Virtual Realm

GraffitiCMS – Setting up Development Environment

Wednesday, December 30 2009 - graffiticms, personal

Now that the GraffitiCMS Engine has gone Open Source, I now have the need to set up the development environment for the system. The first stage here is to download all that is needed and then get it running in the raw form from the latest version of the source code.

Here are the steps that I went through to complete the task.

1. Downloaded and uncompressed that latest version of the source code from the Codeplex site.
2. Downloaded the additional libraries from the telligent website as per the readme and notes on the front page of the Codeplex project site.
3. Created a Directory just inside the first directory of the extracted source and then extracted the Telligent Assemblies to that directory. I called this Directory “Telligent Assemblies”
4. Open the Visual Studio Project for the Graffiti Project
5. Expand the Graffiti Core Project and then the References
6. Add the references to the Telligent Assemblies that you have extracted, when done do the same for the Graffiti.Web Project.
7. You should now be able to perform a build of each of the Projects
8. In the Windows Explorer browse to the Graffiti.Web Project Directory and Delete the App_Data Directory
9. In the Solution Explorer expand the Graffiti.Web Project and add a new ASP.Net Folder, select the App_Data Folder.
10. Back in the Windows Explorer, copy the Graffiti.mdb file from the data directory and paste it into the App_Data directory inside the Graffiti.Web Project
11. In the Solution Explorer right click on the App_Data Directory and select Add existing Item, select the Graffiti.mdb file
12. In the Solution Explorer right click on the Graffiti.Web Project and set it as the Start up Project, you should see the project name is now highlighted or in Bold text.
13. You should now be able to execute the application and start the development work.

With that task now complete there are several things that I now wish to do to the raw system. Here is a small list.

1. Convert the Base code to run using SQL Express as this is my preferred method for development (My production system uses the full SQL Server Engine)
2. As I will need some Test Data, run the scripts to add some test data to the site, the default install does not have this data.

Then the tasks grow….

1. Download my site and files to test the upgrade path
2. Recompile all of my custom add-ons for the system to make sure that they still work, and if not work on upgrading them
3. Start to work on the changes that I have had on hold while waiting for the system to have it’s new direction.