Questions - Upgrading 1.5.4 from 1.3.9f

I'll be the first to admit it, Im being lazy and havent upgraded from 1.3.9f. I didnt want the hassel as last time I upgraded I got a bunch of crap go wrong and half of my add-ons stopped working. I want to upgrade but am concerned to do so. So below are my concerns,

Can anyone please confirm/help/deny/call me an idiot/ etc on any of these topics.

1. Will I pretty much be starting from scratch with my Add-ons?
2. Will I loose my template?
3. If I wont loose my template, how will I get it to change over? (this is a big issue as I am using a template monster (i know :/) template and had a hell of a time getting it working originally)
4. Is there an easy way to compare or note what needs to be changed so my site keeps working?
5. Will this affect my admin section at all?

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

outeredge2:

I'll be the first to admit it, Im being lazy and havent upgraded from 1.3.9f. I didnt want the hassel as last time I upgraded I got a bunch of crap go wrong and half of my add-ons stopped working. I want to upgrade but am concerned to do so. So below are my concerns,

Can anyone please confirm/help/deny/call me an idiot/ etc on any of these topics.

2. Will I pretty much be starting from scratch with my Add-ons? It really depends on which add ons you have.

3. Will I loose my template? If your template is css based it will transfer nicely.

4. If I wont loose my template, how will I get it to change over? (this is a big issue as I am using a template monster (i know :/) template and had a hell of a time getting it working originally) I don't have experience using Template Monster.

5. Is there an easy way to compare or note what needs to be changed so my site keeps working? You can use a file compare program, like Win-Merge. It takes time.

6. Will this affect my admin section at all? There have been many useful upgrades to Zen since 1.39f. It will affect how your admin functions. It's time to upgrade.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Hey outeredge2 - I answered your questions in red.

1. Back up your database.
2. Make sure your data is correct in the backup.
3. It might be best to start with fresh install 1.54 test site and add the plugins.

1. Back up your database.
   Got this done.

2. Make sure your data is correct in the backup.
   Double checked it. It should be good.

3. It might be best to start with fresh install 1.54 test site and add the plugins.
   What do you mean by this? Would it really be easier to start fresh then to transfer the plug-ins and updates I have on the site. (Link below)
   http://www.driftbuildstore.com

1. Back up your database.
   Got this done.

2. Make sure your data is correct in the backup.
   Double checked it. It should be good.

3. It might be best to start with fresh install 1.54 test site and add the plugins.
   What do you mean by this? Would it really be easier to start fresh then to transfer the plug-ins and updates I have on the site. (Link below)
   http://www.driftbuildstore.com

The plugins that you have for your current 1.3.9h site, are long-in-tooth and most likely will have issues with PHP versions 5.4 and later. That, coupled with the fact that the admin-level interface for plugins changed drastically going to Zen Cart v1.5.0 would lead me, also, to suggest "rebuilding" your site rather than simply upgrading.

Create a subdirectory off of your store's main file-system (at the same level as the /includes directory) and start re-creating your store using a Zen Cart v1.5.4 base there. That way, you're not disrupting your store's current operation while you perform your upgrade/rebuild.

lat9:

Create a ***subdirectory off of your store's main file-system (at the same level as the /includes directory) ***and start re-creating your store using a Zen Cart v1.5.4 base there. That way, you're not disrupting your store's current operation while you perform your upgrade/rebuild.

I completely understand what your saying and it does make sense to start from scratch for many many reason.

However...... I have absolutely no idea what you are referring to in the above highlighted section. Can you send me in the right direction as to how to do this? I would love to upgrade it, but don't want to take my site down while I get everything working correctly and looking the same.

Sure, if you were going to name your test site demo, you'd place that directory within your Zen Cart directory structure on your webhost like this:
Attachment #15080
You'll then access your test site via the url https://www.mysite.com/demo.

lat9:

Sure, if you were going to name your test site demo, you'd place that directory within your Zen Cart directory structure on your webhost like this:
Attachment #15080
You'll then access your test site via the url https://www.mysite.com/demo.

