Looking into upgrading

Hi,

I really don't want to risk and upgrade my site and I was looking for zencart developer to ask how much it will cost to upgrade my site. I have zencart 1.3.8 version and yahoo webhosting. Feel free to send private message. Does anyone know Zencart developer in Los Angeles? I really want to see that person before I give my site information. I contact with web development company and they ask for $300.00. Is it cheap or expensive?

Thanks,

There's no way to know without more information about your site, in particular how many and which add-ons the site has now, and what your template is and was it created with the correct use of the override system. Lots of other questions, but those are the main points.

$300 would not be expensive, but it may be more than is reasonable for your site. We can't tell -- yet.

Rob

Upgrading can be quick - an hour or two

or...

it can take up to a week...

It depends on what add-ons you have in your site, and the nature of any other customisations...

Provide a list of all your add-ons and all customisations, and people will then give you a more accurate quote.

Hello Have been doing the same myself. I am thinking of going to
http://www.whitefirdesign.com/services/zen-cart-upgrade.html
Cost $100

Have a look at their Site

Regards

Well it seems to me there is a lot of misleading on the updating of Zencart i have told it is an easy do it yourself job. I have been told its an Hours work. I have been told its a whole days work i have been told its a weeks work. i have been told it takes 3 weeks.

I have been quoted Prices from $50 upto and including $300

Too me it looks another Money making item like SEO. It's just finding the right one at a reasonable Price.
Mind some will do the upgrade ask you to check the Site out. When you are satisfied they then ask for payment.
Which to me seems the proper way of doing it.

regards

Norman (rafwraf)

rafwraf:

Well it seems to me there is a lot of misleading on the updating of Zencart i have told it is an easy do it yourself job. I have been told its an Hours work. I have been told its a whole days work i have been told its a weeks work. i have been told it takes 3 weeks.

I have been quoted Prices from $50 upto and including $300

Too me it looks another Money making item like SEO. It's just finding the right one at a reasonable Price.
Mind some will do the upgrade ask you to check the Site out. When you are satisfied they then ask for payment.
Which to me seems the proper way of doing it.

regards

Norman (rafwraf)

There is nothing misleading about what has been said...

Forget about COST for a minute and consider the PROCEDURES needed to do an upgrade.

Bear in mind that an UPGRADE almost always involves:-

1. NEW CORE FILES (php files)
2. ALTERATIONS TO THE DATABASE

VERY FEW people stay with CORE ZENCART... Most people add stuff to their site, by way of TEMPLATES and other modules.

Some people add everything including the kitchen sink.

Some people add very little.

But, whatever has been ADDED has to form part of the upgrade process too.

A properly-written ADD-ON will try to AVOID making changes to core files, but in some cases, this is not possible. Where a new function is needed, that requires writing into an existing MODULE file (for example), the core file has to be changed.

Now... if you UPGRADE (a procedure that OVER-WRITES CORE FILES) any such core file that has been modified, will be ERASED and REPLACED with the new CORE FILE.

Any FUNCTIONALITY that was put into the file (now over-written) will be lost. And your website will either not function at all, or the behaviour expected by that code edit will no longer be available.

The SECOND consideration relates to OVER-RIDE files. These are "CUSTOM COPIES" of a CORE FILE, that get put into the OVER_RIDES system (commonly known as the "Custom Template".

An upgrade will not overwrite OVER-RIDE files, so you preserve their integrity...

HOWEVER... it could be that some of these OVER-RIDE files need looking at anyway - because there may be alterations to parts of the PHP code anyway. There may be DEPRECATED code that needs to be removed and the contemporary code put in instead.

So the OVER-RIDE files need to be looked at (after consulting the CHANGE-LOG in the upgrade) to see if there are any core counterpart file upgrades. And if there are, the NEW bits of code need to be brought into the relevant over-ride file(s) too.

This is why you see some add-on's say "For version 1.3.8 only" - because their CUSTOM files were constructed using protocols that were relevant to 1.3.8.

SO...

The person looking to do your upgrade has to FIRST IDENTIFY ALL PHP FILES that have either been customised and used to REPLACE core files, and ALL PHP FILES that are OVER-RIDES, located in the myriad of over-ride folders.

The TIME taken to do this will depend on:

How complex your customisations have been since you installed ZC.
The skill and expertise of the person doing the upgrade.

If you supply your consultant developer with the full record of all the notes you (your previous developer) took when working on the site over the years, it will greatly assist in auditing what needs to be done, and save considerable time.

Of course, if you (your developer) did not keep a record of the work done, then your upgrader has to go through EVERY FILE ON THE SERVER...

I hope this helps explain the PROCESS of upgrading.

Now... determine what's needed in your site's case, and then estimate what would be a reasonable fee to pay for it to be upgraded.

rafwraf:

Too me it looks another Money making item like SEO. It's just finding the right one at a reasonable Price.
Mind some will do the upgrade ask you to check the Site out. When you are satisfied they then ask for payment.
Which to me seems the proper way of doing it.
And many others will not work without AT LEAST securing some kind of down payment BEFORE they begin any work.. In the corporate world this is also typically how software consulting companies work as well.. This isn't any LESS "the proper way" to do it than the company who does the work and asks for payment after. Just simply different ways of conducting business..

Schoolboy is right.. you need to look at MORE than just simply the cost when evaluating a potential vendor.. The product being sold is the time and labor involved in the work..