template development

 
Thanks David.  Sounds like the Virtual FTP Server is the way
to go.  I'll give it a shot.
 
As for template errors showing up in the Bric GUI, I think
I'm confusing lib changes with template changes since I'm
working on a package as well as in the templates and
occasionally get syntax errors in each.  Your point about
the developer sandbox makes sense with respect to the
templates.  It's the lib changes that deep six the Bric app
until they're fixed.

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: David E. Wheeler [mailto:davidkineticode.com] 
	Sent: Thu 11/30/2006 12:15 PM 
	To: userslists.bricolage.cc 
	Cc: 
	Subject: Re: template development
	
	

	On Nov 29, 2006, at 09:12, Beaudet, David P. wrote:
	
	> I'm wondering what processes people use for Bric
template development?
	> By this, I mostly mean, do you develop templates
within Bricolage 
	> itself
	> and use the workflow as an integral part of the
process or do you find
	> yourself working mostly in the /burn section of the
file system the
	> majority of the time and then load the templates into
the CMS when
	> they're ready?  Do you use subversion for your
templates or just 
	> use the
	> Bric versioning that's already built in?
	
	I never, *ever*, work on templates on the file system.
Fortunately, 
	Bricolage's developer sandbox makes it pretty easy to do
development 
	right in Bricolage, almost as quick as doing it on the file
system. 
	So that's generally what I do. I *really* like the virtual
FTP 
	server, too, which is just as good as a file system,
really, but I've 
	never used it in day-to-day development. I know other folks
have, 
	though.
	
	> Also, do you have a separate development server that
you use 
	> exclusively
	> for templates since an error in a template can surface
in the Bric 
	> user
	> interface?  If not, how do you prevent template errors
from disrupting
	> your Bric users?
	
	No. Because template development happens in your sandbox,
and nothing 
	is "live" aside from your own previews until you
deploy a template, 
	this isn't much of an issue.
	
	> I'm developing the initial set of templates for my CMS
and am the only
	> developer on the project at this point.  I find myself
using the /burn
	> directory because I can edit the templates with VI to
quickly make a
	> change to the code and see the result.  I've scripted
a CRON job that
	> periodically backs up my templates just in case I
accidentally publish
	> one of them without entering the changes from the file
system into
	> Bricolage. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
	
	I think that the virtual FTP server would be easier to use.
Enable it 
	in bricolage.conf, then start it with `su nobody -c
"bric_ftpd -S`. 
	Then you can ftp to port 2121. If you can mount the FTP
server like a 
	disk (from Windows or Mac OS X), then it's just like
working on a 
	file on your local computer. When you're ready to deploy,
save the 
	template to the FTP server with the suffix
".deploy", and watch the 
	magic happen!
	
	Best,
	
	David
	

On Dec 1, 2006, at 04:40, Beaudet, David P. wrote:

> As for template errors showing up in the Bric GUI, I
think I'm  
> confusing lib changes with template changes since I'm
working on a  
> package as well as in the templates and occasionally
get syntax  
> errors in each.  Your point about the developer sandbox
makes sense  
> with respect to the templates.  It's the lib changes
that deep six  
> the Bric app until they're fixed.

Yep, those of course are outside the purview of the sandbox,
so  
they'll kill the whole thing. That's why I write tests. 

Best,

David