Upgrading to the latest version

[Heatherbell]

Nearly finished a new install of Frozen running and working on php 7.1 on a temporary domain and ready to transfer and replace all the files on our live domain.

Should I keep the old htaccess file on the old domain or replace it too - is there any reason to replace it? I ask because I don't know what it does and scared of breaking something.

[BrockleyJohn]

@Heatherbell it's the htaccess in admin that's more likely to break something as it may refer to a location (for the password file) that doesn't exist

the htaccess in catalog might have url rewrite rules, expires times and so on

The other places you might break things are the configure files in both catalog and admin.

The safest approach would be to compare the four files between the two versions of your store to make sure you can update your original store files with any necessary extras instead of overwriting them. If there are any differences you're not sure about, ask about them here without publishing any sensitive site data. Then write-protect them to prevent accidental overwriting.

The frozen configure files have fewer entries than the old ones but it won't matter if you leave the extra ones there. I can't think of any new ones off the top of my head and I wouldn't be surprised if you can leave the four old files there unchanged.

Don't forget to check that the urls on the new version of the site are presented the same as the old version or you'll take a hit on google.

Edited March 20, 2019 by BrockleyJohn

[Heatherbell]

@BrockleyJohn

Many thanks for such a quick and helpful reply.

Our old site, currently live and busy, is running on Gold and php 5.6  - the servers have kindly prevented php 7.1 until we have updated our site.

When we transfer the new Frozen files will they break on the php 5.6 if the switch to php 7.1 is not immediate?

As our site is busy how can we display a page/message to inform of website down during transfer?

With reference to urls, not sure we understand -  is that what is displayed in the browser address bar or the text in the browser tab?

We have the addresses the same in the new site (category and product id's are the same in new and old) but the text in the tabs is different - we have Header Tags SEO installed on the old site but header tags SEO seems to be built in on Frozen which is giving different text.

For example old live site - https://cornishhoney.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=92_30&products_id=524

new  Frozen http://cornwallhoneybees.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=92_30&products_id=524

 

[Jack_mcs]

26 minutes ago, Heatherbell said:

When we transfer the new Frozen files will they break on the php 5.6 if the switch to php 7.1 is not immediate?

The Frozen version will work fine with 5.6.

 

28 minutes ago, Heatherbell said:

but header tags SEO seems to be built in on Frozen which is giving different text.

Frozen uses Header Tags SEO Reloaded which is completely different from Header Tags SEO.

[Heatherbell]

@Jack_mcs

Thank you for your information.

As our site is busy how can we display a page/message to inform of website down during transfer?

With reference to urls, not sure we understand -  is that what is displayed in the browser address bar or the text in the browser tab?

We have the addresses the same in the new site (category and product id's are the same in new and old) but the text in the tabs is different - will this break Google, if so, how do we make them the same.

[MrPhil]

Frankly, you need to fully understand what your various .htaccess files are doing, and why. They cannot be treated as sacred totems that are kept without change, or something to be discarded without a second thought. If you don't understand what parts of which ones to keep, find someone (and pay them) to help you.

Quote

As our site is busy how can we display a page/message to inform of website down during transfer?

I think there is an add-on or two to show shop status (open, closed, down for repairs, etc.), but that would have to be installed into the old shop, and may not be worth the effort. You can always make an index.php file that just says "Sorry, we're down for a few minutes while we transfer to new shop software. Come back in about 15 minutes!". Save your old store's index.php file first, in case you need to come back to it (the whole site should be backed up first, for that matter).

Quote

With reference to urls, not sure we understand -  is that what is displayed in the browser address bar or the text in the browser tab?

Address bar. These are the addresses that search engines would provide to send people to your site. If they change between the old and new versions of your store (e.g., new SEO code), you will take a search results hit while your site is reindexed, and for some time after (unless your old URLs are 301 redirected to the new ones).

[Heatherbell]

@MrPhil

Thank you for your help.

9 minutes ago, MrPhil said:

Frankly, you need to fully understand what your various .htaccess files are doing, and why. They cannot be treated as sacred totems that are kept without change, or something to be discarded without a second thought. If you don't understand what parts of which ones to keep, find someone (and pay them) to help you.

Sorry I thought here is the place to find help and support.

[Jack_mcs]

6 hours ago, Heatherbell said:

With reference to urls, not sure we understand -  is that what is displayed in the browser address bar or the text in the browser tab? 

