How Do I Back Up the Project? (Magic xpa 4.x)

It is always important to back up your work. You may have a good source control product in place that will handle backups automatically, but even without one, you have some easy options for doing good backups:

• Make backups of the operating system files

• Use the Magic xpa Export to create a packaged version of the XML files

• Make copies of programs as you work

We’ll take a look at each of these below.

Backing up the operating system files

When Magic xpa creates a new project, the structure of the project consists of a root level, which has the .edp (project) file, and some subdirectories. The actual program source is held in a series of XML files in the Source subdirectory. Usually, other supporting files, such as images or HTML templates, would also be located in subdirectories.

So, the quickest and easiest way to back up the entire project is to simply compress the folder at the top layer (“Utilities” in our example). You can keep multiple compressed versions of the project, if you want. This method ensures that you have a complete snapshot of your current project.

You can also copy this directory onto other media (such as a CD or an external hard drive), which is good insurance in case of hardware failure.

Hint: The Magic.ini file may or may not be in this directory, depending on how you have it installed. It is a good idea to keep a backup of the Magic.ini file too, in any case, since by the time you have been working on a project for awhile the Magic.ini may be highly customized and it can take awhile to restore it if it gets lost.

Creating export files

You can also export objects from your Magic xpa project, or export the entire project. This allows you to create a “bundled” version of the project.

1. Select File->Export/Import (Ctrl+Shift+E).

2. By default, the Operation is Export. Leave that as it is.

3. By default, the Type is Entire Project. Leave that as it is to back up the entire project. However, if you want, you can choose to back up just parts of your project, such as only the Models or Data sources. You can further refine the export by choosing a folder or selecting only a certain range of sequence numbers.

4. Choose a file name. This is where the file will be created. You can zoom to choose the location. The suffix “.xml” will automatically be appended when the file is created.

5. Click OK.

When the export is finished, the file will be created.

See also: How Do I Transfer Objects From One Project to Another?

Making copies of programs as you work

Before you start working on a program, you can always make a backup copy of it, using Edit->Entry->Repeat Entry (Ctrl+R). This isn’t as comprehensive as backing up the entire project, but it is a quick way to make sure you can get back to your original copy. This is especially useful if you are trying something experimental.

How to do this is explained in detail in How Do I Repeat an Entry in the Studio? and How Do I Replace an Entry in the Studio with Another Entry?.