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Heavy Equipment Manufacturing, a leader in producing agriculture equipment, operated a web portal for managing customer orders, service requests, and product information. The portal was initially built on CodeIgniter v1 and faced issues related to maintainability, performance, and scalability. To modernize their infrastructure, improve security, and enhance user experience, they decided to migrate their web portal to CodeIgniter v4.
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Challenges
1. Legacy Codebase: The outdated CodeIgniter v1 codebase required significant refactoring to align with modern standards.
2. Feature Parity: Ensuring all existing functionalities worked seamlessly after the migration.
3. Data Migration: Safely migrating extensive datasets with minimal downtime and no data loss.
2. Feature Parity: Ensuring all existing functionalities worked seamlessly after the migration.
3. Data Migration: Safely migrating extensive datasets with minimal downtime and no data loss.
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Approach
Planning and Analysis
- Conducted a comprehensive audit of the current CodeIgniter v1 application. - Documented all functionalities and created a detailed migration roadmap. - Identified potential risks and formulated mitigation strategies.
Environment Setup
- Established separate development, testing, and production environments for CodeIgniter v4. - Configured version control using Git to manage and track code changes effectively.
Code Refactoring
- Rewrote the legacy code to comply with CodeIgniter v4's architecture. - Employed modern PHP practices, such as namespaces, traits, and strict typing. - Modularized the code into services and repositories for improved maintainability.
Database Migration
- Analysed and optimized the existing database schema. - Utilized CodeIgniter v4’s database migration tools to manage schema changes. - Developed scripts to ensure data integrity during the migration process.
Performance Optimization
- Optimized database queries and implemented caching strategies. -Enhanced front-end performance using modern JavaScript frameworks and CSS optimizations.
Testing and Quality Assurance
- Developed comprehensive unit and integration tests to cover critical functionalities. - Conducted user acceptance testing (UAT) with key stakeholders to ensure feature parity. - Performed load testing to validate performance improvements.
Deployment and Rollback Plan
- Planned a phased deployment approach to minimize downtime. - Established a rollback plan to quickly revert changes if necessary.
- Conducted a comprehensive audit of the current CodeIgniter v1 application. - Documented all functionalities and created a detailed migration roadmap. - Identified potential risks and formulated mitigation strategies.
Environment Setup
- Established separate development, testing, and production environments for CodeIgniter v4. - Configured version control using Git to manage and track code changes effectively.
Code Refactoring
- Rewrote the legacy code to comply with CodeIgniter v4's architecture. - Employed modern PHP practices, such as namespaces, traits, and strict typing. - Modularized the code into services and repositories for improved maintainability.
Database Migration
- Analysed and optimized the existing database schema. - Utilized CodeIgniter v4’s database migration tools to manage schema changes. - Developed scripts to ensure data integrity during the migration process.
Performance Optimization
- Optimized database queries and implemented caching strategies. -Enhanced front-end performance using modern JavaScript frameworks and CSS optimizations.
Testing and Quality Assurance
- Developed comprehensive unit and integration tests to cover critical functionalities. - Conducted user acceptance testing (UAT) with key stakeholders to ensure feature parity. - Performed load testing to validate performance improvements.
Deployment and Rollback Plan
- Planned a phased deployment approach to minimize downtime. - Established a rollback plan to quickly revert changes if necessary.
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Conclusion
The migration from CodeIgniter v1 to CodeIgniter v4 was successfully completed, achieving all project objectives. The web portal now shows significantly improved performance and increased scalability. The codebase is cleaner and more maintainable, facilitating easier updates and maintenance. The project underscored the importance of thorough planning, stakeholder communication, and rigorous testing in managing complex migrations.
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