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Version 6.x > Installation and deployment > Site redesign while live site is still being updated

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stephen.barlow-ageasprotect.co - 11/28/2013 6:26:04 AM

Site redesign while live site is still being updated

Hi,

I've been asked to implement a complete redesign of our intranet to include both template changes and alterations to the document tree structure. The redesign will be happening in parallel with ongoing content changes to the existing, live site.

I was wondering if there was a method of importing the content changes that will be made in production into the redesigned site prior to launch? Can I, for instance, write a SQL query to import just the content changes and keep any new templates/CSS styling that will be applied in the redesign?

Thanks,

Steve.

Kentico Consulting

Kentico_RichardS - 11/28/2013 6:44:25 AM

RE:Site redesign while live site is still being updated

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your message.

So basically you will be developing a new intranet to which you want to insert data from the current intranet so that the data (content) of your redesigned intranet site is up to date?

Well, I think that some of the work could be done via Staging. You can find some information at http://devnet.kentico.com/docs/devguide/content_staging_what_can_be_synchronized.htm. However if you change the tree structure you might be encountering some troubles.

Also it is not really recommended to use pure SQL export/import of data since sometimes the data is dependant and connectech with each other across many tables. For this its best to use API for given object. E.g. you can create sql query to get the data and then insert them using given API.

It really depends on what kind of data you want to transfer from the old site to the new.

Kind regards,
Richard Sustek

Member

stephen.barlow-ageasprotect.co - 11/28/2013 7:29:10 AM

RE:Site redesign while live site is still being updated

Thanks for your quick reply, Richard.

The data I'd like to transfer would simply be the content of the documents. That is, not the templates or the styling (as the existing docs would be given a new look and feel during the redesign) but just the text and related images. I'm not sure if that's possible using content staging or does that take across the whole document, template and all?

I suspect I'm asking too much and we may have to recreate any new documents in the redesigned version, but thanks for taking the time to look at this.

Cheers,

Steve.

Kentico Consulting

Kentico_RichardS - 11/28/2013 7:44:48 AM

RE:Site redesign while live site is still being updated

Hi Steve,

Sure, you're welcome.

If you want to update only documents and related images I think you should be able to just pull out the data of the CONTENT_tablename table where the document data is stored. However sometimes those tables can have links to other documents/custom tables or files so these connection might not work, especially if they are bounded with ID's instead of GUID's which is a common problem I see. The ID is database based and can (will) change when exporting/importing the data. On the other hand its always better to use GUID as they will not change and it servers as an unique identifier. However it really depends on how your documents look. Also if you are storing files/images in file system you will have to include those files too and not just physical files, but their reference in database.

Like I said in the previous post, it is best if you could use our API to create documents, you can see how to create them in these examples -> http://devnet.kentico.com/docs/devguide/documents_api_examples_creating_documents.htm

It would be easy if it would be possible to export just some specific document but unfortunately this is not possible.

Let us know if you have any other question.

Kind regards,
Richard Sustek

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