Upgrade from AbleCommerce 5.5 to 7.0

[it@isa-arbor.com]

My company has used AbleCommerce 5.5 for over four years and we are very pleased with the product and support.

I am beginning to plan an upgrade from 5.5 to 7.0. Based on the online help an this [url = viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7894&hilit=DataPort]forum post[/url] it appears as if I need to install AbleCommerce 7.0, then use DataPort to import data from the old database. I have several questions and need some advice.


Password Encryption: We have our own set of web site usernames and passwords. These accounts, an customer status are copied over to the able commerce database and updated regularly. Other information such as membership status, which drives some discounts, is also pushed out. I've written a program that uses AbleCommerce DLLs to encrypt the passwords then insert them into the ableCommerce database. This is done on a daily bases to reflect acocunts that are added, altered or deleted. I use the cbCrypto.Encrypt128(strDecrypted) function. Has encryption changed? Will I need to re-write this significantly? Where can I read on this to prepare?

Database Structure
In addition to pushing out passwords, I push product data out from our central database to the AbleCommerce Database daily. Inventory data is pushed back and forth regularly, in real time when inventory changes in our internal database and hourly to grab changes in Able Commerce. How much has the structure of the AbleCommerce database changed, and should I expect significant re-writes? I'm sure the 7.0 database structure is available, if someone can post a link I'd appreciate it.

Development Environment
We use SQL Server 2005 and IIS 6.0. SQL server is on the LAN the web server is on the DMZ. We have an internal development web server and our external live server. The databases connection strings are different internally and externally and the IP addresses for the servers and web sites are different as well. I'd like to have a development copy of the AbleCommerce Site on my internal server then port the final files to my live server. Is it possible to do this with one license key? Is it possible to do this with one database, I believe some of the key information regarding IP addresses and web addresses is stored in the database, although this may be a misconception.

Customization/Skins
There is a wealth of documentation on skins and customizing appearance, but can I port over my 5.5 appearance easily or is it better to rebuild it.

I'll probably have more questions but thanks in advance for the help, and the great product.

Best regards,

Ernie Noa
IT Manager
International Society of Arboriculture

[mazhar]

Password Encryption: We have our own set of web site usernames and passwords. These accounts, an customer status are copied over to the able commerce database and updated regularly. Other information such as membership status, which drives some discounts, is also pushed out. I've written a program that uses AbleCommerce DLLs to encrypt the passwords then insert them into the ableCommerce database. This is done on a daily bases to reflect acocunts that are added, altered or deleted. I use the cbCrypto.Encrypt128(strDecrypted) function. Has encryption changed? Will I need to re-write this significantly? Where can I read on this to prepare?

DataPort utility supports the encrypted password import but for the standard. If you have some customization in the encryption then it may not work. It would better if you provide an encrypted and decrypted value pair for sample. Also which build of AC5.x you are running?

Database Structure
In addition to pushing out passwords, I push product data out from our central database to the AbleCommerce Database daily. Inventory data is pushed back and forth regularly, in real time when inventory changes in our internal database and hourly to grab changes in Able Commerce. How much has the structure of the AbleCommerce database changed, and should I expect significant re-writes? I'm sure the 7.0 database structure is available, if someone can post a link I'd appreciate it.

Please read the following post
http://wiki.ablecommerce.com/index.php/Database

Customization/Skins
There is a wealth of documentation on skins and customizing appearance, but can I port over my 5.5 appearance easily or is it better to rebuild it.

AbleCommerce 7.0 skinning is easy and flexible hopefully you will be able to port the existing design easily.

[Katie]

I'd like to have a development copy of the AbleCommerce Site on my internal server then port the final files to my live server. Is it possible to do this with one license key?

We'll need to check your order history. The licensing for AbleCommerce has significantly changed between version 5.x and 7. Please go to this page http://help.ablecommerce.com/request_key.htm for any key requests.

Make sure to provide your original order number and the IP/domain for your new development website.

Thanks,
Katie

[it@isa-arbor.com]

Password Encryption: We have our own set of web site usernames and passwords. These accounts, an customer status are copied over to the able commerce database and updated regularly. Other information such as membership status, which drives some discounts, is also pushed out. I've written a program that uses AbleCommerce DLLs to encrypt the passwords then insert them into the ableCommerce database. This is done on a daily bases to reflect acocunts that are added, altered or deleted. I use the cbCrypto.Encrypt128(strDecrypted) function. Has encryption changed? Will I need to re-write this significantly? Where can I read on this to prepare?

DataPort utility supports the encrypted password import but for the standard. If you have some customization in the encryption then it may not work. It would better if you provide an encrypted and decrypted value pair for sample. Also which build of AC5.x you are running?

Thanks for all the posts.

Regarding the passwords. Passwords need to be updated daily, as new accounts are added to our main web site. I usually just have a SQL job scheduled to run at the appropriate time and it calls an exe, which uses an AbleCommerce DLL to encrypt the password then insert it in the proper table. I'll have to go take a peak at dataPort, but I need to run a query to determine what accounts have been added or changed, then encrypt those passwords and pass them along to (insert them in) the AbleCommerce database. DataPort strikes me as a tool to help with migration, something that would be used once. Currently I am adding and updating accounts daily, but only if the account exists in my DB and not the Able Commerce DB.

I'm using
* CommerceBuilder5L (CommerceBuilder5L.dll)
* CommerceBuilder5.Base (CommerceBuilder5.dll)
* CommerceBuilder5.Util (CommerceBuilder5.dll)

I'm grabbing each record I need to add or update, then I call..
CommerceBuilder5.Util.cbCrypto.Encrypt128(By Val String) as String

Get the password which is now properly encrypted for use by AbleCommerce then make a database call to update the password. My users now have one password which works on both web sites.

I'm not sure if dataPort is going to help me do this.

Thanks again for all the information.

Ernie Noa

[it@isa-arbor.com]

Regarding the passwords. Passwords need to be updated daily, as new accounts are added to our main web site. I usually just have a SQL job scheduled to run at the appropriate time and it calls an exe, which uses an AbleCommerce DLL to encrypt the password then insert it in the proper table. I'll have to go take a peak at dataPort, but I need to run a query to determine what accounts have been added or changed, then encrypt those passwords and pass them along to (insert them in) the AbleCommerce database. DataPort strikes me as a tool to help with migration, something that would be used once. Currently I am adding and updating accounts daily, but only if the account exists in my DB and not the Able Commerce DB.

I'm using
* CommerceBuilder5L (CommerceBuilder5L.dll)
* CommerceBuilder5.Base (CommerceBuilder5.dll)
* CommerceBuilder5.Util (CommerceBuilder5.dll)

I'm grabbing each record I need to add or update, then I call..
CommerceBuilder5.Util.cbCrypto.Encrypt128(By Val String) as String

Get the password which is now properly encrypted for use by AbleCommerce then make a database call to update the password. My users now have one password which works on both web sites.

I'm not sure if dataPort is going to help me do this.

Have the AbleCommerce functions I referenced changed? Has the encryption changed? Will I need to rebuild my encryption program?