We have the addresses the same in the new site (category and product id's are the same in new and old) but the text in the tabs is different - will this break Google, if so, how do we make them the same.

The url you mentioned - http://cornwallhoneybees.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=92_30&products_id=524 - is the stock format. From the two you posted, it is identical so they will work fine with the search engines and you won't lose those listings.

But the text in the tab is the web browser title and that is one of the main things google uses for ranking. That text is controlled by Header Tags SEO in your live shop but not in your new shop. You should try to make the text the same, assuming you rank well for them. Since you don't have Header Tags SEO installed in the new shop, you will have to edit the various files that Header Tags SEO Reloaded uses to make sure you get the text you want.

It might be that the default text displayed in the new shop is fine and it won't hurt, and may help, your rankings for the various pages. But that requires more help than can be offered in a support thread so you will need to check that yourself.

Regarding the transfer, as Phil mentioned there are addons for that. But unless you are moving hosts, and maybe not even then, you really don't need that, in my opinion. Just put up a page to block access saying the site is down for maintenance and rename the includes directory to prevent access to all pages. Then convert your database one final time and move the files around. Unless there is something unique to your situation that I am not aware of, the whole move should take less than an hour.

[Heatherbell]

@Jack_mcs

Many thanks for taking the time to explain, all clear now:)

[SCH_001]

Upgrade v2.3.4 database to v2.3.4.1 CE

I have read this topic from back to close the front and nothing has working for me

Installed is fresh install of the  latest of Frozen CE BS osCommerce Online Merchant v2.3.4.1 CE   from github on a test domain. My current running system is osCommerce Online Merchant v2.3.4
I have exported the tables from the 2.3.4 database and imported them in to a new database on my test server. Change the configure.php to point to it and of course no go.

I have run the script from "2.3.4(normal) to 2.3.4(responsive) database conversion script" it did work but not correctly in so many ways, so I thought well it dated "Posted January 22, 2015 (edited)"

So

1. Is there a current script that does work?
2. Mainly seeking to get customers and their orders across and hoping to use Quick Up Date BS to import stock once I can get a mysql code to export the categories I need but that request is going in to a new topic

 

 

[♥JcMagpie]

The script is not 100% you may still have to do some cleaning of the data. Best to compare the new data set with the old and correct any errors before importing.

[SCH_001]

Sorry @JcMagpie I am totally lost with database stuff. I will have to wait and see if anyone has got a script that works else I will have to put a post up seeking some paid help. Just was hoping to avoid that as once I have test site working as needed I will then need to move it all to correct domain and import the database again from the running site current site

PS - Quick Up Date BS  does not import but still a nice add on which is going to be very useful

[♥JcMagpie]

I understand I found it a pain also when i did my first db update. It's not that the script is not working, it is working but if you read the instructions on the script it will tell you that you may still need to do some further edits, it all depends on how much customisation you had on your old shop!

I found it best to remove all add-on's in the old store and try to go back to as close to stock as posiable before trying to do a data import.

You can also limit the import to key tables which reduces the amount of changes needed to be done by hand.

6 minutes ago, supercheaphobb said:

PS - Quick Up Date BS  does not import but still a nice add on which is going to be very useful

Yes it's simlply for updating from admin. To import you can use a simple CSV file in phpMyadmin or use somthing like Easy Populate.

[SCH_001]

My idea would be

1. Only export and then import customers and orders
   But have no idea on how to do either
2. Export my products on a per category bases making sure I get everything for each item Ie description, price, weight, etc etc That way I can skip some categories that I want to drop
   Then as long as the export is done correctly import one category at a time in to the new database
   But again I have no idea on how to do this
3. Then when ready to move the site only customers and orders will need to be totally deleted and re-imported

So I have no idea on how to do any of the above and not sure if it's worth the step learning curve as a shop owner or to outsource it <sigh>

[bonbec]

You can take inspiration from this @piernas script :

https://www.oscommerce.com/forums/topic/407712-script-co-copy-data-from-22-to-234-database/

[MrPhil]

You've got two entirely separate things here: 1) conversion of the DB from old schema to new, and 2) selective editing of DB content. I wouldn't try to mix them -- do (1) then (2).

You'll often get yourself in trouble if you try to transfer table-by-table. I find it better to change the DB layout (schema) from old to new in one go, and then edit content at my leisure, either in the .sql backup, or on the live DB using phpMyAdmin.  My preferred method is to dump both the old and new databases in .sql file format, including the table creation commands (which gives you the layout). It's not rocket science to compare each table, field-by-field, and update the old DB's .sql file; it's just painstaking and meticulous work. If there are add-ons and other customizations to the old store, that is really the only way to do it. If new fields are added, you may have to synthesize appropriate data for them.

