Your database appears to need patching to a higher level.

[stuffdone]

Did you do a test install and look at the "DEFAULT" DB collation before importing any existing DB backup??

No...there was no instruction I saw to do that in the three step upgrade process or how to do that.

[kobra]

No...there was no instruction I saw to do that in the three step upgrade process or how to do that.

I did not reference any instruction

Just install ZenCart with a new DB as a test and view through phpmyadmin what the collation is if you want to know is the server config is overuling the default collation

[stuffdone]

I did not reference any instruction

Just install ZenCart with a new DB as a test and view through phpmyadmin what the collation is if you want to know is the server config is overuling the default collation

The new installation went fine...everything worked at that point. The error occurred when restoring to place all the products back in place. We seem to be talking in a circle without a solution to the problem. I think the error confirmed there is a discrepancy but knowing that is not a solution.

Update requires restoring the products and customers etc. from the old database and this seems to be the source of the problem. I did NOT see any option on new install or upgrade to resolve that conflict while updating or restoring from the old.

I don't need to confirm again what is known. I need to know how to fix it while not losing all the products and settings from the prior version.

The other thing that since crossed my mind was to ignore the upgrade instructions and instead, use EasyPopulate to export from the old and import to the new and avoid this instruction to restore from the old version database.

Thoughts?

[kobra]

EP will not get the customer stuff imported

Again, if a stock install is latin1_general_ci
And the DB to be imported is something else then it was changed

I think the error confirmed there is a discrepancy but knowing that is not a solution.

You were already provided the solution earlier by haredo

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168872

[stuffdone]

Again, if a stock install is latin1_general_ci
And the DB to be imported is something else then it was changed

I am still trying to determine how it was changed? I have a lot of these to upgrade and knowing that in advance might help me see in advance if the others were changed. Perhaps change it back from the CP and do a fresh backup to use with utf8 set in place.

Is this a function in the Zen control panel that could do this? That is the ONLY place any of the users would have available to them to make such a change. I never made any such changes myself so if it was changed the customer has to have done it.


Just fixing this one then running into the same problem for others is not what I am trying to do if I can avoid this error on the rest.

[barco57]

OK, maybe Kobra is not getting through...so let me try....

What I haven't seen you answer is the question about what the collation is when you install a stock 1.3.9h by installing it and going and looking in phpmyadmin to see what it says. If it is anything other than latin1_general_ci then the server is set up to create the databases in another collation method. That would be why the older sites are a different collation method from what the zc_installer expects and you get the error when upgrading the databases.

Stating that you are the host doesn't help much if you don't know what your doing when it comes to server administration and being able to test something as simple as what collation method your server creates databases in by default....

Sorry for being blunt but this thread keeps going over the same ground because you are sure somebody must have changed the collation, so apparently have not checked the default......so hopefully I have clarified what Kobra was trying to get you to do....

[stuffdone]

OK, maybe Kobra is not getting through...so let me try....

What I haven't seen you answer is the question about what the collation is when you install a stock 1.3.9h by installing it and going and looking in phpmyadmin to see what it says. If it is anything other than latin1_general_ci then the server is set up to create the databases in another collation method. That would be why the older sites are a different collation method from what the zc_installer expects and you get the error when upgrading the databases.

Stating that you are the host doesn't help much if you don't know what your doing when it comes to server administration and being able to test something as simple as what collation method your server creates databases in by default....

Sorry for being blunt but this thread keeps going over the same ground because you are sure somebody must have changed the collation, so apparently have not checked the default......so hopefully I have clarified what Kobra was trying to get you to do....

I just moved to a brand new server with cPanel and had always used Plesk in the past so I am still wandering in the woods when it comes to fining everything in my CP.

I know from looking at the DB for this particular install it shows utf8 until the very bottom line (summary) where is shows swedish?

I am going to ask my SysAdmin for his input into this. I need to know how to determine what problems I may have upgrading ALL of the zen installs, not just this first test case.

[barco57]

Is that a clean install or one of the ones you have to upgrade?

[kobra]

I just moved to a brand new server with cPanel and had always used Plesk in the past

That would have been important information you could have provided earlier

A default CP config will accept the script DB collation

If these ZenCarts were on plesk there is no telling if it was configured to force UTF8 or not

Unless you still have access to it - - if so, then get off the dime and do a test install there and CHECK the collation

If not - - Get off the dime and check the DB's that you intend upgrading BEFORE you upgrade

You can create "2" installers
One default
One where you edit it for UTF8
ie: thange the DB_CHARSET in /zc_install/includes/installer_params.php to 'utf8' before using zc_install.

Now you can do either

[worldmaker]

I have that problem too now, only just upgraded from 138a to 139h.

Got the charset error message during upgrade:-
---------
1253 COLLATION 'utf8_general_ci' is not valid for CHARACTER SET 'latin1'
in:
[CREATE TABLE counter_history_clean as SELECT * FROM counter_history WHERE 1 GROUP BY startdate COLLATE utf8_general_ci;]
---------
Although I had set the installer_params.php to accept 'utf8' and "ignore_db_charset" to "TRUE" in the hope these would by-pass the error messages or force the issue.

My database host is set for utf8 on all tables.

Now entering the Admin section and receiving the message to patch the databases to a higher level.

I've already gone through the "3 Easy Steps" - creating a new DB, exporting the contents of the old DB, importing the contents into the new DB moving the entire site folder to a new location, as a test run, altering all configure files and others to reflect the new location, the new db, etc., etc. So my end appears to be fully-functing, but the interaction with the db isn't working and needs a corrective fix.

What and where it is?

I've followed a few threads over the last 18 hours and found no clear, effective answer to the question of correcting the CHARSET and DB issue.

Current database patch level on the cart's admin section reads 1.3.8

I've also tried running zc_install a couple of times to upgrade the database, and back to the [1253 COLLATION 'utf8_general_ci'...] ERROR message.

If the cart is defaulting to 'latin1' and still offers the option to override to 'utf8' then how do we resolve this conflict?

1. Alter source code?
2. Change all the database, creating new ones in 'latin1' format?
The current DB settings include:-
1 . MySQL charset: UTF-8 Unicode (utf8)
2 . MySQL connection collation: utf8_unicode_ci

From an amateur's point of view this is not something I want to be meddling with unless there is no alternative and there are clear instructions, guidelines and safety hats provided.