Dealing with differences between MySQL and vBulletin Templates in version control

[merk]

Having completly moved into SVN mode for working on my website, I have come across a dilemma with regard to templates and mysql changes.

Does anyone have any tips on the best way to tackle it? At the moment i have a MYSQLCHANGES file in the repository that i use to track changes i make to mysql locally and when i commit/update i run those same queries on the live database.

Is there a better way to deal with MySQL changes?

How about templates in the database? Im really stuck to deal with this one. I have no idea. Is it possible to write a script to fetch template changes and then put them back into a database? (I guess this applies to a working copy without version control too!)

[Colin F]

As the templates are saved in one of those huge xml files, you might be able to compare those...

[merk]

But those template xml files are for the raw style as provided by jelsoft, not including modifications for anything i do.

Though, i guess i could export the style and any customisations made to it before i commit.

[Colin F]

Yes, possibly.

Or if you compare the two default files, you would see what changes were made and could manually add them.

[merk]

Searching through the subversion manual, i guess i could run a post-commit hook.

http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/ch05s02.html#svn-ch-5-sect-2.1

But, that would only be on the repository side of things, not on the working copy side.

/me ponders.

[dwh]

Having completly moved into SVN mode for working on my website, I have come across a dilemma with regard to templates and mysql changes.

Does anyone have any tips on the best way to tackle it? At the moment i have a MYSQLCHANGES file in the repository that i use to track changes i make to mysql locally and when i commit/update i run those same queries on the live database.

Is there a better way to deal with MySQL changes?

How about templates in the database? Im really stuck to deal with this one. I have no idea. Is it possible to write a script to fetch template changes and then put them back into a database? (I guess this applies to a working copy without version control too!)

I haven't set up subversion on the server though I try to use it locally. Still learning the system though.

For MySQL it depends on the table, but I actually want to compare data sometimes and after firing up phpmyadmin, first sort data on a suitable column. Sometimes id is best, sometimes title is best. I compare it to my test server and do the same data sort.

Then I export table structure and data. In some cases I only do table structure. I save all the files in name.sql format. Then I can easily compare them and by being careful about the sorting, it's easy to compare. Templates might even be comparable that way, but I found a better way to handle that.

If you turn on debug mode, there is an undocumented feature to backup data files to flatfiles...you must create a directory called template_dump in the forums directory. Make sure it is writable. Don't forget to turn debug mode on.

Then go to this url:

http://www.yourdomain.com/forums/admincp/template.php?do=createfiles&dostyleid=1

Add the files to subversion and presto bingo, templates are done.