What do I need to do to upgrade?
How do I upgrade?
A:The simple answer is NO. If you follow the upgrade.txt file, you will not lose your data. The following is a breakdown of all the pieces and what is affected or not:
- Database data (customer info, products, orders, settings, etc)
Back in 1.4.7 I created an upgrade script. This script is designed to add the new features of newer version of opencart without deleting or risking your data. It simply adds the new columns and features to existing tables. The existing data in the tables is unaffected. As long as you follow the upgrade process defined in the "upgrade.txt" file that comes with the Full version of OpenCart or the "patchonlyReadme.txt" file that comes with the Patch only version, you should have no trouble with your upgrade. But ALWAYS backup your store and database first just to be safe! - Extensions should be safe
98% of Extensions from 1.4.8 will with with 1.4.9.x
This includes (modules, payments, shipping, order totals, and feeds)
The Extension system is designed to allow extensions to be standalone and separate from the core code. This largely depends on the developer creating it correctly and whether or not it has additional core modification dependencies. - Core modifications
If they are made in any of the files that changed, they may need to be redone, unless you are using vQmod to make them. vQmod scripts are kept in their own folder and are not affected by the upgrades directly. However, you should note that if your vQmod script's search parameter was matching a line that was changed by an upgrade, it may need a slight update. - Languages
Language files use a language fallback system. This means that if a new language entry is made to the default (english) language, your custom language file will still work just fine, but that new entry that only exists in the english language will just show up in english while the rest of the site is in your custom language. To fix it, simply add and translate that new entry in your custom language files.
Example:
1.4.9.3 english has:1.4.9.3 spanish has:Code: Select all
// Text $_['text_yes'] = 'Yes'; $_['text_no'] = 'No'; This shows "Yes" and "No" on english1.4.9.4 english adds:Code: Select all
// Text $_['text_yes'] = 'Si; $_['text_no'] = 'No'; This shows "Si" and "No" on spanishSimply addCode: Select all
// Text $_['text_maybe'] = 'Maybe'; But spanish hasn't added that yet, so This shows "Yes", "No", "Maybe" on english and shows "Si", "No", "[b]Maybe[/b]" on spanishto your spanish language file and it will translate correctly.Code: Select all
$_['text_maybe'] = 'Tal vez'; - Themes
Themes also have a fallback method to the "default" theme. This is an important one to watch because most themes I've seen do not follow the proper theme guidelines. Basically there are 2 rules:
1. Always create your own theme folder
2. Only include files in your theme that differ from the "default" folder. DO NOT CLONE THE DEFAULT FOLDER
Unfortunately this is often ignored by people and themes that are simply color changes and stylesheet changes (i.e. 95% of all themes) tend to copy all the old default files. This means that if a change is made to the default files in future versions, this theme has to constantly be updated. As long as your theme only contains "changed" files, you should be virtually transparent to upgrades since 1.4.0 as that is when the new default theme changed. There may be a few edits in the header.tpl or other common files, but it is a lot easier to compare 2-3 tpl files than to have to check every single tpl file trying to find the differences.
The best way to check if your theme follows the standards is to check for less commonly changed files like the "template/payment" folder. If that folder exists in your theme, immediately delete it. Any updates to payment modules may be missed because this folder should NEVER be included in a custom theme.
Also check for all the same image files in the image folder and other less commonly changed tpl folders like error, mail, account... if any of those folders exist in your custom theme, it is more than likely that your theme designer needs to be kicked in the head. Your best best is to try to rename each folder and then refresh your site for the respective page and see if anything changed.
