Guest Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 I currently have my shop in CC3 but I'm thinking about upgrading to CC5 at the beginning of next year. However, I need my shop to be online 24/7 and working properly so I was wondering if it's possible to keep my current CC3 version of my shop online and working, and next to this go to work on the upgrading of my CC3 shop to a CC5 shop, without customers noticing this? I am not a wizz girl (it took me months to get my shop the way it is now! But I'm very happy with how it turned out...) and I've never upgraded such a big thing like a shop before so I need all the time I can get to do this properly and I can't afford to close up my shop for a period of time. So please, if there is a possibility to upgrade from CC3 to CC5 without having to close up shop, I would love to hear how I should do this, it's much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsmither Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Hello ravenmeise! I can certainly explain how to easily make another directory in your hosted space, and copy the CC3 database data to another database (backup/restore). It's possible your hosting account gives you more than one database? If not, a successful alternative is to make sure the restore phase renames all the tables to have a unique prefix, like 'cc5_'. Then you can upgrade the copy. The whole point is to not allow the upgrade process to touch your existing store. If the upgrade on the copy goes good, and the CC5 store behaves itself, then there is a setting in your hosted account to point where any of your web address go to which real directory. This method, however, means that while experimenting with CC5, and sales that happen with CC3 will not be carried over. The two stores will be running concurrently, but completely independent of each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Butter Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 This method, however, means that while experimenting with CC5, and sales that happen with CC3 will not be carried over. The two stores will be running concurrently, but completely independent of each other. This is the big problem. I, too, needed a long time to understand CC5, so I went through several offline test sites concurrent with my online v4 site. When I had it all set to suit me there was no way that I could figure out to get the v5 site data synched with the online v4 site. So I had to just use what I had learned to upgrade the v4 site and then try to get the upgraded site set up like the test site. There's GOT to be a better way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Thank you so much for the answers! Yes, I can have more than 1 database at my host, so this will not be a problem I think. I'm not sure how the updating from CC3 to CC5 works but I assume that when I buy CC5 I buy a base software in which I need to adapt the html all over again to get the same shop skin that I currently have in CC3. Or is this assumption incorrect? I also have several mods for CC3 installed (like for instance the one from Estelle for the Javascript pictures) and don't want to loose this, because I like how it all looks right now. The reason why I would want to get CC5 is because of the extra Admin possibilities that I like very much but I want the look of my website to stay the same as it is now. The best way for me would be to have my CC3 shop online and working and next to this a CC5 store that is offline and can not be seen by the public but which is only visible for me, and to which I can copy my excisting CC3 skin and tweak all the things that don't work/look correct in CC5. Then, when the CC5 version is looking the way I want it to look, I want to transport all my products from my CC3 to my CC5 shop and then I can make the CC5 shop visible and remove the CC3 shop. But, as I understand from your message, this is not possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Butter Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Thank you so much for the answers! Yes, I can have more than 1 database at my host, so this will not be a problem I think. I'm not sure how the updating from CC3 to CC5 works but I assume that when I buy CC5 I buy a base software in which I need to adapt the html all over again to get the same shop skin that I currently have in CC3. Or is this assumption incorrect? I also have several mods for CC3 installed (like for instance the one from Estelle for the Javascript pictures) and don't want to loose this, because I like how it all looks right now. The reason why I would want to get CC5 is because of the extra Admin possibilities that I like very much but I want the look of my website to stay the same as it is now. The best way for me would be to have my CC3 shop online and working and next to this a CC5 store that is offline and can not be seen by the public but which is only visible for me, and to which I can copy my excisting CC3 skin and tweak all the things that don't work/look correct in CC5. Then, when the CC5 version is looking the way I want it to look, I want to transport all my products from my CC3 to my CC5 shop and then I can make the CC5 shop visible and remove the CC3 shop. But, as I understand from your message, this is not possible? Not only is the coding for the files completely different in v5, but the database Structure is totally different as well. So you can't use your old skins or mods in v5, and you can't create a test v5 and then copy your old v3 database into it. You CAN create an offline v5 test site and work out what you need to do to get a similar look to your v3 site. When you're satisfied with it you can upgrade your v3 store to v5 and overwrite the default skin with your customized one you worked out while testing. You will then have to re-create all the v5 settings you worked out in your test Store Settings in your live v5 site. If there's an easier way to do it I never figured it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Thanks so much for your answer! So when I want to purchase CC5 I need to build a whole new webshop and I also have to re-add all my items again, am I correct? That would involve a lot of work..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Butter Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Thanks so much for your answer! So when I want to purchase CC5 I need to build a whole new webshop and I also have to re-add all my items again, am I correct? That would involve a lot of work..... I'm sorry I'm not doing a good job of explaining this. We have almost 2800 items right now, so NO, I didn't add the products in one at a time.I made a test site with a new database and worked with the skin, etc., until I was satisfied with it. Then I upgraded my running v4 store to v5 and copied the skin files from my test over to the upgraded site. The manual part involved all the Store Settings that had to be matched from the test store to the upgraded v5 store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWillowStitching Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Set up a subdomain, start a fresh v5 there, get it looking (and working!) the way you want to and then you should just have to move it to the main domain. Upon moving it to the main domain you should have to change a file or two to link the database back up but tech support should know which files need changes. There is no way to run 2 carts on the same domain without having a subdomain to separate them. Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Ok, thank you all so much, I think all is clear now, I'll have to think about what I want to do, then, but I really appreciate all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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