OK so it goes in the Store Root directory then.

Question is, how do I remove the old store and put the new one live when it is ready to go live.

Since you've got your installation in the root (not my favorite, but that's another story) and ***assuming ***that all your images and downloads carry over to the v1.5.4 version, here's what I'd do (and have done):

1. Put your 1.3.9 site into maintenance mode.
2. Put your v1.5.4 demo into maintenance mode
3. Use your cPanel's phpMyAdmin to copy your v1.5.4 database to a new database (this will be used for the v1.5.4 live store)
4. Copy /demo/includes to /includes2 (the whole folder)
5. Copy /demo/YOUR_ADMIN to /YOUR_ADMIN2 (the whole folder)
6. Edit /includes2/configure.php to reflect the root directory of your file system and the copied database credentials from step#3
7. Edit /YOUR_ADMIN2/includes/configure.php to reflect the root-admin directory and the database credentials from step#3
8. Take a deep breath
9. Rename the direction /includes to /includes_139f
10. Rename the /includes2 directory to /includes
11. Make sure that the store still works; if not rename the two directories back and figure out what's wrong with the configure.php file.
12. Rename /YOUR_ADMIN to /YOUR_ADMIN_139f
13. Rename /YOUR_ADMIN2 to /YOUR_ADMIN
14. Make sure that you can access the admin; if not there's something amiss in the admin-level configure.php file
15. Take the store our of maintenance mode.
16. Backup and eventually remove the two _139f directories.
    The extra, added benefit of this is that you've now got a demo site which you can use to test out any new plugins or other modifications to the store's configuration ***before ***applying those changes to your live store.

lat9:

Since you've got your installation in the root (not my favorite, but that's another story) and ***assuming ***that all your images and downloads carry over to the v1.5.4 version, here's what I'd do (and have done):

2. Put your 1.3.9 site into maintenance mode.

3. Put your v1.5.4 demo into maintenance mode

4. Use your cPanel's phpMyAdmin to copy your v1.5.4 database to a new database (this will be used for the v1.5.4 live store)

5. Copy /demo/includes to /includes2 (the whole folder)

6. Copy /demo/YOUR_ADMIN to /YOUR_ADMIN2 (the whole folder)

7. Edit /includes2/configure.php to reflect the root directory of your file system and the copied database credentials from step#3

8. Edit /YOUR_ADMIN2/includes/configure.php to reflect the root-admin directory and the database credentials from step#3

9. Take a deep breath

10. Rename the direction /includes to /includes_139f

11. Rename the /includes2 directory to /includes

12. Make sure that the store still works; if not rename the two directories back and figure out what's wrong with the configure.php file.

13. Rename /YOUR_ADMIN to /YOUR_ADMIN_139f

14. Rename /YOUR_ADMIN2 to /YOUR_ADMIN

15. Make sure that you can access the admin; if not there's something amiss in the admin-level configure.php file

16. Take the store our of maintenance mode.

17. Backup and eventually remove the two _139f directories.

The extra, added benefit of this is that you've now got a demo site which you can use to test out any new plugins or other modifications to the store's configuration ***before ***applying those changes to your live store.

That is a HUGE help. Thanks.

Since I havent upgraded for years and years a couple questions doing it as a upgrade/rebuild.

1. Will I loose things such as text I have put on the home page, Shipping policies, terms of sale, etc?
2. I put a rotating banner on the side using sepcial code, will that carry over or will I have to re-paste that code?
3. Will I have to go back through and set up my Payment settings, tax information, etc?
4. Will I need to reset those categories which are active and which are not?
5. I also changed text color codes and colors in the files, I assume those wont transfer over?!

I also found the link below when researching. Are they accurate or should I just follow the instructions listed above, for ease.

http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading