|
|
Rank: Newbie
Joined: 2/5/2008
Posts: 20
|
I know this is a repost, but seeing as we now have a whole sub section dedicated to creating packages, I figured I'd repost :D I'm trying to use the package creator created by Per Ploug Hansen and available at objects.dk. I'm not sure if I've installed it correctly because I couldn't really find any detailed installation instructions, so I kind of guessed :blush: It seems to be installed okish, I can see the package creator, but when I create a package, it doesn't save. Clicking the 'Save' or 'Save & Publish' button doesn't appear to do anything. Could be I'm not using it correctly, but if I am, has anyone else come up against this? Failing that, does anyone have a good guide to creating a package without using the tool mentioned above?
www.punkyduck.com
|
|
Rank: Addict
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 557
Location: Bad Homburg, Germany
|
Hi Roual, I am at the work to add a offline package creator to my ClientTools. I need some days to finish it, but it will come. Thomas
• 2007/2008 MVP • www.thoehler.com • Bad Homburg, Germany
|
|
Rank: Addict
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 579
Location: Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, UK
|
@Thomas, I look forward to this update as anything to speed up making packages will make my life easier. @Roual, creating packages is relatively easy. To create a package you need to create a zip file with a package.xml correctly structured and all the files at the root level of the zip. I recommend the easiest way to learn is to unzip my website wizard package if you want to see how to create a full website package or something simplier like my recent Gravatar or Twitter packages. If you have any questions about the package.xml let me know. //Warren
Warren Buckley - Umbraco MVP 07 & certified level 1 developer | Creative Web Specialist - Warren Buckley's Blog
|
|
Rank: Fanatic
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 201
Location: New York, NY, USA
|
I also installed the Package Creator (packager_rc2_1.0_rc2(2).umb).
Right-clicking on the "Package Creator" folder, I was able to create the node, and I filled out the various tabs, but clicking either the "Save" button or the "Save & Publish" button seemed to do nothing, until I noticed a tiny red asterisk (*) next to one of the fields. Ah... Once I filled something in the field, it saved just fine, and then I was able to "Save & Publish" as well.
However, when I clicked the link for the .umb file, I got the message "The page cannot be found". I then checked for the .umb file manually (via an FTP program) (the link was pointing to the directory 'data/exporter/') and did actually find the .umb file there. (I'm not sure why the link didn't work)
In terms of importing my new package, I did get a few errors from the XML file, which I was able to fix up quickly in a text editor. (The errors were not caused by the Package Creator, but by some characters I had in various macro prompts including " and & - after fixing those (changing " to ' and & to & it worked beautifully!)
Thanks, Per, for a great tool!
Heather
|
|
Rank: Fanatic
Joined: 7/20/2006
Posts: 383
|
Heather,
the reason why you couldn't download the umb-file is IIS-related.
By default IIS blocks files with unknown extentions and throws the page not found error. Sometimes IIS just throws a 404 (page not found) error and that can be quite a pain if you are sure that the page is actually there.
If you want to solve it, you'd have to have access to the server and change a setting in IIS. Not sure what exactly though from the top of my head, I would have to look that up.
Cheers,
PeterD
|
|
Rank: Fanatic
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 201
Location: New York, NY, USA
|
Thanks for the tip, Peter,
It's not a big problem for me since I have FTP access, and wouldn't imagine that content editors would need to make packages. :-)
Heather
|
|
Rank: Newbie
Joined: 10/30/2007
Posts: 11
|
Hello dear all Umbraco users & developers,
I'm also facing this issue of Umbraco deployment: shall I use packages or just copy the database & file-system.
Are packages able to copy also the content, like documents and media files?
What do you think would be the best practice to handle development -> release (acceptance testing/production) environment?
