shop maintenance strategies - to keep local and remote shop versions synchronized?

[dause]

Hi,

Before I go online with my shop I need to find out how to best keep the local development version synchronized with the live shop on the remote server.

1. I am planning to do all catalog related work on the local copy and then import the changes to the remote server.
2. I also need to export all customer related data from the remote server for backup reasons. I have in mind to send the encrypted dump as a daily email to myself.
3. thirdly I will most probably have to add some functionality to the shop after going online. All modifications will be tested on the local copy and then moved over to the remote server.

Which tools are you using for these tasks?
Currently I am using mysqldump to export selected tables and mysqladmin to import the changes.
I am using PDT eclipse for php development and WinSCP to keep the local and remote copies of the shop folder synchronized. I have to admit I am not very happy with WinSCP since it requires too much input from my side. Is there a tool that works more reliably? (automated reconnect, don't try to overwrite files that are write protected on the remote server)

Thanks for any comments and recommendations!

Andreas

[gjh42]

I like Notepad++ for PHP file editing. I have heard that Eclipse is good - maybe better, not sure what all it does.
Filezilla works well for FTP. It does have one-click reconnect; it may be able to be set to not even try to overwrite protected files (I haven't tried for that.)

phpMyAdmin works for exporting and importing db contents.

[dause]

I like Notepad++ for PHP file editing. I have heard that Eclipse is good - maybe better, not sure what all it does.

Yep, I have used Scintilla which is very similar to notepad++ and also PSPad in the past for php editing.
But then had I never worked with a script as large as zen-cart. I quickly became lost with that huge script and found it next to impossible to find out all the interdependencies within the code.
I then decided to give eclipse a try and it is just great.
The installation is a breeze (just unpack the downloaded archive anywhere on your computer and you are ready to go.)
Eclipse PDT is very stable and it has so many invaluable features that I can't even give an overview. Here are some links instead:
http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/
http://www.zend.com/en/community/pdt
There is a debugger included (actually you can choose among two different debuggers that are preconfigured)
Setting up the debugger was a bit of a hassle but that time was well spent. Using the debugger it is so much easier to understand what is actually going on in the code. You can set breakpoints or step through the code. hovering over varaiable names will display the current variable value and all in all it feels like looking at the code with X-ray glasses

Filezilla works well for FTP. It does have one-click reconnect; it may be able to be set to not even try to overwrite protected files (I haven't tried for that.)

Hm yes, but is Filezilla able to monitor a loocal directory and automatically upload a file to the server once it has been created/overwritten in the local directory? I did not find how to set this up with Filezilla. This can be done with WinSCP but as I said it still requires too much user input to keep it going.

phpMyAdmin works for exporting and importing db contents.

I did not find how to create a partial dump of the database (only catalog data, customer data, or system data) using phpMyAdmin. that is why I switched to using the mysqldump utility (which comes as part of the mysql installation)

Andreas

[gjh42]

Eclipse sounds interesting. If it's not too big for my old computer to handle, I may try it.
Filezilla does not have an automatic file monitoring function that I know of.
PhpMyAdmin can export any selected group of tables, though I don't know if there is a convenient way to preselect groups that can be recalled with one click. You can probably save a SQL query that does it and paste that in, but if you have another method you are happy with, great.

[yellow1912]

Many people here recommend Notepad++, it's good for small projects, maybe several files edit. Never good for working with a large module, you need something that can help you to:
1. Suggest the function name and autocomplete (I can type zen_i and it then list all these functions for me to use)
2. Suggest parameter list
3. Jump to the definition of a specific function
4. Syntax warning
......
Eclipse/Aptana is a good choice. My company've me Zend, and Im happy with it.