AbleCommerce Shopping Cart Software

Dear Configuration Management Gurus,

I need some help understanding the logic behind the code and release management for the AbleCommerce SW. To be honest, I am starting to get somewhat frustrated, to say the least. If there is any clarifying documentation on the process utilized here, I would greatly appreciate a pointer to that.

Here is the issue that confuses the daylights out of me when loading the source and the website code into our source control system to form the base for our own customization development efforts:

We own the CommerceBuilder source code and so I downloaded the the SR2 source (both full and upgrade). I also downloaded the 705 upgrade.

When I look at the build information (detail tag of file Properties) of the DLLs in the SR2 upgrade bin folder and the 7.0.5 bin folder for the changed DLLs do not have matching File Version numbers.

Example:
Look at the file Properties of
CommerceBuilder_704_source_SR2_update\CommerceBuilder_704_source_SR2_update\Website\bin\CommerceBuilder.Configuration.dll by right-clicking on the file and select the Details tab:
You will see that it shows "File version 7.4.14026.0"

Now look a the file Properties of
\AC75_B14053_UPGRADE\Bin\CommerceBuilder.Configuration.dll:
You will see that it shows "File version 7.5.14053.0"

So, can you please answer the following questions for me?
1. Is the SR2 source code package correlated with the 7.0.5 website release?
2. If SR2 is NOT the source code for 7.0.5, then what is and where can I get the 7.0.5 source? It's not listed on the
Downloads tab in "My Account" on https://www.ablecommerce.com/Members/myaccount.aspx
2.a) if Not, then why does SR2 it have a Website/Bin folder? What Website release version does it go with?
2.b) if it IS the source of 7.0.5, then do we need to overwrite the DLLs from the 7.0.5 upgrade with the DLLs from the
SR2 source code pack that have a 7.4 version but the higher build?

And out of curiosity:
Why are the File versions called 7.4 and 7.5 while the release numbers are 7.0.4 and 7.0.5? In established practice 704 would mark a minor maintenance release while 74 is major version.

This is really causing me some major grief by now since I went through the same issues with SR1 and then just gave up when I didn't get a response, hoping that this would be better with the next release. But, here I am again.

I do assume at this point that I'm just not grasping the logic and process methods employed here. But I need urgent help because if I can't establish clean version control across the board and clear correlations between front end and CB code then I don't know if basing 40 sites with custom development projects on this will be a good move for us.

Thank you so much for your help! I would be truly grateful for any help I can get to understand how the AbleCommerce release system operates.

-- Karin Stevenson
CyberWolf, Inc.
505-231-3130

Usually Able doesn't release the source code for a new version until after the version is out.

Thanks, Judy!

So, I'd assume SR2 is not the source of 7.0.5 which is what I needed to know.

Has anybody any idea when the source for 7.0.5 is going to be distributed since that version has been released? I need to plan the development resources and activities since we are in the midst of writing a lot of customizations.

Thanks again,

Thanks to Judy's little tip that the 7.0.5 source is simply not release yet (which as newbie I wouldn't know that the source is usually time delayed behind the website code release) I was able to establish the version correlations I needed.

What confused me so much here was that with SR1 there was no SR1 source version, just a PayPal patch that didn't match SR1. And since there was no note anywhere that SR1 didn't have a corresponding source release this set my mind into the wrong track for this current round of releases when I couldn't find the source for 7.0.5.

So this issue can be considered closed. Going forward, I'll simply ignore new website code releases and wait until I have both pieces (web site and source). Easy enough to do when one knows.

Thank you again, Judy!

Sorry for all the confusion on the downloads. To clarify, the latest source code builds are:

- CommerceBuilder Source 7.0.4 Full Service Release 2 Build - (matches latest 7.0.4 SR2 software)
- CommerceBuilder Source 7.0.4 Upgrade to Service Release 2 - (includes only changes from the 7.0.0 source build)

- Archived - 7.0.4 PayPal Patch - obsoleted - (this file has since been replaced by the 7.0.4 SR2 source build)

When we setup the downloads for the latest 7.0.4 Source code builds, there should have been an email with instructions sent out...

