1.3.8 --> 1.3.8a Content overwritten?

I have just upgraded from 1.3.8 --> 1.3.8a using 'Fantastico'. My test site has a number of modifications & around 15 items of stock, so I was not looking forward to this!

Fortunately, all seems to have gone well.

The only problem was that things I had previously deleted reappeared, i.e.:

• 'Tagline Here'
• 'Congratulations! you have installed...' &c
• The home page content, advertising the Zen Cart Manual.

Mine is a test site, & I still have the default text content in all of the pages.

My question is - if I had entered custom text (for example in the home page) would the ZC advert have overwritten it - & would other pages been returned to the default text? What happened?

Thanks for your attention

Rgds.
Mike

If you properly use the template/override system, your changes won't be lost in an upgrade/update. If you edit the files in the /classic or /template_default folders, then your changes are lost in an upgrade/update since those folders are included in with Zen Cart.

You should never use fantastico to upgrade a site. Site upgrades are better handled manually.

afo:

If you properly use the template/override system, your changes won't be lost in an upgrade/update. If you edit the files in the /classic or /template_default folders, then your changes are lost in an upgrade/update since those folders are included in with Zen Cart.

So that's why Image Handler 2 wasn't affected - because I merged IH files with a copy in my templates folder?

To edit the text on the home page (both before & after the update) I just used admin -->tools --> define pages editor. How might I avoid losing future changes during the next update - I am going to be adding a lot of text including some very long product descriptions of >100 items.

I think I will be doing upgrades manually in future.

As afo said earlier, the way to avoid losing your text-based changes is to make them to your own template, not "classic".

mike_9000:

I am going to be adding a lot of text including some very long product descriptions of >100 items.

Product descriptions are stored in the database so it's not necessary, nor possible, to "override" them. Instead the Zen Cart database upgrade system manages that.

mike_9000:

How might I avoid losing future changes during the next update

For the things you can override, there are some tutorials/faqs to help:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=230
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=143
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=36

Thanks a lot, everyone - I have a lot to think about, now.

So - I can't lose my product descriptions, nor the content I add to the page via 'Define Pages Editor' because that's stored in the database. If I learn how to use the 'override' system, I won't lose any of the changes that are effected by directly editing files, either?

At least I backed everything up first...

You can lose your product descriptions if you don't backup your database regularly.

Your Define Pages Editor stuff isn't in the database, it's in the html_includes files in the languages folder, so will be lost if you don't use your own template.

As kuroi said, the Define Pages Editor uses files so you need to override them like this:

includes/languages/english/html_includes
includes/languages/english/html_includes/your_custom_template

E-Z Pages on the other hand are stored in the database.

Note that you can only override wherever there's a "classic" folder. So not everything is overridable.

Sorry to be thick, but is this correct:

My custom template is called 'Silverfish.'

The folder 'html_includes', which is located at:
includes/languages/english/html_includes
contains all of the content I have added to my pages (e.g. home page).
This file is overwritten whenever I update.

If I copy 'html_includes' into 'Silverfish', which is located at:
includes/templates/silverfish
it won't be overwritten during an update.
What's more, ZC now uses the files in the 'silverfish' folder, so any changes I make with 'define pages editor' will be saved there & be safe (as long as I back up regularly).

Not thick at all. Exactly right.

Thank you so much, everyone - if I had not known this, & lost all of my page content at the next update, I would not have been a happy bunny!

Fixing it now.

Rgds
Mike

mike_9000:

If I copy 'html_includes' into 'Silverfish', which is located at:
includes/templates/silverfish
it won't be overwritten during an update.

No it would be includes/languages/english/html_includes/silverfish/

So it's the other way around?

I go to includes/languages/english/html_includes, create a new folder inside html_includes called 'silverfish' & put a copy of html_includes in there (ie. inside 'silverfish')

Create a new folder inside html_includes called 'silverfish' and put a copy of all the PHP files inside silverfish. So for example:

includes/languages/english/html_includes/silverfish/define_main_page.php
includes/languages/english/html_includes/silverfish/define_privacy.php
includes/languages/english/html_includes/silverfish/define_contact_us.php

Oops. Should have read the detail of your earlier post more carefully. Yes, the correct location is includes/languages/english/html_includes/silverfish

It works!

I created a folder inside html_includes called 'silverfish', then copied all of the .php files inside html_includes into silverfish.

Next, I added a few words to the home page with admin --> tools --> define pages editor & checked that they actually appeared in a browser.

When I opened includes/languages/english/html_includes/define_main page.php with Filezilla, there were no changes.
When I opened includes languages/english/html_includes/silverfish/define_main_ page the changes were present.

This means that the admin text editor is ignoring the default pages (which would be overwritten during an upgrade) & modifying the custom pages (which will not be overwritten) instead.

As I understand it (now) this can be done to preserve changes to files inside any directory that has a 'classic' folder in it.

Thanks again for your patience & persistence everyone. The problem is fixed & I learned a lot!

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