to to the way it was with just a few mouse clicks.

But if the dev server has more modules than prod server, DB dump won't really help. Here's an example: I did a DB dump from my co-developer machine (CMSMS with standard modules) to my machine (CMSMS with lots of module), only to find that I had to reinstall CMSMS in my machine because I lost Theme Managers, Module Managers, and Menu Managers.

there is no reason why you cannot have multiple installations of cmsms on the same "development" system. why keep throwing stuff into the same "loaded down" install? just make a new directory, or subdomain, and set up a different install for each site you work on.