Moving Magento Database to a New Server

I’ve been moving databases quite a lot recently, and the Magento database is a heavy one to lift. Based on recent experiences there’s two things you don’t want to miss. These tips are relevant for Magento 1.5, but should work on later versions.

Though Magento is built using the EAV structure, it is still a relational database at its core and as such its tables rely entirely on the existence of foreign keys. You can experience problems exporting and importing your database if foreign key checks are too rigid. In many cases a table with a required foreign key may not exist while part of the query is carried out.

In phpMyAdmin and most other database management systems it will be possible to disable foreign key checks so that constraints are exempt from the query. Simply check ‘Disable foreign key checks’ while exporting.

Once your database has imported you’ll need to run this query in order to establish access to the admin area. The store and website IDs need to be set 0 which somehow gets lost in translation during the move.

You can read the post here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5178066/error-404-not-found-in-magento-admin-login-page

SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;UPDATE `core_store` SET store_id = 0 WHERE code='admin';UPDATE `core_store_group` SET group_id = 0 WHERE name='Default';UPDATE `core_website` SET website_id = 0 WHERE code='admin';UPDATE `customer_group` SET customer_group_id = 0 WHERE customer_group_code='NOT LOGGED IN';SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1;

These two steps should mean that your database has been correctly transferred.

Thanks for reading the Magento Blog at Ecommerce Web Design – have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

Adam Moss Author Page

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Multiple Domains on Magento 1.3

This method has been covered elsewhere, but it’s certainly worth mentioning for developers looking for a multi-domain website but are stuck with a now ancient-looking Magento 1.3. My previous post about multiple domains on 1.4+ uses the .htaccess method of detecting the URL and running the correct website. On 1.3 however, this is not possible so you have to use PHP and modify the index.php file – see the comparison diagram below, which demonstrates the different ways stores are loaded in Magento between 1.3 and 1.4.

At the bottom of the file where the script calls Mage::run(); simply replace this with the following switch statement:

// Assign the website URL$site = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];switch ($site) {case 'www.myseconddomain.co.uk':Mage::run('domaintwo', 'website');break; default: Mage::run(); }

You can obviously insert as many cases as needed into the switch.

The next step is to ensure all cache is cleared otherwise your second site might not work. There’s a file called use_cache.ser in the following location which needs to be deleted:

app/etc/use_cache.ser

Magento will create a new one with the correct permissions once deleted. For developers working with Magento installations of version 1.4 and above, read this tutorial instead.

Thanks for reading the Magento Blog at E-commerce Website Design.

Adam Moss Author Page

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Imagine Challenge - The Competition Is Heating Up!

The Imagine Challenge is well underway, and we’ve already received some great entries.  But now that Imagine is SOLD OUT the competition has heated up! 

Submit a photo or 60 second video showing your passion for Magento, or the success you’ve had since you started using Magento for your chance to win a trip to Imagine! The Challenge will end on March 23rd, which leaves you two weeks to submit your entry. The entry with the most community votes will win a trip to the 2012 Imagine eCommerce Conference!

Visit the Imagine Challenge site for the complete rules and guidelines.

Check out the entries below for a quick preview of the many creative ways people have shown their passion or success!  And remember: If you see an entry you like, vote for it!

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PHP Developers: Fast-track Your Magento Learning Curve

Are you an experienced PHP developer interested in learning how to design customizations for the world’s most popular eCommerce platform? You are??? Then we’ve got some great news for you!

Magento U is proud to offer a new On-Demand course, Quick Start to Magento Customization. In this 4-hour On-demand course, students will learn to create a custom module and controller, and get helpful tips on how to avoid bugs and ensure your customization will be compatible with Magento upgrades. Students will come away with a fundamental understanding of how Magento implements the M, V and C in the MVC pattern.

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A Community That Runs Together, Stays Together

It’s become an unofficial tradition for Magento Community members to go for a run during any event they’re gathered at.  So for Imagine, the Community is organizing a group to run together in an official race on Saturday, April 21st! The Labor of Love race is being held by Calico Racing in Lovell Canyon, Las Vegas NV. Depending on your running level, you are invited to participate in either the 1/2 marathon or the 10k.

