Content Versioning System Development

Content Versioning System Development

A versioning system saves change history for each page or post. Editor can compare versions, restore previous, or revert to specific point. Protects against accidental content loss and allows auditing changes.

Implementation Options

Event Sourcing — store only diff between versions. Saves space, but version restoration requires replaying change chain.

Full snapshots — store complete snapshot of each version. Simpler to implement, takes more space, instant restoration.

Hybrid — full snapshot every N versions, diff between them.

For most CMS — full snapshots: text volume is small, simplicity is more important than storage savings.

Data Model

content_versions (
  id, content_type, content_id,
  version_number,
  content (jsonb),     -- full data snapshot
  title, excerpt,      -- for quick display in version list
  changed_fields (jsonb), -- ['title', 'body'] — what changed
  change_summary,      -- 'Fixed typo in title'
  is_autosave,         -- autosave vs manual save
  created_by, created_at
)

Autosave

// Autosave every 30 seconds on changes
const { isDirty, formData } = useFormState();

useEffect(() => {
    if (!isDirty) return;

    const timer = setTimeout(async () => {
        await saveDraft(formData);
        setLastSaved(new Date());
    }, 30000);

    return () => clearTimeout(timer);
}, [formData, isDirty]);

Creating Version on Save

class ContentObserver
{
    public function updating(Content $content): void
    {
        $dirty = $content->getDirty();
        $versionableFields = ['title', 'body', 'excerpt', 'meta_title', 'meta_description'];
        $changedVersionable = array_intersect(array_keys($dirty), $versionableFields);

        if (empty($changedVersionable)) return;

        // Version limit: keep max 50, delete old autosaves
        ContentVersion::where('content_type', get_class($content))
            ->where('content_id', $content->id)
            ->where('is_autosave', true)
            ->orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
            ->skip(10)  // keep last 10 autosaves
            ->get()
            ->each->delete();

        ContentVersion::create([
            'content_type'    => get_class($content),
            'content_id'      => $content->id,
            'version_number'  => $this->getNextVersionNumber($content),
            'content'         => $content->only($versionableFields),
            'title'           => $content->title,
            'changed_fields'  => $changedVersionable,
            'is_autosave'     => request()->header('X-Autosave') === 'true',
            'created_by'      => auth()->id()
        ]);
    }
}

Diff Between Versions

use cogpowered\FineDiff\Diff;
use cogpowered\FineDiff\Granularity\Word;

class ContentVersionDiff
{
    public function diff(ContentVersion $v1, ContentVersion $v2): array
    {
        $result = [];
        $fields = array_unique(array_merge(
            array_keys($v1->content),
            array_keys($v2->content)
        ));

        foreach ($fields as $field) {
            $old = $v1->content[$field] ?? '';
            $new = $v2->content[$field] ?? '';

            if ($old !== $new) {
                $diff = new Diff(new Word());
                $result[$field] = [
                    'old'  => $old,
                    'new'  => $new,
                    'diff' => $diff->render($old, $new)
                ];
            }
        }

        return $result;
    }
}

Version Restoration

public function restore(Content $content, ContentVersion $version): void
{
    DB::transaction(function () use ($content, $version) {
        // Save current as version before restoration
        event(new ContentBeforeRestore($content));

        $content->update($version->content);
        $content->recordActivity('version_restored', [
            'restored_version' => $version->version_number
        ]);
    });
}

Version History Interface

Side panel or separate page:

• Version list: number, date, author, changed fields, type (manual/autosave)
• Click version → preview content
• Compare two versions: select "base" and "compare", view diff
• "Restore" button with confirmation

Development timeline: 2–4 weeks for complete system with diff, autosave, and version comparison interface.