Consolidating modules and data from multiple instances into

Hello,

The way our Sitefinity infrastructure is architected, we have one main corporate website and a website for each of our individual locations, and all of them are running on their own Sitefinity instance. All of the individual locations are using the exact same codebase, but the content in the database differs from site to site. 

There is a module that is present in each location that was created using the Module Builder in Sitefinity; we are embarking on a project that will expand on this module, and we would like to centralize it at the main corporate Sitefinity instance because some of the data in the module will be reused across more than one of the individual locations; we don't want to have to maintain it in multiple places. 

Each object in the module has text attributes that belong only to them, but they also have three image attributes, which reference images stored in the database of the particular Sitefinity instance on which they are located. 

I know that I can export the structure of modules to move them between Sitefinity instances, that is how we deployed these modules in the first place, and I have the option to export and import the modules and their data. I have two basic questions about this process:

1) When I export the structure and data of a custom module from a Sitefinity instance and import it into a new instance, will the actual pictures come as well? Or will it only bring the links to the pictures? If it only brings links, are they absolute links that would be pointing to the Sitefinity instance from which they were copied, or will they be relative links that will then be broken because the pictures to not exist in the new SItefinity instance?

2) After I have imported a custom module and its data for the first time, can I then repeat the procedure for the *same* module, but from a different instance (therefore with different data)? If so, and data is duplicated between the modules, I assume it will duplicate in the database because it uses a guid as a primary key?

3) (sorry; I lied) If using the export structure and data and import multiple times is not a feasible solution, are there any existing guidelines for accomplishing a task like this?

Thanks,
Stuart

Hello Stuart,

Exporting dynamic module's structure from one and importing to another project is possible which enables you to reuse already created modules in different projects.

The exporting of the data however is different and this data has to be added manually to the new project for there is no import of data functionality out of the box. The export of data is on an Excel file containing the url, publication date and the values of all fields of the item. Please refer to our Documentation for more detailed information.