Using Slatwall as CMS

[Lloyd Christmas]

I have a small site with very few content pages so i was trying to set up Slatwall by itself and for some reason it could not get it going.  I extracted the files from the dev branch into the root of the site.  Created a db slatwall and a  DSN in Lucee called slatwall.  When I try to go to the site I got a 500 error.  Did I miss a step in the process or not do it remotely correct?

[Chris Kent]

Hi Lloyd,

The basic Slatwall CMS might be a good solution for you where you only require some basic CMS pages. I have set it up for site theme development and as a basic CMS to allow creation, updates and deletion of content pages as well as the Slatwall templates for products, listing, cart and checkout it does the job well. It is not a full blown CMS like Mura or FarCry, but it is also not as complex. This simplicity can be a benefit if you do not need the extra features of a full CMS and want to maintain the code yourself.

Last time I looked, a very long time ago, there was not much documentation in the Slatwall developer guide https://www.slatwallcommerce.com/developer/developer-guide/

You do not outline your server configuration, go to ?slatAction=main.about for this.

Also, I do not know what steps you have taken within Slatwall to get this working. But here is a very quick outline of the approach that I take.

• I use Docker to set up and control my development environments - this is great where I have so many clients and development environments. I can fire up and close down any sites as required, test out client sites with different environments  - e.g. to safely test newer versions of Lucee. You may not need Docker so may have your own development environment.
• It does sound like you have Slatwall installed. Can you get to the admin and if so does the admin work? It sounds like you have your web root pointing to the root of the git 'Develop' repo branch and your web root is pointing to this folder. Navigate to this and log in to the admin if possible.
• The remaining points assume you can log into the Slatwall admin:-
• When using the Slatwall CMS, I usually use at least 2 domains/subdomains 1 for the Slatwall admin and 1 or more for the front-end(s)
• To do this, set up a Slatwall Application - Config / Applications. This will set up the application and copy templates and required files to a sub folder of /custom/apps/
• Then set up a Slatwall site and select your newly created Application.
• I use a second domain name and set allow admin access to false. Set this front-end domain to point to the same webroot as your admin domain. I know this may seem strange, but Slatwall will know to use the applications front-end display code to present to the browser.
• This will set up a subfolder in the /custom/apps/'appname' folder for your site and copy the front-end display templates.
• You should then be able to browse to your front-end domain and see the front-end code. You will need to modify these templates. Probably best to look at the basic homepage /custom/apps/'appname'/'sitename'/templates/default.cfm to start with.
• You can manage the content / pages in the Slatwall admin, Products / Content. The basic Slatwall templates will have already been added. 
• Example product listing page 'your-front-end-domain'/product-listing should work.

Hopefully this will help you get started.

Regars,

Chris.

[Brad Gustavesen]

Lloyd - 

Could you post the error message you're getting? That would help our team to point you in the right direction.