For more details on the race itself, including pricing and a map of the route, check out the official race website. Please make sure you register for the race on that website before the event. If you want to know which Community members are already planning to run, you can check out the unofficial Magento Meetup page or see who’s tracking their training through DailyMile.

Whether you’re participating in the run, or just cheering from the sidelines, pre-order your t-shirt featuring the race in true Magento style, and show you’re part of the Magento crowd!  Pre-order yours online at Wagento Creative by April 7th. The shirts will be available to pick up at the M Resort on Friday, April 20th (exact time and location to be announced). These shirts will not be available for purchase at the actual race!

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E.C. Kraus: A Home-Brewed Magento Success Story

Family-owned business E.C. Kraus has been providing supplies for making beer and wine at home since 1966. Recently the company asked Magento Solution Partner Groove Commerce to create an eCommerce store that would cater to the different needs of their two main customer groups – wine makers and beer brewers.

Using the Magento Enterprise platform, Groove Commerce built a dynamic site that gives all of E.C. Kraus’ customers exactly what they want. Wine lovers can now easily find the perfect testing equipment for crafting their ideal blend. Beer aficionados can pinpoint specialty grains for the perfect brew. And every customer gets one-click shopping, decreased load times, and better overall site performance.

Not only are customers happier; so is the staff. The new site gives E.C. Kraus employees the flexibility needed to provide the best possible service, with features like advanced contact management and the ability to add a free gift to every order.

Happy shoppers, happy employees, happy merchant…we’ll drink to that!

Have a Magento success story you’d like to share? Contact .

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Automate Your Testing with the Magento Test Automation Framework

Testing. Testing. Are you there? Good. Now that we’ve got your attention, we want to tell you about the new Magento Test Automation Framework, or TAF for short.

This software package is ideal for running repeated functional tests against a normally installed Magento application. And if you’re a developer or QA specialist, you’re in for a treat. You can quickly develop all kinds of tests for the current Magento version without having to tediously build an automation infrastructure.

Besides running repeated tests, Magento TAF can also be used to create tests and write test automation scripts. Test automation scripts created within the framework can be used for testing most Magento functionality. And we’re constantly updating the Selenium-based framework to cover even more tests and meet users’ broad needs.

In this latest release of the framework, we’ve introduced a robust set of new tests and capabilities:

We’ve created a comprehensive Smoke Test Suite that evaluates the full range of functionality of the Magento Community Edition. This suite covers all test cases that are run during Magento nightly builds and tested by our development team. And it’s designed specifically for developers to use and expand upon. Test failure errors happen. And when they do, Magento TAF captures and stores screenshots of any open pages in .png and html formats in the tmp/screenshot folder. If a JavaScript error occurs, the screenshot is captured and stored in the .png format. And Markup errors are captured and stored in the html format. The failed test name contains the class name, test name and a timestamp, this way it’s easy to retrieve the screenshot. And the full path to the screenshot is stored in a log next to the error message so it can be accessed directly. With Magento TAF, you can test as many UI areas as you’d like. This comes in especially handy when testing several store views or stores utilizing different designs. Each store – or store view – can have a unique UI map but operate with the original set of tests. This removes nesting and naming restrictions for UI map folders and allows users to organize them as they wish.

The UI areas can be determined in the local.yml file for each url to be used by Magento TAF. Based on user-defined urls, Magento TAF automatically detects which set of UI maps should be used and loads the relevant descriptors for the current page. With this enhancement, the tester doesn’t have to worry about switching between UI areas within the test body. Users can declare separate UI maps for non-Magento side services specific to their store and write tests in the same way they’re written for Magento services.

See the Installation Guide under “Example of config.yml File” for an example of a UI map area declaration. Please note, before your first run, search for the ‘YOUR CREDENTIALS’ string within the data folder and update that value with your account credentials.

Magento TAF’s newest features help take the task out of testing. And, even though it just came down the product pipeline, it’s already been adopted and put to good use by many developers. In fact, we have to give a virtual fist pump to Kristof Ringleff from Fooman and Nick Jones (punkstar) from Meanbee for all their contributions.

To download the Magento TAF, go to the Magento Test Automation Framework section at the bottom of this page:

If you’d like to read the complete repository, installation and configuration guidelines, check them out at:

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