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Full Versioning and Rollback - Development Brief
2008-08-09: A proof of concept of the core technology required to complete this brief has been successfully tested in the cm3 development environment. However at this stage we are still seeking enough external investment to complete the project.
This is a high level brief and draft only. Last updated 20-11-2006.
- Overview
- Primary Features
- Secondary Features
- Approach to Development
- Timeframe
Overview
Version control of content within cm3 is currently handled manually by content authors using built-in functions such as copy tools, except in some websites where version control tools have been built as proprietary functions. The standard automated version control features that are planned for the next version of the CMS are outlined in this high level brief.
Primary Features
We believe that the following minimum set of features are required for the first release of the automated version control system.
- Automatically save a version of each article every time an article is published
- Manually save a version of an article when desired
- Save versions of content structures, to assure versions can be kept even if the structures are changed
- Quickly compare the current working version of an article with the current live version by viewing them side by side in the admin system
- Compare any version of an article with any other version
- Roll back to any previous version of an individual article if the structure hasn't changed
- Roll back parts of an article if the structure has changed
- View an article (page) on the website as it was on a particular day if content structures and templates have not changed, otherwise view the old version of the article within the context of current templates and content types
- Switch versioning off for some kinds of articles, to assist performance and cut down on useless "noise" in the system
- Export all content from a particular day in history (for possible external analysis, view in a previously backed up design, etc.)
- Manually add change tracking notes to each version
- New publishing reports to show when things are published, how often changes are made, all the changed articles between certain dates or by certain users or in certain parts of the site, etc.
Secondary Features
The following "nice to have" features are liked to be developed after the first release of the version control system. However if an adequate development budget can be raised it may be possible to include them in the first release.
- View a site as it was on a certain day (similar to the current "active preview" feature of cm3, but from a historical viewpoint) even if templates or content structures have changed
- Keep versions beyond the point of deletion
- Keep versions of any external assets attached to an article (such as images and files)
- Highlight individual field and text changes from version to version of an article
- Save versions of all templates, to assure that an entire site can be versioned including its design, instead of just the individual items of content within it
- Tools to help rolling back or merging older versions with newer ones, even if templates and content structures have changed
- Versioning for other CMS objects such as users, files, configurations
Approach to Development
Unfortunately this project is too extensive for DDSN to fund completely with internal development resources. We plan to engage the support of existing cm3 customers. A proposal will be generated for the user group to share the cost of development of this project. DDSN will invest our own resources in the project too, of course.
Timeframe
We would like this system to be delivered in the first quarter of 2007. This will depend entirely on whether or not the user group community is willing to invest in the project.
Date: 2006-11-20
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