dev server indicator

[habreu]

Very minor feature suggestion but it might be nice to have a 'show dev server header' checkbox so that if checked a header would appear with whatever message i.e. "This is the DEV server"

I try stuff on the dev server which is a copy of the live server and on occasion get confused when juggling testing and live customers at the same time.

[William Davis]

Good idea, I had the same problem. Would it be possible to create some type of conditional to display a global development header with branch name. Miva currently display's a pop-up widget.

[Rick Wilson]

In the future there really shouldn't be a "dev server" setup, in Template Branches it already works this way. Any reason you're not using Template Branches yet?

[habreu]

Not sure. Previously I used the browser's userChrome.css to give a different look to the page- but lost during updates at ssome point and would have to research it again. In any case I have other users I wanted to allow access so to practice importing and exporting csv to create and change products but I am afraid to let experiment with the live site or risk them making a change thinking they are on the dev site. As little as I know I am still the most familiar with Miva and other tech issues in our office.

[Rick Wilson]

We won't be adding anything to "dev sites" to distinguish them, as our intention is for an actual separate dev site to no longer exist. Template Branches are designed to replace the need for Dev Sites.

[habreu]

Hmmm.. truthfully I recently upgraded and only used them once to take a look at the Shadow template code. I'll have to read more about their purpose and how they work. Thanks.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Just add something like body { border: 4px solid red } to your dev css. this should not effect layouts much but will give you a clear indication that you are on a dev server

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

We won't be adding anything to "dev sites" to distinguish them, as our intention is for an actual separate dev site to no longer exist. Template Branches are designed to replace the need for Dev Sites.

well, you're going to have to figure out how to branch at least the catalog and module use and settings before that's going to happen :)

[ids]

well, you're going to have to figure out how to branch at least the catalog and module use and settings before that's going to happen :)

Also need to fix the issue of theme data being overwritten in the production branch when a different theme is added to a development branch. Leslie reported this issue a few weeks ago.

Scott

[William Davis]

Also need to fix the issue of theme data being overwritten in the production branch when a different theme is added to a development branch. Leslie reported this issue a few weeks ago.

Scott

That caused us to upset the SEO Gods and took us a while to figure out what was going on.

[lesliekirk]

We won't be adding anything to "dev sites" to distinguish them, as our intention is for an actual separate dev site to no longer exist. Template Branches are designed to replace the need for Dev Sites.

What if there is a need to test something outside the realm of framework design? Payment and Tax modules come to mind.

[habreu]

well, you're going to have to figure out how to branch at least the catalog and module use and settings before that's going to happen :)

Did I jump the gun in getting rid of my dev server then? So they share the catalog and modules - have to keep that in mind then. So I should only use this to test template changes then.

[lesliekirk]

Did I jump the gun in getting rid of my dev server then? So they share the catalog and modules - have to keep that in mind then. So I should only use this to test template changes then.

The only thing you can make changes to within the branches are the templates. If you make a change out side of the User Interface it WILL affect the entire store. If you do not see the branch select drop down while working on something you will be impacting the live site too. So to answer your question - yes.

[Rick Wilson]

There are definitely things to flush out to fully eliminate Dev servers, but the underlying point of my post was we need to know what your needs are to achieve that, and that we won't be adding features that are separate for a "dev site" since those are going away as soon as is practical.

[habreu]

The only thing you can make changes to within the branches are the templates. If you make a change out side of the User Interface it WILL affect the entire store. If you do not see the branch select drop down while working on something you will be impacting the live site too. So to answer your question - yes.

Okay good to know. Most of my experimenting is with the templates but for module tests I guess I'll need the dev server again. I assume that means I also can't test Miva upgrades either.

So for my needs I'd say ability to test modules and Miva upgrades before pushing to live site. I also think the ability to click a checkbox to have thy name and color of branches other than the primary one be reflected in the admin and store as visual cues to avoid errors. And if it is not already there the ability to limit access to branches.

I imagine duplicating customers, orders, products and images for multiple branches can use a lot of resources so maybe the ability to limit the test data i.e. 100 products, orders and customers? At least for me that is more than enough to make sure an upgrade or module doesn't break functionality.