Has anyone come up with a tool yet to take an old .sql dump and a new one, and generate the SQL needed to update the old DB to the new one's schema (leaving alone add-on changes)? You'd still have to eyeball the SQL to check what it's doing.

Of course this requires getting your hands dirty in the depths of the database, and is not for the faint of heart. So long as you keep a backup of the database you're modifying, and know how to use that backup to restore the DB (if you've modified a live one on the system), you shouldn't cause a catastrophe -- you can always start over.

[Jack_mcs]

5 hours ago, supercheaphobb said:

1. Only export and then import customers and orders
   But have no idea on how to do either
2. Export my products on a per category bases making sure I get everything for each item Ie description, price, weight, etc etc That way I can skip some categories that I want to drop
   Then as long as the export is done correctly import one category at a time in to the new database
   But again I have no idea on how to do this
3. Then when ready to move the site only customers and orders will need to be totally deleted and re-imported

So I have no idea on how to do any of the above and not sure if it's worth the step learning curve as a shop owner or to outsource it <sigh>

1 - It's difficult to say how to best approach this because it varies with the database. But, usually, I think just copying the customers, orders and address book tables is enough for most sites. The only differences in those tables are usually the collation, which can be fixed afterwards, and the index key. The key is important for speed. If the conversion script mentioned keeps that then it should work.

2 - The easiest way to be sure products are handled correctly, short of properly converting the database, is to install Easy Populate into both shops. Then download the products from the old shop and upload them to the new one.

3 - Correct.

There are many programs on the web that will help with this. MySQL Workbench is free. I haven't used it in a long time but it used to work very well and I think it has probably improved since then. You may want to look at these, and others:

MySQL Workbench
https://www.mysql.com/products/workbench/

Compare two databases:
https://adamspiers.org/computing/mysqldiff/

[BumpsB]

How does one discover which version of oscommerce is running on our website?  Have run into problems with the shopping cart which displays a '404' when adding an item to the cart, following a security warning.  This follows a conversion of some files from http to https and back again due to error messages.

Thanks for any thoughts!

[bonbec]

6 minutes ago, BumpsB said:

How does one discover which version of oscommerce is running on our website?

I think you have OsCommerce MS2.2. To be sure, go to your administration => tools =>server info

[burt]

 

33 minutes ago, BumpsB said:

How does one discover which version of oscommerce is running on our website?  Have run into problems with the shopping cart which displays a '404' when adding an item to the cart, following a security warning.  This follows a conversion of some files from http to https and back again due to error messages.

Thanks for any thoughts!

24 minutes ago, bonbec said:

I think you have OsCommerce MS2.2. To be sure, go to your administration => tools =>server info

Yes, assuming this is your record shop we are talking about, it is a *very* old version of oscommerce (I'm surprised it is still working at all!). 

If you have budget it may be advisable to get some quotes from the good developers here to upgrade you to the latest version (it need not cost that much actually, depending on what extras you need, it could be as little as an hours work).  Post at https://www.oscommerce.com/forums/forum/79-commercial-support-inquiries/ to get some quotes.  

[videod]

Wow nice job!  I uploaded CE on my GoDaddy hosted site running osCommerce Online Merchant v1.0.1.2 and PHP Version 7.3.6.  Just wondering where do you obtain the shipping modules for USPS, UPS and FedEx?    Just kicking the tires but eventually will replace my old 2.3.4 BS Edge site that was really never kept up-to-date.   Another question I have is there a way to automatically install the latest updates with CE (pull from github)?

Thanks again for an awesome job!!!

Dave

[quantumcoders]

I also upgrade my website for drupal latest version.

Edited November 6, 2019 by burt
remove link to external site (spam)

[NickW]

Quote

Yes, assuming this is your record shop we are talking about, it is a *very* old version of oscommerce (I'm surprised it is still working at all!).

Great to see the responsive CE-Pheonix/Community Edition keeping osCommerce alive!

I've just updated a heavily customised version of OsCommerce MS2.2 to run on PHP7.3 - security updates and compatibility updates have been applied incrementally over the years. Includes responsive templates with content editing and some fairly complex product pricing.

[Philo2005]

Hi everybody

How can i update my Phoenix v1.0.4.0 shop to v1.0.5.0 ?

[azpro]