#General

How long do these sandboxes last?

Per default they will be destroyed automatically after certain time. There should be a counter in the bottom left corner showing you how much time is left.
The current timeout setting is 24 hours.
If you need a longer period, you can contact me.
Runtime of running sandboxes cannot be elongated!

Can I choose multiple modules?

If you need to add additional modules or themes click on the "Add an additional project" in the "Advanced options" area.

Are my launched sandboxes private?

As long as you don't share the direct URL to your sandbox, yes it is. While it is unlikely, we can't guarantee that someone guesses the URL and is able to access your sandbox.

What Drupal Core versions are supported?

Drupal 6 and 7 are fully supported. You can also use Drupal 8! But it is still under development and I can't guarantee that it or it's modules behave as expected.

Can sandbox projects be tested and reviewed?

Yes, also sandbox modules are indexed and can be tested. But they have a lower priority and are grayed in the search results. If the sandbox is not available yet in the autocomplete you can add it by entering the sandbox id (which you can find at the end of the URL of your project sandbox page) into the textfield and hit the "Launch sandbox" button.

What is the login data for a sandbox site?

The login-form should be pre-filled with the login data, if not:
Administrative account (user #1) will always have the username admin as well as the password admin.
The site's MySQL database name, username and password is the sandbox's id ([id].ply.st).

Can I export the database?

You should be able to export the database by uploading and installing the Backup and Migrate module on your sandbox site.

#Troubleshooting

Why do some projects always fail to be build?

Unfortunately there are many ways a submission can fail.
If you encounter an error which seems to persist, please consider opening a bug-report, describing your problem.

Why is a project missing in the autocomplete?

If you can't find a specific project by typing into the autocomplete field, the most likely reason is that it was not indexed yet. To trigger an initial indexing of a project, just enter its shortname into the field and directly hit the "Launch sandbox" button.
If the project could be found it will be included into the database and ask you which version to use. From now on the project can be found through the autocomplete and a sandbox can be launched directly.

Why is my master branch not showing?

Git's default master branch should not be used for modules, themes or distributions and no downloadable releases can be tied to that branch. Use 6.x-1.x, 7.x-1.x or 8.x-1.x as your main development branch (see Release naming conventions).

Why is there a version of a project missing?

The most likely reason for a missing project version is that it's very new and as version data is cached on simplytest.me it may take a few hours until this cache is purged and new version data is requested. Another possible reason is that your version was blacklisted, because of eg. an unsupported drupal version.

#Developer information

Are there permanent URL's to specific projects?

If you like to use simplytest.me as on-demand demo site, you can make use of the direct URL's to specify the project and/or the version.
The URL pattern is http://simplytest.me/project/ < shortname >/< version >
Examples:
• http://simplytest.me/project/drupal
• http://simplytest.me/project/drupal/6.26
• http://simplytest.me/project/views/7.x-3.0-beta3

Can I apply patches?

If you want to test a current patch on the selected project you'll find the option to add patches in the "Advanced options"-fieldset.

Checking out specific commits by hash?

If you for example
• want to have a look at earlier state of a project which was not tagged
• want to apply a patch on an earlier state of the selected project
this can be done by specifying the commit hash in the URL instead of a tag or branch name:
http://simplytest.me/project/drupal/ < commit hash >
http://simplytest.me/project/drupal/c07014d65b2fcbac19

Pre-setting the additional modules and patches fields?

Beside the permanent URL's for project name and version you can also specify which additional modules and patches should be prefilled by using the following keys as query:
• patch[]=< url to the patch on drupal.org >
Example: /project/drupal/8.x?patch[]=http://drupal.org/files/some_patch-123-1.patch
• add[]=< module shortname >
Example: /project/drupal?add[]=views&add[]=faqfield

How are dependencies resolved?

All in .info files referenced dependencies such as
• dependencies[] = some_module
• recommends[] = some_module
• test_dependencies[] = some_module
• simplytest_dependencies[] = some_module
• base theme = some_theme
will tried to be resolved in the following order:
• Is there such project? (For a dependency on "views", "views" will be downloaded)
• Is there an alias for this project? (For a dependency on "content", "cck" will be downloaded)
• Is this a submodule? (For a dependency on "entity_token", "entity" will be downloaded)
Unfortunately dependencies are hard to resolve and it can happen that some are missing.
If you encounter such issues, please report them!

How can I enable other modules for demo purposes?

By adding a simplytest dependency to your modules .info file:
simplytest_dependencies[] = demo_module
The "demo_module" will be downloaded (if it's not already a submodule) and installed for modules and themes.

How are distributions build?

Simplytest.me chooses a makefile to build a distribution in the following order:
• simplytest.make: Should be similar to a build-[distro].make file, build the complete site and download all dependencies.
• build-[distro].make: Should build the complete site and download all dependencies.
• No makefile: Current Drupal core is downloaded, dependencies will be resolved as referenced in .info files.

What about modules depending on external libraries?

If your module requires an external library (eg. a jQuery plugin), please read how to automatically resolve such dependencies by make-files.
Simplytest.me will then execute the first drush make-file (.make or .make.example) it can find. Also please make sure that your make-files are still up-to-date and working.

How are projects downloaded?

The project you specified on the submission form will be downloaded using GIT clone. To speed this up, every repository is locally mirrored. All other projects such as dependencies will be downloaded using drush pm-download (or drush dl) with GIT as package manager and caching turned on. Both downloads make use of the same cache directory, which is refreshed by pulling the newest changes on every submission.

#Short-URLs

For easier sharing and testing on mobile devices, simplytest.me has a short-domain called ply.st (memorize with simplytest).

http://ply.st/

http://simplytest.me/

http://ply.st/[project-name] (pre-set project name)

http://simplytest.me/project/[project-name]

http://ply.st/[project-name]/[version] (pre-set project name and version)

http://simplytest.me/project/[project-name]/[version]

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