CMSB v1.34 Beta: Backup & Restore (Sign up here!)

I've just sent out v1.34 Beta 1 to all the beta testers. Check for that email with download instructions.

Here's some notes on the new features:

Backup & Restore - You can now backup & restore your MySQL database under: Admin > General Settings > Database Settings. Backing up creates an .sql file in /data/backups/ and Restoring allows you to select a file from that directory to restore. Backup your MySQL with another tool before testing this feature (or test it on a dev environment).

Note that to backup an entire site you'd want to first create a MySQL backup with the software, then download all the files (including CMS Builder (with the backup file) and your uploads and viewer files).

Filepath changes - We've moved some things around. The only manual change you will have to make is to copy any custom plugins from /lib/plugins/ to /plugins/ (and the program will remind you to do this if you forget). We've added a step 4 to the "how to upgrade.txt" that lists some files you can remove if desired:

4) Remove these files & folders if they exist:

/[cmsAdmin]/css/ui.css (removed in v1.34 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/style.css)
/[cmsAdmin]/css/ui_ie6.css (removed in v1.34 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/style_ie6.css)
/[cmsAdmin]/css/wysiwyg.css (removed in v1.34 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/lib/wysiwyg.css)
/[cmsAdmin]/images/ (removed in v1.34 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/lib/images/)
/[cmsAdmin]/tinymce3/ (removed in v1.34 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/3rdParty/tiny_mce/)
/[cmsAdmin]/lib/plugins/ (removed in v1.34 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/plugins/ *MOVE PLUGINS BEFORE REMOVING*)

/[cmsAdmin]/lib/menus/accounts/ (removed in v1.24 - no longer needed, merged with /lib/menus/default/)

/[cmsAdmin]/tinyMCE/ (removed in v1.06 - moved to /[cmsAdmin]/tinymce3/)


New Menu Option - We added an option "Always Show Expanded Menu" under: Admin > General Settings > Advanced Settings. If you don't have very many menu options and you want them to always show then you may prefer this.

Let me know any bugs, comments, feedback, etc.

Thanks!

It seems to be working great without any bugs found yet.

Here's what I did as a test to see how it would work in a live environment of transferring a website from one domain name to another domain name (same server though)

Step 1 - Perform a database back up via the original website CMS Builder under General Settings

Step 2 - FTP CMS Builder from the original website to the destination website

Step 3 - Restore the database back up via the CMS Builder under General Settings and update any settings and directories



Notes:

Make sure any custom upload paths are updated for all upload fields

You can optionally install a fresh copy of CMS Builder to the destination website and FTP just the data, plugins, & uploads folder from your original website to your destination website (except the settings.dat.php in the data folder)


It's a pretty quick and painless operation to do this.

Thanks!

Kenny

"Always Show Expanded Menu" is a great function. If you could take this under consideration, it would help out even more, but it is not a dire need at all.

Some websites have lots of sections and having it always expanded defeats the purpose of being able to collapse them. But that same exact site might have many users - some of which only have access to one or two sections.

It would be nice to be able to control this at the user level if possible. That way, the main admins can have theirs collapsed by default and the non-admins can have their few menu items expanded by default.

Not a big deal at all, but just a nice feature if we had it.

Thanks!!

Kenny

Hi Kenny,

Good idea. What if we had it so if you had a checkbox field called alwaysShowExpandedMenu in the user accounts menu then then that field would override the global setting?

That would be awesome. I think it would be the best route and offer the most flexibility.

Hi Dave

All my testing has gone very well. I am very impressed with the backup feature. Definitely simplifies life!

One very minor issue I noticed: When in the Section Editors menu (Admin -> Section Editors), if the "Menu Name" col is long (one of mine is "Merchandise Order Information"), then the name wraps, but the second line starts 2 characters to the left of the first. Makes it look like an indented menu!

Thanx for a great product!

Hi Dave,

It would be possible to hide a section in User Accounts (in the list Section Access) for the editor ?
Only admin would have access to the sections hidden.

Perhaps with an option in : Admin > Section Editors > Section Name > Advanced (Admin Only)

Thanks for the feedback.

Djulia

Hi Dave,
Still grinding this one out. So far, the backup seems to work fine. Just running through the other features (some from v1.33). Sorry I wasn't as quick as the others to respond. More to come.