Thanks.
|
|
Rank: Addict
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 557
Location: Bad Homburg, Germany
|
I think this is something for the umbraco courier which Niels is doing. See the product page and this blog entry. Thomas
• 2007/2008 MVP • www.thoehler.com • Bad Homburg, Germany
|
|
Rank: Umbracoholic
Joined: 9/8/2006
Posts: 1,066
Location: KY, USA
|
Thomas is right, umbraco courier is the tool to use, and we're all anxious to get it. Until then, making a package of your site is a decent approach. BUT... only if you have reasonably simple sites. The package doesn't handle absolutely everything in a site. It won't handle dictionary items, for instance. Nor will it pick up any files (images, css, js, etc.) that aren't controlled by umbraco (though you can hand-code your package to include them). Nor will any changes required in your web.config or other umbraco settings files be handled. Also, be aware that the package installer will have difficulty if you try to install your website package on to of an existing website. There will probably be conflicts for docTypes, macros, templates, content nodes, etc. In some cases you may get duplicate entries that are tedious to remove (and often difficult to know which one you should remove). A full site package should only be installed into an empty umbraco installation and not used for continued development->production server updates. In other words, a package of your website might be absolutely perfect for your needs -- it is easy to make and fast to deploy -- but it has some limitations you need to be aware of. If you can zip the website's filesystem and backup/restore the database to the new server, that would also be fast and easy. Do remember, however, that when you over-write your production database you'll loose any log information you may have had there (as well as any member data) that might have been important. Yes, we're all looking forward to umbraco courier when these considerations will no longer be an issue. :) cheers, doug.
MVP 2007/2008 - Official Umbraco Trainer for North America - Percipient Studios
|
|
Rank: Newbie
Joined: 10/30/2007
Posts: 11
|
Thank you for your precise comments and guidelines.
Where can I find the packager .umb file to install it?
Now, regarding the packages, would a package overwrite and update template or document type, or will also duplicate the meta-content?
(in update packages would not be included any content documents).
|
|
Rank: Umbracoholic
Joined: 9/8/2006
Posts: 1,066
Location: KY, USA
|
You can get the latest version of the package creator at http://www.objects.dk/2007/8/29/packager-rc2.aspx. I don't recall which kinds of objects have a problem. Make a couple tests of updating a test site before using it on your production site... that will help you ensure you don't get any duplicates or other problems. Looking over my old notes, I found the following details that might be helpful. I believe they are still accurate but I haven't verified them. The key thing to remember is that packages were meant to be installed once, not used for updating existing packages. That's where you may run into issues with the simplicity of the package format. When trying to use a package to update an already installed package, I found the following behavior: Macro --> the .xslt file is over-written; a new macro is created (with same name/alias as existing macro) Stylesheet --> a new stylesheet is created (with the same name/filename as existing stylesheet) Template --> errors with "key in dictionary" if the template already exists Document Type --> over-writes existing document type Content node --> new content node(s) are created, with the same name and alias as the existing node(s) Hope this helps. cheers, doug.
MVP 2007/2008 - Official Umbraco Trainer for North America - Percipient Studios
|
|
Rank: Newbie
Joined: 10/30/2007
Posts: 11
|
Hi Douglas,
What about the media files? How can I include the media files in the package for them to be available again from the CMS? This would mean not just simply to add them in the right 'media' folder, but also to add them in Umbraco database with the Original Id. I've seen that the documents are exported with the original Id. Are they also imported with the same nodeId, if possible?
|
|
Rank: Umbracoholic
Joined: 9/8/2006
Posts: 1,066
Location: KY, USA
|
Id's are handled properly when the package is imported. Frankly, the process is a bit magical to me... but Per is a genius :) As for media items... RC2 doesn't do that, though you can have the package pull the images files themselves. I would recommend placing them outside the media folder to avoid any possible file/folder name contention. Take a look at either of the website wizard packages to see how they've handled the images. I haven't tried the recently posted 1.0beta yet ( http://www.objects.dk/2008/4/2/packager-10-beta.aspx) but it may have media support. cheers, doug.
MVP 2007/2008 - Official Umbraco Trainer for North America - Percipient Studios
|
|
Rank: Addict
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 557
Location: Bad Homburg, Germany
|
I released my packager in my ClientTools as v1.5.0 alpha1. @Warren: Your package.xml will not deserialize, cuase there are some boolean values incorrect: In xml boolean values have to be lowercase and attributes have to be in "". Will open a new thread tomorrow for the actual version. Thomas
• 2007/2008 MVP • www.thoehler.com • Bad Homburg, Germany
|
|
Rank: Addict
Joined: 7/19/2006
Posts: 579
Location: Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, UK
|
Hi Thomas Send me an email about this or alternatively we can discuss this at codegaren. //Warren
Warren Buckley - Umbraco MVP 07 & certified level 1 developer | Creative Web Specialist - Warren Buckley's Blog
|
|
|
Guest |