Migrating to MODx Revolution
Migrating an existing MODx site to MODx Revolution is definitely not for the faint of heart and absolutely not for people new to MODx. MODx Revolution hasn't officially been released yet and I suspect that there is no exhaustive list of the steps necessary to make the conversion. The information on this page is incomplete and only here as a potential resource for testers and those who can't wait to get started with Revolution.
Eventually, there will be automated processes to help with the conversion and, ultimately, the whole process may be automated. If you have a large site with a lot of content and many custom snippets and chunks, you may want to look at some of the tools mentioned in this thread at the MODx Forums.
Installing MODx Revolution
The MODx Revolution Beta has been released. Go here to get the latest release of Revolution.
If you'd prefer to have the very latest version of Revolution, you'll need a Subversion (SVN) client to checkout the current alpha of MODx Revolution. For Windows, Tortoise SVN is recommended, and for Mac OS X try SVN X.
In your SVN client, put http://svn.modxcms.com/svn/tattoo/tattoo/branches/Revolution/ in the window that asks for the URL of the repository. In TortoiseSVN, you'll do this in the Repo Browser, then, once you connect to the repository, right-click on "revolution" and select "check out." Once you specify the directory where you want to install MODx Revolution, click on the OK button, the files will download to your local machine. Be sure to put the files in a directory accessibly by web browser through your localhost web server.
If you get Revolution through the SVN process, you'll need to follow the steps here to install it. Note that the Revolution install directory is called "setup" not "install" as it was in previous versions.
[UPDATE] There are now zip files of MODx Revolution available for download here.
After setup has finished, you should be able to log in to the Modx Manager of the new site. If you're using any of the versions I have, there's no site content at all so you can't preview the site until after you have a template and some documents. Note that the FURL settings in Revolution are in System | System Settings (search for "friendly" without the quotes to see all the FURL settings). I'd advise leaving FURLS off, though, until you have everything else ironed out.
Converting the MODx Tags
By the time you read this, there may be a migration tool for moving the site_content table from the old site to the new one. If not, you may have to cut and paste the old content into the new documents.
Converting the MODx tags can be done manually, or by doing 12 search-and-replace operations. You'll have to edit each document, each template, any chunks that contain these items, and any plugins that output them.
First, here's an overview of the tag changes:
MODx Tags
| Old | New |
|---|---|
| [*ResourceField/TV*] | [[*ResourceField/TV]] |
| {{Chunk}} | [[$Chunk]] |
| [[Snippet]] | [[Snippet]] |
| [+Placeholder+] | [[+Placeholder]] |
| [~Link] | [[~Link]] |
| [(system_setting)] | [[++system_setting]] |
| No Tag | [[%language_string_key]] |
Cache Control
| Old | New |
|---|---|
| [!Snippet!] | [[!Snippet]] |
| No Tag | [[!$Chunk]] |
| No Tag | [[!*ResourceField/TV] |
Here are the replacements:
- Replace [* with [[*
- Replace [+ with [[+
- Replace [~ with [[~
- Replace [( with [[++
- Replace [! with [[!
- Replace {{ with [[$
- Replace *] with ]]
- Replace }} with ]]
- Replace +] with ]]
- Replace ~] with ]]
- Replace )] with ]]
- Replace !] with ]]
Importing Your Templates
Create new templates in the new site and cut and paste your template code into them, making the replacements listed above.
Copying the .CSS file(s)
Copy any .CSS files at the old site to the same location at the new Revolution site.
Importing Snippets
Your own snippets will have to be cut and pasted into the new site. Many will work as is, others will have to be modified. The standard MODx snippets and plugins should be available directly in the Transport Packages section of the Manager. Go to System | Package Management and select Download Extras. Browse the repository to find the packages you want, select them and click on Finish. The packages will be downloaded to the core/packages directory and should show up in the grid. To actually install a package, simply right-click on it in the grid and select Install Package.
Importing Categories
All "Content Elements" in Revolution can have categories and they show in the tree at the left. You can create them by right-clicking on an item in the tree.
Importing Users
Until migration tools are finished, you'll have to create your users and set permissions manually.
Finishing Up
Now that you have templates, chunks, and .CSS files in place, your home page should look approximately normal except for any snippet-generated content from snippets that need conversion to Revolution.
For snippets that don't appear at the Web Transport Facility, you'll have to download the Evolution versions from the MODx Repository, install them the old-fashioned way, and convert them yourself.
Thank you for visiting BobsGuides.com
— Bob Ray
