I've been playing around with the ATG Eclipse plugin. I like the Repository editor, but it can't cope with more than two layers of XML file combination, so it's not useful for modifying large scale catalogs. But it is great for proof of concept repositories and prototypes. And I like that I don't have to run through a build script when using an ATG project in Eclipse.

The side effect of using the plugin is that I've been creating a whole bunch of disposable ATG modules. I'm fairly good at cranking these out now, but they're a hassle in bulk. So I wrote an ant script that creates ATG modules from a template. This will setup the EAR, WAR, and libs for you automatically. Click here for the file.

There's also some stuff in there about ATG versioned modules. I remember that there was a big annoying problem with CampaignOptimizer (otherwise known as A/B Testing). The details are in build.properties, but I don't remember precisely.

It's worth noting that versioned modules could have some advantages over regular modules for large scale enterprise builds. Notably, versioned modules can contain scripts that can automate deployment. Jason Goth goes over this in his presentation at the ATG Open. Relevant bits are as follows:

Versioned Modules
- Each versioned module contains an install script(s).
- The AACom module is a “shell”
– Creates a dependency on the actual version of the site
– The MANIFEST.MF contains just the following:
ATG-Required: AACom-1_36

Versioned modules allow completely automated deployments.
- The deployment script:
– Copies the module files
– Stops a portion of the servers
– Runs the install script(s)
– Starts Dynamo
– Repeat process for remaining servers
- Written in Perl

The deployment script allows us to:
– Upgrade without manual intervention
– Avoid inconsistencies during the restart
– Handle failed file transfers
- Don’t start those servers
– Rollback in case of failure

This is taken from the powerpoint slides. I have no idea exactly what he meant by much of this -- since ATG versioned modules are completely undocumented, much of what I already know is trial and error. Still, it's a good starting point.