1.3.6 Patch (Changed files only) coming soon?

NEVER start an upgrade, a mod, or file change without a current backup of EVERYTHING. Especially your database.

And, if it's an active site with lots of traffic, go down for maintenance to preserve the database while working.

One way to make database backups:
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/LocalCopySite#TO_BACKUP_THE_DATABASE

To backup files, use FTP and copy the site to a separate folder on your PC (also documented in the above link)

confusedIam:

I don't know how to back up my database and in case something went wrong, how to 'hook' in the back up.
Look in your hosting provider's help system for a tool called phpMyAdmin.
Call your hosting provider and get them to help you if you can't find it. They will at least get you started.

confusedIam:

I guess that is my main problem and hope to learn that today before doing anything so I don't have to pay everytime I need it done. :-)
If you do wind up paying someone, get them to teach you things you need to know. Most contract developers will be happy to answer your questions as long as the meter's running. :)

Good luck,
Scott

I found the place on my server but can't access it so will have to find out the password, etc. and get going on this.
Thanks a lot for all the help.
Rand

confusedIam:

I found the place on my server but can't access it so will have to find out the password, etc. and get going on this.
Thanks a lot for all the help.
Rand

Once you get things working, you may want to look into SQLyog. It's a free mysql database tool that is very fast and easy to use and understand, much more so than phpmyadmin. The only caveat is that you will need to allow your home IP to connect to your webhost's mysql database. Your Server host can help you with that.

Hi, I was just looking at your site, i have done a lot to my, but it doesnt come close to your , man how did you do all this thangs with zen, i woud a priciat if you could give me a pointers:
1 how do i get the blue bgd pics for the sideboxes
2 how do i get e roleover efect on the pics and the catagorys.
3 how do i get the horizontalbars to separaite my products .
Your site looks great , please if you can , let me know how you did it, i'm new, and there is a lot of stuff i just dont find.
this is my site if you want to take a look, so you get an ideia of what i like to do.
Well thankyou very much, you did a great job with your site.

Hi, this was for get yourgamesher.com,
and my site is hdgamespot.com

hi renatooliveira, I'm sending you a PM to keep this thread clean :) thanks for the compliments btw

edit: PM sent

Hello again.

I am going to back up a database through phpmyadmin panel and have one question. I printed out the instructions I was pointed to and all is simple but there is one line in the instructions to be 'checked' and in my panel there isn't that place.
The list from the instructions all followed in a line until I got to:
CHECKED: Extended Inserts (I have this and checked it)
CHECKED: Use hexadecimal for binary fields (this is nowhere on the page)

In the control panel I see all down to:
CHECKED: Extended Inserts
and then:
a checkbox for: Use delayed inserts
and then:
a flip menu on INSERT (other two options: UPDATE , REPLACE)
and then the place to CHECKED: Save as File

I wondered if I proceeded and hit 'save' that if anything went wrong it would only be concerning the backing up and not the database that is trying to be backed up. I didn't do anything yet just in case it could affect the database on the server while trying to make the back up.
Thanks for any help,
Rand

confusedIam:

Hello again.

I am going to back up a database through phpmyadmin panel and have one question. I printed out the instructions I was pointed to and all is simple but there is one line in the instructions to be 'checked' and in my panel there isn't that place.
The list from the instructions all followed in a line until I got to:
CHECKED: Extended Inserts (I have this and checked it)
CHECKED: Use hexadecimal for binary fields (this is nowhere on the page)

In the control panel I see all down to:
CHECKED: Extended Inserts
and then:
a checkbox for: Use delayed inserts
and then:
a flip menu on INSERT (other two options: UPDATE , REPLACE)
and then the place to CHECKED: Save as File

I wondered if I proceeded and hit 'save' that if anything went wrong it would only be concerning the backing up and not the database that is trying to be backed up. I didn't do anything yet just in case it could affect the database on the server while trying to make the back up.
Thanks for any help,
Rand

You can use those checkboxes if you like, however, be wary of the delayed inserts if you have a large database. What that does is adds a slight delay between inserts so as not to overload the database, but there is still a timeout possibility which could leave a table in a partially completed state (worst case scenario).

Typically you don't need to use delayed or extended inserts for the backup, But you may want to check "drop if exists" so that if there is a problem, you don't make it more confusing by trying to replace tables that already exist.

You do want the "INSERT" too, not UPDATE or REPLACE.

Save to file and check the gzip checkbox to make an archived save out of it, this can make it easier for uploading back if needed.

DrByte:

3. run WinMerge to compare the two folders

Know of any good Mac programs that'll do the same job? Or a unix shell script?

In Unix, cd to the new software directory, and set an environment var (say, OLDDIR) to the old directory. Then

for i in find . -type f
do
diff -w -q $i $OLDDIR/$i
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo $i
done
done

Good luck,
Scott