Staging and preview

Previewing changes

Preview shows your staged changes on the real storefront of your Magento store, without affecting anyone else. It's the final check before deploying: browse the site, check layouts, and make sure everything looks right.

How preview works

  1. MageDrop creates a preview link containing a unique, random token.
  2. Opening the link takes you to your store, where the Magento module validates the token and stores the preview in your session.
  3. While the preview is active, the module overlays the release's staged changes on top of the live content as each page renders.
  4. Other visitors see the normal, unchanged store. Your preview is completely isolated.

Previewing a release from the dashboard

  1. In the MageDrop dashboard, open the release.
  2. Click Preview.
  3. Click Open preview to open your storefront with the changes applied, or use the copy button next to it to copy the link.

Preview links are valid for 2 hours. Click Preview again for a fresh link whenever you need one.

Quick Preview from the Magento admin

You can also preview a single edit straight from the admin form, without staging it first. See Quick Preview.

The preview bar

While a preview is active, a preview bar is shown on every storefront page, with:

  • The name of the release you're previewing.
  • A label confirming you're in preview mode.
  • An Exit preview button that returns you to the normal store.

Only you see the bar. It never appears for regular visitors.

Exiting preview

Click Exit preview on the preview bar. The preview also ends when your session ends or the link expires. Opening a preview link again starts a new preview.

Full page cache and Varnish

Magento's full page cache would normally serve the same cached page to everyone. MageDrop keeps previews and live pages apart:

  • While a preview is active, the module adds a cache context based on the release and a fingerprint of its staged content.
  • Preview pages are therefore cached separately and are never served to regular visitors, and vice versa.
  • When the staged content changes, the fingerprint changes too, so you never see a stale preview.
  • Cached blocks such as the top menu are varied the same way.

With Varnish, this works through Magento's standard X-Magento-Vary cookie. No extra Varnish configuration is needed with Magento's default VCL.

Session-based isolation

  • Each person's preview is independent: two team members can preview different releases at the same time.
  • Your preview doesn't affect any other visitor.
  • A private window without the preview shows the normal live content.

Sharing preview links

Preview links can be shared with colleagues, stakeholders or clients who need to sign changes off:

  • Copy the link from the release page and send it to anyone who needs to review.
  • Everyone who opens it gets their own independent preview.
  • No MageDrop account or Magento admin access is needed.

Treat links like unreleased content. Anyone with a valid link can see the staged changes until it expires, so only share it with people who should see them.

What gets previewed

Preview overlays every staged change in the release:

  • CMS page content and titles
  • CMS block content, including blocks embedded in pages or widgets
  • Category attributes, images and thumbnails: on the category page, in the menu and in category listings
  • Product attributes, the gallery (including hidden images and roles), customizable options and tier prices: on the product page, in listings and in search results
  • Which products a category lists: products added to or removed from a category, whether from the category's Products in Category section or a product's Categories field, and their staged positions

Preview is store-view aware: a change staged for one store view only shows when you browse that store view, and a default-scope change doesn't show on a store view that has its own value for that field, exactly as after deploy.

If a staged change enables something that is currently disabled (a CMS page, for example), you'll see it in the preview even though it's hidden on the live site.

Category listings in preview

Category pages are served from the search index, so preview adjusts the page Magento loads rather than re-running the search: removed products drop out, and added or moved products are shown on the first page at their staged position. Because the search itself is unchanged:

  • Layered navigation filters and their counts may be off, as they describe the live listing.
  • The product count and paging can be off by the number of products you added or removed.
  • Added products are placed by their staged position even when the shopper sorts by something else, such as price or name.
  • Search results pages don't reflect staged category assignments.

A product removed from a category that also sits in one of its subcategories stays listed on an anchor category, exactly as it will after deploy.

What preview can't show

Some catalog data is served from Magento's indexes or read straight from the database by the storefront, so it can't be overlaid in memory. These changes deploy correctly but aren't visible in preview:

  • Whether a product appears in search results, or in a listing because of a staged status or visibility change
  • A category appearing in or disappearing from the menu (Enable Category or Include in Menu)
  • Related, up-sell and cross-sell products

Something missing or unclear? Tell us and we will fix the page.