Hi all

Lets be clear from the start, I'm new to Umbraco so version 7.2 is all I know.  I don't know .NET intimately, so you could say a bit green all round, but keen to learn!

My test site has several custom datatypes and uses several 3rd party packages such as Archetype, Tag Manager, nuPickers & Slimsy, which obviously add their own.  It may well have custom sections at some point as well.

I've been reading up on Courier 2.5, anticipating that this would enable me to keep 3 installations in sync (local, development & production - the latter 2 on Azure). I was initially thinking of using the Express version, but have now discovered that in order to handle custom datatypes & sections, I can only use the full version. Okay, fine but looking at the documentation on creating custom data resolvers and am now wondering if there is another way!

My experience so far especially with trying to do something that is not out-of-the-box in Umbraco, tells me that it will take me a while to work out what is relevant to 7.2 and what is not, let alone get something working. One obvious thing I noticed in the Data Resolvers documentation was the use of Guids - where do I get those from?  I think I remember reading somewhere that they were not used after version 4+, but I could be wrong!  As you may be able to appreciate I feel a tiny bit nervous, especially with the rather mixed comments around Courier, about embarking down this route if I can't set things up correctly from the start, before the site goes live.

I've also come across Umport which looks like it might be able to handle the custom elements that Courier doesn't, but are there likely to be problems running both?

I would love to hear others opinions and advice and whether Courier 2.5 is worth the investment in time and money or whether there are other ways of keeping 3 installations in sync?

Thanks in advance,

Anne