Integrated Development Tools

Whilst adding modules to a controlled platform, such as i-ntarsia, must be done in a controlled fashion, all sites will require theme development and styling. As a web project owner you need your developer access to have the following attributes:

  • Open for your development team
  • Powerful versioning and control
  • Sandboxes for safe preview and testing
  • Use industry standard tools and techniques
  • Safe to maintain platform stability

Without these attributes your development will be far more difficult to manage.

The i-ntarsia platform has three key developer tools:

  • Profiling server available for each client account
  • Integrated GitLab service available for client developers
  • Virtual machine image for local development

Profiling Server

Every I-ntarsia customer account is provided with a Profiling Server. Depending upon your development cycles a single profiling server should be sufficient for supporting up to 5 production servers. As you grow your digital estate beyond that, additional Profiling Servers can be added.

Each Profiling Server is installed with a fresh I-ntarsia installation. From your Multi-site Access Portal (MAP) you can copy any of your production sites to your selected Profiling Server at the push of a button. Once copied, you have have instant access to test and develop any aspect of your site without risk to your production environment.

Your Profiling Server can be accessed by your customers for test and approval.

Once you have transferred your tested and approved changes to your live environment, another button press will restore your Profiling Server as a fresh I-ntarsia installation, ready for the next time you need it.

Checks and balances are built into your MAP to prevent inadvertent copying of a site to a Profiling Server in use. If an error does occur, you will be pleased to know that all Profiling Servers are added to the normal production backup schedule the instant a site is copied to them.


GitLab Service

Each i-ntarsia customer account comes with access to our dedicated GitLab server. This service enables the following:

  • 10 projects per client site
  • Online editing of files for those quick tweaks
  • Cloning a contributed or third party theme from any repository worldwide
  • Full control and versioning using git
  • Integrated, one button, 'push/pull' with the production and profiling servers
  • 'Push/pull' with our virtual machine image
  • Collaboration tools with your team, and, where desired, the I-ntarsia support and development team

Integrated GitLab service with online editing for theme and module development


Virtual Machine Image

For advanced developers we can supply a virtual machine image of an i-ntarsia server to enable you to do local development. This can be supplied in a number of formats for use in your favourite virtualisation tool.

Your local virtual development environment can talk directly to your GitLab account which enables you to transfer developments to your live server from your GitLab repository at the click of a button.

 

 

 

Benefits

OK Low Developer Inertia: By using familiar, standard toolsets you minimise the inertia associated with bringing development resources to bear.

OK Shorter Project Cycles: The range of tools available for i-ntarsia minimise the project lifecycles speeding access to revenue.