V5 -> V6 database compatibility

[jmedinger]

I've got a customer that needs his V5 Business site upgrading to V6 however the site is live and he would prefer not to take it off line for the necessary work... :-(

I have a copy of V5 and V6 and an old version of his site...

If he and I both do raw upgrades of the V5 store so that his main database is V6 compatable can I then...

...make all the necessary amendments and send him a snapshot (which would be fully up to date except for product, order and customer info) can he then copy his 'catalog.mdb' file into the site directory and expect the customer, product and order data to be correctly displayed aswell as everything else?

Regards

Jos

[Jan]

if you upgrade from V5 to V6 you will still have a fully usable V5 on your system and the V6 would be the standard upgraded version of his site. You could then develop the site onto a test server without causing any problems to the live site. I'm not sure how this stands with regard to licensing so you might need to check with sales - if you have a developer license you could use that one to do the development.

Regards,

[jmedinger]

Hi Jan

Thanks for your comments...

I have V6 Developer so that's not an issue...

The issue is how, without a snapshot from the client, can I replace the essential Actinic data such as the product listings, order info and customer details once I've sent HIM a snapshot which is correct as far as the site configuration is concerned?

Is it possible to simply transpose the catalog.mdb file and hey presto, replacement site?

Jos

[Jan]

As a developer I have dropped a catalog into a site many times for testing so can say that it will work - if he drops his V5 catalog into his new V6 setup the database will just upgrade itself to V6 when the catalog is next started. You will loose some information because some informtion is stored in the registry, for example the printer settings will be lost.

Regards,

[garyhay]

If you have Developer then you can export your design as a Theme. This will change the look and feel of the site but leave all orders, customer info etc intact.

When you import a snapshot there is an option to "overwrite all orders in target" which you would uncheck

[jmedinger]

Thanks Gary / Jan..

I don't think I've explained myself well enough...

I DON'T have a snapshot from the customer

I DO have an old version of his site (i.e. all details correct except for out of date products, orders and customer info)

What I'm driving at is,

Can I send him a V6 snapshot of his old site for him to import into his V6 and he then replaces the catalog.mdb file with his current one and bingo all his up to date orders, products etc are there for him to see?

Does that make sense?

Jos

[Jan]

I think that you can - but have never done this on anything other than a test site. The database stores his business settings, terms and conditions, network settings, customers, products, orders and payment details.

Regards,