Store Export - Not Listing Data Sources

[sweeperq]

We're getting ready to do some test migrations from AC 5.5 to AC 7.0.5. I downloaded the Client Tools so I could export one of our current stores. When I tried to install it, it said I needed .Net 1.1, so I downloaded and installed it. Then the client tools installed fine. However, when I attempt to run the Store Export utility, it is not listing my Data Sources in the drop down, so I have no way to do the export. Has anyone else encountered this?

* Windows Server 2008 R2
* .Net 1.1 thru .Net 4.0
* All ODBC connections are set up under "System DSN" tab

[sweeperq]

***DO NOT INSTALL .NET 1.1 ON SERVER 2008 R2***

It broke all my websites. Had to uninstall .Net 1.1, repair .Net 4, then restart to get everything up and working again.

So, now how do I export my stores for use in AC7?

[jmestep]

You can run the export tool from a desktop computer if you can access the database from there. If not, you can change the export in the Able 5 admin to save to an xml file instead of the way it currently does it. Currently, it generates the xml in memory and displays it in a textfield box. That doesn't work because of performance problems. I have also used the export from the Able 5 store admin after commenting out code for data I didn't want transferred. For example, a first export might be categories and products, then I do users and orders right before going live.

[sweeperq]

Is it going to bomb on customized tables? I tried setting it up on my desktop and opening up the ODBC connection and it started out fine, then bombed on the payments table. We had customized the payments table when we built in bulk-capture on our admin side.

[sweeperq]

As I mentioned in my last post, the Store Export Utility bombed out on a table we customized. Can the Admin Store Export work with the Data Port Utility?

Let me give you the low-down:

1. I made database backups and copies of the current web sites. These were running on MySQL, AC5.5, Windows Server 2003.
2. I imported the data and recreated the file structure on our new server, then verified it was running properly. These were running on MySQL 5, AC 5.5, Windows Server 2008 R2
3. Attempted to install AbleCommerce Client Utilities V4 on the new server (I didn't want to risk knocking out our current ecommerce sites, which is why I migrated copies to a new server in step 2)
4. In order to install AC Client Utilities V4, you need .Net 1.1 installed. So I installed .Net 1.1 on the new server. It gave a compatibility warning, but I needed it to install the client tools.
5. Successfully installed the Client Utilities V4 on the server.
6. Started up the Store Export Utility, but it did not recognize any of my Data Sources, so it couldn't export anything.
7. Received a site-down notification from Alertra and found that installing .Net 1.1 had knocked out IIS (guess that was the compatibility issue).
8. Uninstalled .Net 1.1, Repaired .Net 4, Rebooted Server, and Verified all sites were back up and running properly
9. Sent help request to AC to find out if there is a newer version of client tools (that don't require .Net 1.1) and why it wasn't recognizing my System DSN ODBC data sources
9. Tried Judy's suggestion about installing it on my desktop and doing it from there.
10. From my desktop it recognized the data sources and started properly, but crashed once it reached a table we had customized.

On a side note, was surprised AC wasn't more helpful with their Store Export Tool. First off, it seemed like they weren't aware that there were two tools...Store Export Utility (export) and Data Port Utility (import). Told me that the Data Port Utility didn't require .Net 1.1 and that I needed to install it on the AC 5.5 server. When I followed up to clarify they basically said the data port tools were unsupported and had to purchase support hours and that it would likely take hours to complete, or come on the forums and try to get help from community members. When you put a product out (Client Tools v4 - Store Export Utility) then document it as part of the AC 5.5 => AC 7 migration process why wouldn't you support it? While I like what I've seen from AC7 during my demo, we have 5 stores to migrate; if I have to do them manually it makes staying on 5.5 and making it PCI-compliant that much more attractive.

[jmestep]

but crashed once it reached a table we had customized.

That must be why you shouldn't customize an Able table.
I was able to export the data from a site that had customized Able tables by using the export utility in the Admin once I had it write to an xml file instead of memory. Of course, it didn't pick up the additional fields,but it didn't crash either. It then imported fine into Able 7 and I did some other coding to get the data in the additional fields.

[sweeperq]

Yep, I won't be doing that anymore

I'll give the internal store export a try this afternoon and see what happens. Thanks for the help Judy.