Anyway, if you want to request the CommerceBuilder® 7.0.5 Source Code, it is ready. After logging in to your account, just find your source code order and make a request using the key form at the bottom.

Thank you, Katie!

We came on board just after the 7.0.4 and before the SR1 which had no source code release that I could tell (looking at our account page), only the PayPal Patch. I never got any emails and I think I realize what the problem was: The order for the SW was placed from our generic company user for purchasing software online so the emails probably went to the wrong email account and were not forwarded to me. I changed that now and going forward I should get the notifications.

The source code for the 7.0.4 base release, the PayPal source patch, and SR2 just appeared in my Downloads page without me requesting anything, so I had no clue about sending requests. Easy enough to do as long I know .

I am sorry to be such a pain in the neck right now but many, [too] many years in this business have taught me that without clean CM you got no product worth selling. And carrying at least partial responsibility for all our customer's web store revenue, I do have to be anal to the extreme about it.

I'll document all this internally so if I get hit by a bus my coworkers know how to handle all this and don't bother you again.

Thank you so much for your help and patience,

Karin,

I am just curious, but how do you plan to handle the upgrade process? When will you apply the 7.05 upgrade and when will you "freeze" your underlying software version to stabilize out your customized cart or carts?

Thanks,

Phil Chrisman

Hi Phil,

Since we don't have a released version of our customizations yet, this is quite easy, now that I have the right code and the process. But even after we release the concept is pretty straight forward. I see each upgrade (SR or release) as giant "bug fix bundle" that is wrapped into a CyberWolf release and is tracked like a bug.

For now, the SR2 front end and CommerceBuilder code packs and then the two parts of the 7.0.5 (I got the source after placing the request) were just applied as "pairs" to my combined SVN repository where the Website code is located inside a directory on the same level as the CommerceBuilder code directory.

I first apply the new code to my "AC_Base_Code" branch that contains the Vanilla code and then merge the changes into the trunk which we use to add our customizations and additions. In the current case with 7.0.5, I had to merge a few changes with our own mods in the trunk because I had conflicts (e.g. the menu_sitemap in the Admin) but it's pretty easy with TortoiseSVN and since we are still developing, a quick unit test is all that's required right now since we'll have to run full QA on the modified areas anyway.

For 7.0.5 ( and future full upgrades) I also added a second install directory, that I call "Install_Upgrade" into which I put the code from the Install directory of the Upgrade zip. That way I can keep both the fresh install and the upgrade code in the same repository and branch and pick and choose when I do my own release packages later for full installs and upgrade packs.

And, of course, after each code application, I tag the branches with the SR and release markers, so I have the milestones in the repository.

After all the new stuff was applied, I ran the SVN update on my development site to pull the new code from the trunk and then just ran the Upgrade_Install stuff to finish (after backing up the db), basically following the upgrade procedures from the website--instead of unzipping the package I just load from SVN. Super simple and works like a charm.

Internally, I file "tracking bugs" for each applied SR or release, which in turn become part of an internal build (development milestone of certain functionality--I am loosely applying Scrum methodology), so they are the are essentially handled as just another big "enhancement" and can be fully tracked and isolated that way since I run and record a full set of modification reports via TortoiseSVN, copy them into text documents, and attach them to the bugs as change record.

Now, we'll continue with our own internal development based on the latest code and do our builds until we reach a release point. The only thing that could get tricky in this scheme is if I were to get two upgrades for the base code within the same CyberWolf release because I'd have to combine the upgrade scripts to run sequentially or figure out what else to do.

This might sound all pretty work intense and complex but it really is not when you have it defined and documented with a quick check list--it sure beats the daylights out of not knowing what code you are working on and not being able to track every change back to a record (as any clean QA process requires).

Hope this helps! Let me know if you want to talk about more details. Just call me next week.