Web Testing Strategy

[Guest pheasantww]

Hello all...new to this forum

I have an existing web that I want to make changes to like "adding a

better shopping cart" etc. What is a good strategy for overhauling a

web site?, developing a "Testing Ground", if you will?

1) Having a testing ground that is Disk Based? Making the changes in

FrontPage, testing it, then coping the files to the server based web? or

2) Have the testing ground as a server based web? if this,

- Does this require a second domain to do the testing? Then

transferring the files over?

- or Can the test web be a sub web of the existing web? If this, How

is that done?

Thanks,

[Guest]

When testing a PHP script, you need to have the files on a server that can run PHP programs. It's possible to set this up on your personal computer, but it's a lot easier to do it on your web host.

All you need to do is create a subdirectory for the test installation. For example: www.domain.com/test/.

Once you're happy with what you've created in the test directory, you just need to copy the files over to the root directory and edit a few configuration entries. Not difficult, but does require that you keep track of what will need to be edited.

[Guest]

If you are planning to set your home PC up as a web server take a look at xampp. Its a single download and includes apache, PHP, MySQL etc etc.

[jerseyjoe]

Basically, you have two choices.

1) set up a password protected folder on your current web site and install Cube Cart there. The advantage of this method is, you can share the progress with any working partners or parties who have to know. When you are ready for Prime Time, you can move the installation to a public folder or just un-hide your completed installation and use a splash page linked to that folder.

2) install CubeCart on your local hard drive or even on a thumb drive. There is a tutorial here in these forums on how to do that using the Mambo Stand Alone Server (MSAS) or its heir from Joomla (JSAS). Either works well. The tutorial here will spare you a lot of headaches. Search for it using the key word "thumb" or MSAS.

It will be easier to create (no uploads / downloads) and you don't need to move the files around. You can create a copy of the original download and work on it all you wish. Make backups as you go along into other new folders. If you screw up, just overwrite from the original or a recent version.

Moving a finished cart from a local drive to a server so it can be published is not as simple as option one above but there are people here who will advise you when you are ready to do it.

Forget about Front Page. It may be a great tool for rapid development of web pages, and even entire web sites, that are built on straight HTML, but Cube Cart, and a whole world of other valuable programs, are now created using the powerful combo of PHP and the Db MySQL. These programs also use files written in CSS, TPL, JS and so forth, usually as modules - and those make customizing a CubeCart much easier. CC is very well done in that regard.

Front Page has almost no utility for working on pages written in PHP - and what little there is requires outside the box tricks. To work on a site built like CC, you'll want some basic tools:

A strong and dependable FTP client for moving files back and forth. There are partisans for various programs. After having been disappointed by too many, I have found satisfaction with WS_FTP. There's a free trial version. After that 30 day period expired, I gladly paid for the pro version. It's the only FTP client I found that can be depended upon to complete a long unload / download despite a bad ISP connection or balky server.

A versatile code editor. Customizing CC requires that you edit various files. That's not difficult once you learn the concept. People here will provide tons of free support - and there is a sister web site (cubecart.org) where all the experts hang out and offer both free and paid modifications, known as 'mods," that add functions beyond the richness of the basic CubeCart software.

The best tool I have found for editing all those files is PHPdesigner. It's free. Configure it to be the default editor for all those files types except your Db.

To edit Db - and that is not required unless you get into some serious but fun stuff - your hosting company should provide the free (and strangely named) "phpMYadmin." This comes with the cPanel that better hosts provide to their customers. cPanel also includes a small - and not well done but adequate - utility for creating Dbs that CubeCart will complete at installation.

Good luck. Holler if you need help