In Refinery CMS, how can I export data from one instance of my application to another?

Question

What I'm really trying to do is set up a seed file with basic user and page data that can be imported each time I deploy my app. Because the Refinery models aren't found in the conventional Rails model directory, I was unable to use the SeedDump gem.

What's the simplest way to export data from an existing Refinery CMS application?

Answer 1

I was able to generate a basic seed file from my existing development application by hand. In the example below, I build a seed file that:

1. Creates an admin superuser
2. Updates the home page to use custom layout and view templates
3. Replaces the default about page with a new one using a custom template

Here's how I did it:

First, I dipped into the rails console to look up the relevant records using the Refinery models:

rails console

:001 > Refinery::Page.find_by_slug('about')
=> #<Refinery::Page id: 4, ... >
:002 > Refinery::Page.find_by_slug('home')
:003 > Refinery::PagePart.all

Then, using the records looked up in the console as references, I copy-pasted the necessary fields into my seed file. Here's my seed file:

# This file should contain all the record creation needed to seed the database with its default values.
# The data can then be loaded with the rake db:seed (or created alongside the db with db:setup).
#
# Examples:
#
#   cities = City.create([{ name: 'Chicago' }, { name: 'Copenhagen' }])
#   Mayor.create(name: 'Emanuel', city: cities.first)

# Added by Refinery CMS Pages extension
Refinery::Pages::Engine.load_seed

#
# Custom Changes
#
# Create User
Refinery::User.create!(
  username: "admin",
  password: "admin",
  password_confirmation: "admin",
  email: "admin@mysite.com"
)
admin_user = Refinery::User.find_by_username("admin")

# Add necessary roles
# https://groups.google.com/d/msg/refinery-cms/akI74wnviFs/j613apqJdvgJ
admin_user.add_role :refinery
admin_user.add_role :superuser

# Update Home Page Template
home_page = Refinery::Page.find_by_slug('home')
home_page.layout_template = "home"
home_page.view_template = "home"
home_page.save!

# Replace the About Page
# Delete existing page
old_about_page = Refinery::Page.find_by_slug('about')
old_about_page.destroy

# Add new page
Refinery::Page.create!(
  title: "About Us",
  custom_slug: "about",
  layout_template: "article",
  view_template: "article"
)
about_page = Refinery::Page.find_by_slug('about')

# Then add image
img_path = Rails.root.join('app/assets/images/cms_contact_us.jpg')
Refinery::Image.create(image: File.new(img_path))
contact_us_image = Refinery::Image.last

# Finally add page-parts
Refinery::PagePart.create!([
  { refinery_page_id: about_page.id,
    title: "Headline",
    body: "<p>About Us</p>"
  },
  { refinery_page_id: about_page.id,
    title: "Epigraph",
    body: "<p>Impossible is nothing.</p>"
  },
  { refinery_page_id: about_page.id,
    title: "Body",
    body: "<h2>About Us</h2>\r\n<h3>Our Mission</h3>\r\n<p>...</p>"
  },
  { refinery_page_id: about_page.id,
    title: "Image",
    body: "<p><img rel=\"225x255\" alt=\"Contact Us\" title=\"Contact Us\" src=\"%s\" height=\"140\" width=\"600\" /></p>" % contact_us_image.url
  }
])

Finally, I ran rake db:setup with the new seed file.

Now when I need to set up a new instance of my application, I can just clone from my repository and run rake db:setup.