CMS Made Simple Forums

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!!!

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.

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

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.

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!