Upgrading ViewsFlash

Upgrading to ViewsFlash 7 from versions 4 and higher

ViewsFlash does not coexist simultaneously with earlier releases. If you have two or more instances of ViewsFlash sharing the same database, shut down all instances before upgrading, and upgrade ViewsFlash on all instances. When you upgrade, all data is upgraded automatically. Backup the database before upgrading.

The upgrade process consists of reviewing the servlet parameters, shutting down the ViewsFlash application, upgrading the ViewsFlash application with the new ViewsFlash.war file, and bringing the application back up.

Changes to be aware of before upgrading to ViewsFlash 7:

Uploaded attachments are now stored in the database by default, rather than the file system, and attachments are copied from the file system to the database's VWFOBJECTS table automatically upon startup. To prevent this and continue with the legacy behavior of storing attachments in the file system, see Attachments for the exact servlet parameters to use.

When using Oracle as the ViewsFlash database, note the following change.

If you were using database=Oracle, Oracle9,Oracle10, or Oracle11, and you did not specify a databaseextension parameter, a databaseextension parameter of "OracleDatabaseExtension" was used by default. In ViewsFlash 7, a new default is used, namely: OracleDatabaseExtension, Oracle9DatabaseExtension,Oracle10DatabaseExtension, or Oracle11DatabaseExtension. The effect of this change is that a new column, ANSWERCLOB, of type CLOB, is added to the VWFDATA table. This column is used to store data from text fields, allowing storage of very large text fields automatically. Data that has already been stored in the VWFDATA table is automatically moved to the new column when necessary. To prevent this change and to use the legacy behavior, provide explicitly the servlet parameter:
databaseextension=OracleDatabaseExtension.
If the ViewsFlash application's database user has the right to CREATE and ALTER tables, the new column will be added automatically. Otherwise, create the new column manually using:
ALTER TABLE VWFDATA ADD ( ANSWERCLOB CLOB );

If the application's database user does not have the CREATE TABLE right, look at the appropriate *.sql files inside the WEB-INF/sql directory in ViewsFlash.war, and create the EXAMPLES_CAR_BRANDS table using the SQL DDL provided there before upgrading.

After downloading the ViewsFlash.war file, examine its WEB-INF/web.xml file and compare it to your deployed web.xml. If they are identical, you can simply redeploy the new war file. If you have made changes to your web.xml file, the easiest way to upgrade is to unpack the war file, replace the web.xml file with yours, repack the war file, and redeploy it. Alternatively, you can stop the application, save web.xml, redeploy the new war file, restore web.xml, and restart the application.

All out of the box Styles are upgraded automatically when you upgrade to ViewsFlash 7. Copies of styles that have been created and modified will continue to work as before.


Upgrading from ViewsFlash 3.5 or higher

ViewsFlash 5 requires new license keys. Contact Cogix to request an upgraded license key. The key must be installed in the servlet parameters, usually stored in viewsflash.properties or in web.xml.

Read the release notes and if any ViewsFlash servlet parameters need to be changed, do so now. Read also Upgrading Style Templates.

Test your installation as described in the Installation section and troubleshoot if necessary.

If you have not made changes to the templates that need to be upgraded as listed by Diagnose=1 command, use this command to upgrade them: ?cmd=upgradestyles.

Upgrading from versions older than ViewsFlash 3.5

 

Next: Upgrading Style Templates