Development Workflows

This chapter discusses the different ways to interact with the database while you are developing your own digital edition. In essence, one can distinguish two basic approaches:

1. development is primarily done inside the database using tools like eXide, Jinks or oXygen

2. main development takes place in a local directory, which is deployed to the server

In reality, you may mix both. For example, even if you are mainly working in a directory, you may still want to use the visual ODD editor, occasionally update the application with Jinks etc. You therefore need ways to sync from database to file system and the other way around.

But whichever way you choose, it is important to always have an up to date backup in a safe place in case anything goes wrong. The best way to achieve this is to use a versioning system like git. We strongly recommend to set up a git repository whenever you start work on a digital edition. For beginners, a graphical git client like GitHub Desktop might be the best choice.