Move template from sandbox to live Joomla website
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- Marco Conti
- Jr. Rocketeer
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I have a large website and I decided to reproduce the old template in Gantry.
Let's call the site site111.com.
I moved a clone to a different Cpanel in the same VPS, using a different domain, so that I developed the template at a link like this:
sandbox222.com/site111
Now the template is ready. I made sure that all of the changes I made were limited to the template. Nothing was changed in Joomla or the content at all.
I want to take the template I developed in the SandBox and install it on the original website
My strategy is as follows:
Install Gantry and the same (virgin) template on site111.com (the original site with the deprecated template)
Zip up template from sandbox222.com/site111 and move it to overwrite the just installed Gantry template on site111.com
Switch from old to new template in Joomla and hope the site will work as intended.
Even if the particles have different random numbers, it should not be hard to do a search and replace, but I'd rather not.
is there a better strategy than what I devised above?
Maybe install Gantry and then just move the developed template and have Joomla "discover" it?
Thank you
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- MrT
- Preeminent Rocketeer
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- Web Designer/Developer
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The best strategy is to use Akeeba backup and Akeeba kickstart to move a site.
That will copy the files and database and ensure that they are still in sync - it will also change your log and tmp paths to be correct and check you .htaccess file too.
Regards, Mark. - Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information.
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- Marco Conti
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 38
- Thanks: 0
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Unfortunately, that won;t work in my case.
The main website continued working while I was building the template on a clone, so now they are distinctly separate. Not just content eithe, we have campaigns, donations, landing pages, forms and other things that now make the original site and its clone too different to simply bring back the sandbox as it was a week ago.
However, I picked Gantry because it allowed me to recreate the exact same distribution of positions as the old template.
Where I couldn't replicate the position, I simply inserted a module in a the page by ID. I made sure that all the changes I made were in the template and not in Joomla.
Where those changes need to be made, it will happen in a second phase.
The problem is not moving the cloned website back, but to only move the Gantry template to the original website.
I noticed that particle have a random number associated with the class or ID. I don't know where that happens, if in the template or in the Gantry installation.
Incidentally, I have done this last week with a much simpler website and it worked fine, but this website is much more complicated, and I wanted to make sure my strategy was sound.
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- MrT
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 101084
- Thanks: 13481
- Web Designer/Developer
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You got lucky before. Each module in joomla has an ID and g5 uses that in some cases. You module ids may end up being different between your test and live sites. Nevertheless this will help
http://docs.gantry.org/gantry5/tutorials/moving-between-themes
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Regards, Mark. - Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information.
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- Marco Conti
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 38
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Actually, module IDs haven't changed between the live site and the sandbox. I was very careful to recreate the same module positions as the old template (were appropriate) and insert modules by ID where I had no other choice.
I was very careful to not change the live site since I forked it and the only things that got added were articles, donations and contact forms submissions.
The other site I did also used the same template and same method, but it was a simpler website.
My question is really about what the best way to install the template is.
Zip up the template from the sandbox, extract it on the live server and then install it through "Discover" or install the template and then overwrite the files with those from the sandbox.
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- MrT
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 101084
- Thanks: 13481
- Web Designer/Developer
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I suggest the latter. Install the template first and then overwrite the files - this will ensure that the database entries are correct for the template first. The you will absolutely need to ensure that every module ID, template ID, menu ID is exactly the same in both sites before you overwrite the files with the test ones. I'd suggest using something like j2xml to move the module/menu/article/category content for the database.
All of that said, the doc link I gave you will help but it's still and inherently risky process - you could break your site.
Good luck.
Regards, Mark. - Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information.
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