[Note: Most of this to do list has been implemented as of Usync 7.3+]
If you have any issues like these post 7.3 please post on the forums
this is my uSync to do list. things i know need doing, things i would like to do. feel free to chip in with what you want done first / and what you think would be cool -
Rename events aren't events so usync doesn't capture them, it means if you rename after a while you get a "ghost" of the old name appearing in your install. this is because usync creates a new file for the renamed object, but it doesn't delete the old one. (see http://our.umbraco.org/projects/developer-tools/usync/usync/40701-Renaming-templates-and-documenttypes) - solution will probibly be capturing presave and save and comparing the names. (or storing by ID on the disk, but this will make the folder structure less readable - i think this is something people like (i know i do)
Features
things i've thought about (with others sometimes)
GUID Values
GUIDification of umbraco ids (probibly through and additional table in the DB or an XML file somewhere) - the lack of stable ids between installs causes lots of trouble (see prevalues, renaming and MNTP - i.e all bugs).
storing a GUID against any prevalues then syncing those guids between installations would remove all those problems, but it evolves uSync quite a bit, requires reqrites of all the internal export / import functions, and additonal triggers in the DB of umbraco. but it would open up a world of possiblities turning usync into quite a tool (and probibly open up full content syncing)
FileWatching
uSync monitors all things umbraco puts in the DB and fires saves for, it doesn't capture the pure file stuff, i think v6 has ways of doing this, but a more robust way would be FileSystemWatchers - triggering when things are written to the disk - this might not be doable in umbraco it might require services making it more of a deployment task.
Syncing
Moriyama uDiff does this, internally we've recently written a quick dirty uSync.DiskEdition for server syncing (using hte microsoft sync framework) I suspect this could be a merge of a couple of ideas, but uSync could be improved to do more full blown syncing - including
Two version comparision / change sets
distributed syncing via web services
packaging of diffrences
Windows Services for keeping track of changes and pushing them around versions (stage/live/dev)
all of these things look very packagy - is there a chace any of this will be in the umbraco future releases ?
Anything else ?
do you have any ideas ? things you want it to do better - pop them in the thread.
I'm not promising any of the features will come off, i do promise to look at the bugs
New Release V1.3.2 does addresses the first bug on the list MNTP values
Overwriting - it's not possible within the current umbraco API calls to stop a stylesheet or template import from XML also over-writing the file contents - It's going to need new import routines
renameing - is v-hard. Umbraco doesn't appear to pass the old name of a value at any stage to any of the events it fires, so from within umbraco you can't tell.
I am looking at building some form of ID cache outside of umbraco db to track these changes -
Dictionary Items - Yes I'm going to look into that
I see in code in Github that saving Dictionary items is added but commented out. Is there a reason for that? What is status? Perhaps I can contribute if there are some lack in the functionality.
done the testing, and after some digging, got it sorted. v1.3.6 of uSync is out and includes dictionary items and lanaguages (because you need the languages for the dicitionary items )
Just a note to say that I'm seeing issues with the Dictionary sync (ReadFromDisk -> into database)
Debug log shows that the node is being imported, but the changes to the dictionary are not being made.
From reviewing both USync code and Umbraco core code I've come to the conclusion that the DictionaryItem.Import being used by USync is not doing what I expected it to do- I expected that if I change a dictionary entry that that change would be migrated- but the Import does not attempt to do that, it only imports new dictionary items, it does not attempt to compare/ update existing dictionary items.
So the question is, do we expect USync to keep dictionary values in sync or are we expecting it to only import new items?
soo, is this post sill relevant or outdated? I googled for my problem, that the Template folders and .config files don't get deleted, when i delete a template in Umbraco. Do they need to stay there even when the template is deleted?
Then i read this post and got confused... maybe write an edit on top, that this is outdated or so...
uSync - To do listFeaturesAnything else ?
