Step 4: Action list

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At this point, make an action list for your specific environment. List application components that you know will require attention, or that you want to check before or after the upgrade.

Below is a checklist of known problems and workarounds, or issues that are known to require attention in some environments. Please go through this checklist. Add items to your action list that apply to your situation.

Carry out the actions on the action list before or after this Step 4, as appropriate.

collapseUSoft data export files

If you have produced data export files in a USoft tool for purposes such as backup or test initialisation, these files are not automatically guaranteed to be importable into USoft 9. This is particularly true of the older formats:

•.TDF files made with USoft Benchmark

•.EXP object shopping files made using Export Definitions in USoft Teamwork

but also applies to XML formats:

•.XML files made by calling XML.EXPORT

•.XML files made using USoft Repository Manager.

If the data contained in these files resides in the repository, make sure that you re-create the files as part of the upgrade effort. If the data resides only in the external files, you need to convert the files to USoft 9:

1.Using the USoft version you are upgrading FROM, create an empty account.
2.Import the file(s) into this account.
3.Run the upgrade procedure on this account.
4.Re-export the file(s).
collapseUpgrading Teamwork Object Shopping files (optional)

If you have Teamwork Object Shopping export files (.EXP) that you re-use on a regular basis, you should be aware that USoft 9 (from vs. 9.0.1E onwards) offers the possibility to produce these files in XML. Because XML is human-readable and easier to manage, you may want to convert your .EXP files to .XML as part of the upgrade procedure. Note, however, that the following features of .EXP files are NOT supported with the XML format:

•The ability to Analyze the differences between the file contents and the target repository prior to import. This feature is scheduled to re-appear in a later release or patch.

•The ability, prior to import, to make a selection of objects to be imported, as opposed to just importing the entire file. This feature is NOT scheduled to re-appear in a later release.

The .XML format also has minor improvements in the inclusion mechanism compared to the .EXP format. The inclusion mechanism determines, on the basis of the elements in an Export Definition, exactly which objects are exported to file. For details, open the USoft 9 Additional Notes (available from the Start menu) and read the notes marked with OBJECT SHOPPING.

To upgrade your Teamwork export files from .EXP to .XML:

If the data resides in the repository:

1.Upgrade to USoft 9.
2.Produce an .XML version of the file. Choose Teamwork, Object Shopping, Definitions from the USoft Definer menu. Retrieve the corresponding Export Definition in USoft Teamwork. Press the Create File button, make sure that for Format, you specify 'XML' and not 'Binary', and press OK.
3.In the file system, check that the new file is correctly produced, and remove the old .EXP file.

If the data resides only in the external file:

1.Using the USoft version you are upgrading FROM, create an empty account.
2.Import the file(s) into this account. Choose Teamwork, Object Shopping, Analyze and Import, and follow the instructions in the wizard.
3.Run the upgrade procedure on this account.
4.Produce an .XML version of the file. Choose Teamwork, Object Shopping, Definitions from the USoft Definer menu. Retrieve the corresponding Export Definition in USoft Teamwork. Press the Create File button, make sure that for Format, you specify 'XML' and not 'Binary', and press OK.
5.In the file system, check that the new file is correctly produced, and remove the old .EXP file.
collapseAutomation Servers

If you are using Automation Servers, on upgrade you may get an error with a message listing Automation Servers and saying that these lack a constructor method.

You may well find that none of them actually needs a constructor method, in which case you can solve the problem simply by removing the records in Component Constructors that have an empty Constructor SQL field:

delete from T_RDMI_COMPONENT_CONSTRUCTOR rcc

where exists

(    

      select    ''

     from      T_RDMI_COMPONENT rc

     where     rc.COMPONENT_NAME = rcc.COMPONENT_NAME

     and               rc.T_RDMI_AUTOMATION_SERVER = 'Y'

);

 

commit;

 
collapseCalendar control

After upgrade, when generating an .ESI file with USoft 9, you may get inconsistencies mentioning Calendar controls. Certain Calendar controls no longer exist in the latest versions of Microsoft Office. Microsoft have an Operating System component now called DatePicker, which delivers the same functionality as older Calendar controls.

As an example, here are steps we took in one environment to successfully replace an existing PopUpCalendarControl by a calendar control available on Microsoft Office 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2.

To get and install the component on the server:

1.Copy the cabinet file "mscomctl2.cab" from the Microsoft Support website.
2.Extract the files: "mscomctl2.inf" and "mscomctl2.ocx".
3.Right-click the .inf file and choose install from the secondary mouse button menu.
4.Copy the .ocx file from "C:\Windows\system32" to "C:\Windows\sysWOW64".
5.Run C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe as "Run as administrator".
6.Execute the following command:

regsvr32 c:\windows\sysWOW64\MSCOMCT2.ocx

 

To embed the control in USoft Windows Designer:

1.Create a subclass of MonthView.
2.Go to Controls -> Column Display -> esd_ext_ole -> ActiveX Control Column.
3.Create a subclass of ActiveXMSComCtl2_MonthView_2 Column called MyMonthViewColumn.
4.Create a copy of the Dialog PopupEditorDialog and call it PopupMonthView.
5.Delete the Search and Replace buttons – and the Apply button.
6.Insert a Text Box under columnBox – this will be Text_Box_1.
7.Change the Display Class of Text_Box_1 to MyMonthViewColumn2.
8.Delete esd_clob_1 from columnBox.
9.Change the post-open of the Dialog to:

client.ConnectPopupEditor(Variables.Text_Box_1())

 

10.Change to OK button to:

dialog-ok(client.popupValue(Variables.Text_Box_1.value()))

 

11.Change the Column Width and Display Length of the underlying Domain of Text_Box_1 to 32.
12.Change the Prompt of Text_Box_1 to NULL.
13.To test, change the edit method of a date field to:

PopupMonthView( CurrentColumn() ).Window.Create()

 
collapseCorrupted .CON file

If, after upgrade, you get an error on application startup that the XML of the .CON file is corrupted, this could be caused by special characters (such as the control character) that are acceptable in a USoft context, for example in Decisions, but not to XML. You can detect such characters by generating the .CON file without encryption:

INVOKE    BatchRunner.Generate_Confile_XML

WITH

SELECT    'c:\temp\confile.xml' FILE_NAME

,         'NO' Crypted

 

Open the result XML in a browser (eg., Opera). Depending on the problem and the browser facilities you may now by able to identify the offending character(s).

 

 

Next Step

Step 5: Upgrade procedure