1. Configuring and Extending Applications
  2. Create and Activate Sandboxes

Create and Activate Sandboxes

To make changes to the application, you must first store the changes in an active sandbox. You can either create a sandbox or select an existing one, and make it active.

You must activate the configuration tools you want to use in your sandbox. If you plan to use Page Composer in your sandbox and edit pages at a layer other than Site, you need to create a sandbox just for that layer, and activate only Page Composer in it.

Create and Activate Sandboxes

Follow these steps to create and activate sandboxes for most configuration tools. For flexfields, use the Manage Descriptive Flexfields task or the Manage Extensible Flexfields task instead.

  1. Click Navigator > Configuration > Sandboxes.

  2. On the Sandboxes page, click Create Sandbox.

  3. Enter a name and description for your sandbox.

  4. In the Publishable field, select Yes or No. If you set this option as No, you can just use your sandbox for testing purposes, but can never publish it.

  5. In the All Tools section, select the tools you want to activate for this sandbox. The context layers for all selected tools are set as Site by default. So the changes you make using these tools affect all users.

  6. If you select Page Composer, you can click the Edit Sandbox Context icon and change the context layer from Site to another layer, for example Internal. You can find the Edit Sandbox Context icon in the Support Context column. Make sure you select a context that’s supported by the page you want to edit. Otherwise, you won’t be able to edit the page.

    Note: If you want to use other tools along with Page Composer in your sandbox, don't change the context layer for Page Composer, even though you can. That's because all tools except Page Composer support only a single context layer, Site. So if you change the context layer for Page Composer from Site to any other layer, all other tools that you might have selected earlier will be deselected.

  7. Click Create to just create the sandbox, or Create and Enter to enter or activate the sandbox after creating it.

Here are a few things to know about activating tools in your sandbox.

  • If you try to use a configuration tool in a sandbox without activating the tool in it, you get a message prompting you to activate the tool. You can add more tools to your sandbox later also.

  • To create and manage saved searches and make UI adjustments (for example, change a table's column width) just for yourself, you must leave your sandbox before making these changes. But if you want to make these changes for others too, then make the changes with Page Composer open, in which case you also must be in a sandbox.

Activate Existing Sandboxes

Follow these steps to activate a sandbox.

  1. Click Navigator > Configuration > Sandboxes.

  2. From the list of sandboxes, if available, find the one you want to activate, and click the Enter Sandbox icon for that sandbox. Your sandbox is activated, and you can see its name on the sandbox bar before the global header. You can use the options available on the sandbox bar to quickly do some activities, such as view sandbox details, publish the sandbox, or leave the sandbox.