[Note: Most of this to do list has been implemented as of Usync 7.3+]
If you have any issues like these post 7.3 please post on the forums
this is my uSync to do list. things i know need doing, things i would like to do. feel free to chip in with what you want done first / and what you think would be cool -
Bugs
MultiNodeTreePicker prevalues
PreValues are a nightmare, the MNTP is very picky. looking to bug fix how uSync reads/writes prevalues so it keeps the MNTP happy - this is a bug fix, features below has details of prevalues properly. (see http://our.umbraco.org/projects/developer-tools/usync/usync/40922-v4118-MNTP-prevalues-issue)
Overwriting template files from the XML
because usync uses the export/import features is writes the whole template in xml, if your not using the umbraco front end for template editing, then theirs a chance usync will write over your template/stylesheets because it will never know you changed them (see http://our.umbraco.org/projects/developer-tools/usync/usync/41017-Does-not-write-template-to-disk-when-created-at-the-same-time-as-a-doctype )
Renaming
Rename events aren't events so usync doesn't capture them, it means if you rename after a while you get a "ghost" of the old name appearing in your install. this is because usync creates a new file for the renamed object, but it doesn't delete the old one. (see http://our.umbraco.org/projects/developer-tools/usync/usync/40701-Renaming-templates-and-documenttypes) - solution will probibly be capturing presave and save and comparing the names. (or storing by ID on the disk, but this will make the folder structure less readable - i think this is something people like (i know i do)
Features
things i've thought about (with others sometimes)
GUID Values
GUIDification of umbraco ids (probibly through and additional table in the DB or an XML file somewhere) - the lack of stable ids between installs causes lots of trouble (see prevalues, renaming and MNTP - i.e all bugs).
storing a GUID against any prevalues then syncing those guids between installations would remove all those problems, but it evolves uSync quite a bit, requires reqrites of all the internal export / import functions, and additonal triggers in the DB of umbraco. but it would open up a world of possiblities turning usync into quite a tool (and probibly open up full content syncing)
FileWatching
uSync monitors all things umbraco puts in the DB and fires saves for, it doesn't capture the pure file stuff, i think v6 has ways of doing this, but a more robust way would be FileSystemWatchers - triggering when things are written to the disk - this might not be doable in umbraco it might require services making it more of a deployment task.
Syncing
Moriyama uDiff does this, internally we've recently written a quick dirty uSync.DiskEdition for server syncing (using hte microsoft sync framework) I suspect this could be a merge of a couple of ideas, but uSync could be improved to do more full blown syncing - including
Anything else ?
Possible syncing of Dictionary items?
New Release V1.3.2 does addresses the first bug on the list MNTP values
Overwriting - it's not possible within the current umbraco API calls to stop a stylesheet or template import from XML also over-writing the file contents - It's going to need new import routines
renameing - is v-hard. Umbraco doesn't appear to pass the old name of a value at any stage to any of the events it fires, so from within umbraco you can't tell.
I am looking at building some form of ID cache outside of umbraco db to track these changes -
Dictionary Items - Yes I'm going to look into that
Hi Kevin,
I see in code in Github that saving Dictionary items is added but commented out. Is there a reason for that? What is status? Perhaps I can contribute if there are some lack in the functionality.
Cheers /Fredrik
Yes the code is there it was just for lack of time to test -
i've just released the bug fix. for some v6.1 updates. but i'll look at turning on the Dictionary items and seeing what happens.
if it all works i'll drop in a new release. if there are issues, I'll let you know.
Hi Fredrik -
done the testing, and after some digging, got it sorted. v1.3.6 of uSync is out and includes dictionary items and lanaguages (because you need the languages for the dicitionary items )
- Kevin
Hi Kevin,
What there be an update for 1.3.3 for Umbraco 4.11.x to support languages and dictionary items ?
Thanks,
Gavin
At the moment, I've no plans to backport any of the changes to the v4 version of uSync keeping the changes between versions became to much of a chore.
that said if enough people are still using the v4 one, i could do a one off port of later features back to the v4 branch.
Just a note to say that I'm seeing issues with the Dictionary sync (ReadFromDisk -> into database)
Debug log shows that the node is being imported, but the changes to the dictionary are not being made.
From reviewing both USync code and Umbraco core code I've come to the conclusion that the DictionaryItem.Import being used by USync is not doing what I expected it to do- I expected that if I change a dictionary entry that that change would be migrated- but the Import does not attempt to do that, it only imports new dictionary items, it does not attempt to compare/ update existing dictionary items.
So the question is, do we expect USync to keep dictionary values in sync or are we expecting it to only import new items?
It seems the dictionary items are still not being compared and updated.
I'm using version 2.4.10 at the moment is it like that?
soo, is this post sill relevant or outdated? I googled for my problem, that the Template folders and .config files don't get deleted, when i delete a template in Umbraco. Do they need to stay there even when the template is deleted?
Then i read this post and got confused... maybe write an edit on top, that this is outdated or so...
yeah, sorry most of this is outdated/
with v3 + of usync template folders/files will get deleted. when you delete or rename things in umbraco.
I will edit the top post.
is working on a reply...