Since lawnching (see what I did there?) the lawn calendar application on Sunday 24th June, I've been in a mixture of support and intense learning mode. Our content manager, Phil, has been busy adding new content to the site including tips and remnders, and in doing so, found our first bug which was promptly fixed and applied. I've also patched in some minor additions such as a google +1 button and the google analytics hook. This leads me neatly to the intense learning.
This application is my first live internet application, so I admit to being a complete beginner with regards to promoting a new site. I knew it had something to do with search engine optimisation (SEO), but was pretty naive with regards to what that actually involved. I stumbled upon a blog how to build a niche site which explains in quite some detail how the blog author and others achieved top 10 search engine rankings for their sites. I probably learned something new with every sentence! I additionally found a whole host of resources that I previously didn't know that existed. I think the key thing that I have learned is that it is very easy to spend a lot of time promoting a site, but if you get some of the fundamentals wrong, you will be wasting a lot of time and effort. Much of the material that I have read make reference to the '4 golden rules', which once understood, do make a lot of sense.
The initial intention after launching the site was to get 'cracking' on V2 which would have features that allowed for personalisation of content. However, I've taken the decision to spend some time working on another project whilst this application 'finds it's feet'. I'll still keep posting blog post on here, as and when I discover something new.
Showing posts with label launch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label launch. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Friday, 22 June 2012
Going Live!
It's been a while since I last blogged on the subject of the Lawn Maintenance Calendar, now know simply as Lawn Calendar. The plan is go live this Sunday. Although things are pretty much ready, there are a couple of tasks that I need to complete.
Firstly, I need to create a 'down' screen that I can switch on whilst I upload and configure the site.
Secondly, I need to work how how the data migrations are going to work. The content provider has already uploaded quite a bit of content into the system on the test hoster and I want to use that as the basis for the live database. That way, the content provider can add images to the existing written content. Entity framework now has a migration feature which might be just the replacement I need for the existing DropAndCreateOnModelChange strategy that is currently employed.
Update: The launch went ahead on Sunday after a hive of activity on Saturday.
Down screen
I found that my new hoster already provides this function, so I didn't have to develop it myself this time. It's not the most beautiful of down pages, but it will do for the time being.
Data Migrations
I've moved to using Entity Framework 4.3.1 which includes the migrations feature. This now allows me to make database enhancements and upgrade without having to lose the contents of the database. I've been very impressed with it and will be using it's scripting features to upgrade to V2 when the time comes.
Here's some useful links regarding EF 4.3. and migrations:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/02/09/ef-4-3-automatic-migrations-walkthrough.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/02/09/ef-4-3-code-based-migrations-walkthrough.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/01/12/ef-4-3-configuration-file-settings.aspx
http://www.ladislavmrnka.com/2012/03/ef-4-3-migrations-and-existing-database/
Uploading to hoster
This was quite straightforward for the website itself, but the database was a little trickier. I couldn't find a way of uploading the mdf files and attaching them to the database like I could with the test site hoster. So, the only way I could get the database uploaded was to create an empty database, script and re-create the schema and then import the data using SSIS.
Firstly, I need to create a 'down' screen that I can switch on whilst I upload and configure the site.
Secondly, I need to work how how the data migrations are going to work. The content provider has already uploaded quite a bit of content into the system on the test hoster and I want to use that as the basis for the live database. That way, the content provider can add images to the existing written content. Entity framework now has a migration feature which might be just the replacement I need for the existing DropAndCreateOnModelChange strategy that is currently employed.
Update: The launch went ahead on Sunday after a hive of activity on Saturday.
Down screen
I found that my new hoster already provides this function, so I didn't have to develop it myself this time. It's not the most beautiful of down pages, but it will do for the time being.
Data Migrations
I've moved to using Entity Framework 4.3.1 which includes the migrations feature. This now allows me to make database enhancements and upgrade without having to lose the contents of the database. I've been very impressed with it and will be using it's scripting features to upgrade to V2 when the time comes.
Here's some useful links regarding EF 4.3. and migrations:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/02/09/ef-4-3-automatic-migrations-walkthrough.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/02/09/ef-4-3-code-based-migrations-walkthrough.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/01/12/ef-4-3-configuration-file-settings.aspx
http://www.ladislavmrnka.com/2012/03/ef-4-3-migrations-and-existing-database/
Uploading to hoster
This was quite straightforward for the website itself, but the database was a little trickier. I couldn't find a way of uploading the mdf files and attaching them to the database like I could with the test site hoster. So, the only way I could get the database uploaded was to create an empty database, script and re-create the schema and then import the data using SSIS.
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