Creating a dummy store

[CaroleAs]

I have a store that works fine however, i would like to add some interesting add-ons to it, but i dont want to risk messing up what i managed to get working fine. How do i get to create a "dummy store" to test run any change or add-on?

Someone was mentioning something about Apachetriad, but i have NO CLUE what it is or how it works. Any suggestion?

[schoolboy]

I just create a "clone" of my real store, then either put it onto my "dev" system, of just stick it into a sub-directory** of the working site.

I've managed to make a full working clone of a complex website with 4000 products (into a sub-directory) in a little over 6 minutes...

**With added .htaccess and .htpasswd restrictions.

[CaroleAs]

Yeah, i can do that, but do i just copy and paste into a new directory and that is it? Shouldn't i run an install for the new store?

[schoolboy]

Somewhere on this forum (a couple of weeks ago) I posted the procedure to do this.

No... no "install run" needed. The original store was "installed", so whatever you "clone" will also be "installed".

basically, the process involves:

1. Create a database with a different name (easy in Cpanel) and then in phpMyAdmin COPY your live database into it.

2. COPY the zc folders/files in the root, to a sub-directory (quick & easy in Cpanel)

3. EDIT the two configure.php files to reflect the PATH and DATABASE changes.

4. CHMOD all folders/files to required settings

5. Run fix_cache_key.php to sort our cache ref in dbase.

That's it

[CaroleAs]

Ok i THINK i can do that. Sorry if the question was asked before, i guess the search i did, didn`t direct me to that thread.
Now, just waiting for my store/sites/blog/mail/control panel to be accessible (hopefully a short maintenance on the host)

[schoolboy]

I would add that these stores will be identical twins the first time you open them up, and (as I have discovered to my regret on several occasions), if you don't act quickly to make them NON-identical twins, you can find yourself doing the testing on the live site, and the legitimate required changes on the cloned site.

So, one of the FIRST things I do is load up NEW LOGOS - for both the admin panel AND the webshop in the clone...

These logos say THIS IS THE CLONE OF xxxxxxxxxx and the logos are just big, red banners!

[CaroleAs]

Ohhhhh.. good idea!!

[schoolboy]

Ok i THINK i can do that. Sorry if the question was asked before, i guess the search i did, didn`t direct me to that thread.
Now, just waiting for my store/sites/blog/mail/control panel to be accessible (hopefully a short maintenance on the host)

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136447

[CaroleAs]

Somewhere on this forum (a couple of weeks ago) I posted the procedure to do this.

No... no "install run" needed. The original store was "installed", so whatever you "clone" will also be "installed".

basically, the process involves:

1. Create a database with a different name (easy in Cpanel) and then in phpMyAdmin COPY your live database into it.

2. COPY the zc folders/files in the root, to a sub-directory (quick & easy in Cpanel)

3. EDIT the two configure.php files to reflect the PATH and DATABASE changes.

4. CHMOD all folders/files to required settings

5. Run fix_cache_key.php to sort our cache ref in dbase.

That's it

Hummm... what does that mean??
I am stuck there, i think.

[afo]

Change the permissions on the folders/files. You should be able to do that either with your FTP client or from your webmaster panel (CPanel, most likely). It's usually best to do it through your webmaster panel. You want to limit access to the folders to most of the world. Most folders should be set to 755. Some will need to be set to less depending on the setup of your server. If there's a problem with the setting, Zen Cart may display an error message about being able to write to a certain file or folder.