Looking for suggestions on how to Test Out A New Template

Hello,

I have a Zen Cart store that's over 10 years old with heavy traffic. It's running a modified version of the stock template. Soon, I have to start making the site mobile friendly, aka 'Responsive'.

Considered Option
Just get a free or paid template that's 100% responsive and install. However, that would create problems for me since lots of core files have been modified to work with current template.

Final Decision
Modify the current template to be responsive - Edit CSS.

Since the site gets lots of traffic, what would be the best way for me to test out the modifications to the template?

• Run the site locally on the computer? (Saw that it involves downloading extra software to mimic a server with PHP/SQL)

-** Create a duplicate store on a hidden directory on the server? Duplicate the files, yet keep the same SQL database?**

Thanks in advance

Create a duplicate store on a hidden directory on the server? Duplicate the files, yet keep the same SQL database?
But only with a separate database - not your live site database

kobra:

But only with a separate database - not your live site database

Understood :cool:

You might refer to this FAQ and the section titled

"How do I do an upgrade and still keep my live store running in the meantime?"

https://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading

If your site gets a lot of traffic, setting up a test server on a local machine is your best bet. Anything you do wrong on the live server will cost you $ fast. Having it locally will allow you to do more testing before you make changes.

Downloading & installing a webserver on your local machine is pretty simple: google ' how to install a wamp server' (Windows Apache, Mysql & Php).

Having it on your local machine means you will not run the risk of copying the file to myserver.com/store when you meant to copy it to myserver.com/test and you can test file changes without copying the file anywhere, just edit the file in your editor of choice, test, fix your mistake, test again, a whole lot faster than edit, upload, test, fix, upload, test...

Are you staying with the existing (10 year old) version? Would you not be better to move to 1.5.5?

i agree with pat that if you are looking to make changes, you should go all the way up to 1.5.5.

just making css changes to your existing template to make it responsive "could" be a lot of work... and that work is probably better spent on doing a full upgrade.

with regards to "how?", everyone has their own method for doing web development. running a test server locally with a test database is def the way to go; i have never used WAMP, but i'm sure that way could work fine.

alternatively, you could hire someone to do the upgrade for you. which is more money, but less headaches...

Ok, so I need one more advice on this.

At The Moment

1. I have started a brand new 1.5.5 store in a hidden folder and have tested the new template.
2. It's ready to be put in to the live store, thats 1.5.1

My Current Decision

1. Backup the files and the database.
2. Close the live site
3. Upload fresh files and upgrade to 1.5.5 from 1.5.1
4. Install the new template
5. Fix the small issues

I think I should be able to do above 4 steps within 6 hours on a night with least traffic. Would recommend a different way for me to have a live updated store with the new template?

This should take only about 15-30 minutes after preparation

1. Live site on maintenance
2. Backup the files and the database.
3. import the live site database into the new site db
4. re-run zc_install "upgrade database only"
5. delete current live site files
6. Use ftp to move files from hidden folder to where live site files were
7. edit 2 configure files to reflect the new location
8. test test test
9. you should be good to go

kobra:

2. import the live site database into the new site db

This is where I might have a problem. With my hosting, I am not able to import databases over 50MB. I am not allowed to edit php.ini file to take out the size restriction. In the beginning, I tried exporting the main database and tried to import it in to the 2nd testing one. Hit that wall!

This is where I might have a problem.
First clear out un necessary data
admin > tools > store manager > Empty Admin Activity Log table from the database
admin > tools > store manager > Optimize Database

Then you can check making a backup & choosing "custom" and selecting gzip for compression

Once backed up - try to import this same file into another db to check if it will be successful
If not - schedule with your host a time where they can do this step for you

Thanks for those steps. With compression, I as able to shrink the database size just below 50mb.

With compression, I as able to shrink the database size just below 50mb.
Were you able to successfully import it??

I imported it in to the new test site. However, it wasn't able to see it. So I scrapped that idea for now, and will follow direction steps on the first reply to this thread...

sle39lvr:

Ok, so I need one more advice on this.

At The Moment

1. I have started a brand new 1.5.5 store in a hidden folder and have tested the new template.
2. It's ready to be put in to the live store, thats 1.5.1

My Current Decision

1. Backup the files and the database.
2. Close the live site
3. Upload fresh files and upgrade to 1.5.5 from 1.5.1
4. Install the new template
5. Fix the small issues

I think I should be able to do above 4 steps within 6 hours on a night with least traffic. Would recommend a different way for me to have a live updated store with the new template?

cuz your store get lots of traffic, i suggest that NEVER DO UPGRADE (or any other changes) WITH LIVE STORE IF YOU NOT READY.
changes means problems, so make a copy of your store on a local pc and try upgrade (or any other changes) is the better way;
do changes with live store when your local store ready
See http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading

sle39lvr:

I imported it in to the new test site. However, it wasn't able to see it. So I scrapped that idea for now, and will follow direction steps on the first reply to this thread...

What is meant by "wasn't able to see it"? If the database is uploaded to a container, for which all of the attributes are known, then when the configure.php is pointing to it, the upgrade should progress. Any reason that this doesn't work should be investigated and corrected.