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Download Upgrade to Version 2.6 January 2010 - app.17 megabytes -
the file is called UpDate26.Exe.
Follow the instructions
below to upgrade older versions of Showman to Showman 2.6
This updater will work with any version
of ShowMan 2 issued from July 2003 onwards, up to and including version 2.6 issued January 2009. It will not work for versions of Showman pre-July 2003, or on version 2.8
Your previous DATA and Setups should
not be lost during the upgrade process, but it would be prudent to
BACK UP your OLD files. You can
use the Backup facilities built into ShowMan, but these were not very
flexible in previous releases (they have been greatly improved in
ShowMan 2.6) so I suggest that you make a MANUAL Backup of the old
files as explained at the bottom of this page.
- Due to changes to Windows Security introduced by Microsoft, You should NOT run Showman 2.6 or earlier in Windows 2000, Xp, Vista or Windows 7.
- You may ALREADY be running Showman 2.6 or earlier in Windows 2000 or Windows Xp without problems, but any changes to Users ACCESS RIGHTS could cause problems, so you are advised to upgrade Showman to version 2.8 as described in the 'Upgrade Notes for Showman' page.
- Please read ALL of this brief document, BEFORE
installing the ShowMan Upgrade.
- If possible retain a downloaded copy of your
PREVIOUS Version of Showman, in case you need to install it again
(Upgrade fails, need to access OLDER data etc;)
Updating
is a FOUR Stage Process
Stage 1
Create a suitable folder
(eg 'ShowmanUG' or 'UGto26') on your machine, Download the ShowMan
Upgrade pack and place it into this new folder. This
file is quite large mainly because the help
file is larger, and ShowMan now also contains a FULL manual in book
form.
- You might like to make a backup of this downloaded
file to avoid having to download it again.
Stage 2
Run the downloaded file
in order to START the update process. As part of this process the Upgrader
will create a folder called Update 2.6 in the 'Programe Files' folder
on drive C: of your machine. It will then place a ShortCut to the MAIN
update programme on your DeskTop.
- The shortcut is called ‘Update ShowMan’
and looks like two arrows (One blue, one purple) curved in a circle.
- If you get a message that Showman is ALREADY Upgraded to version 2.6, please CONTINUE with the upgrade - this will ensure that you do have the LATEST upgrade. No Harm will result from running the upgrader more than once.
Stage 3
Double click this new ‘Update
ShowMan’ shortcut icon.
N.B. On occasions, AFTER
this button has been clicked, it has taken some time (up to 40 seconds
or more depending on the speed of the machine) for the NEXT screen to
appear - I have traced this to the behaviour of some Ant-Virus programmes.
Just wait until the next screen appears.
A screen will open, displaying
some warnings suggesting that you Back Up your old data, and read the
Update Notes (THIS PAGE!!) on my web site.
You can Cancel, if you
want to EXIT the Updater so that you can come here to read the notes,
or make a Backup. Otherwise you can choose ‘Continue’.
You will now get another
Warning screen – sorry about this, but you don’t want things to go wrong!
It is VITALLY important that Showman IS NOT running before you proceed.
If you are sure ShowMan
isn’t running, and are ready to go ahead, click OK and you will get to the main UpDater screen.
The ‘Target Folder to be
Updated’ box on this screen will show you the
Default installation path for ShowMan (C:\Program Files\Showman 2) and
this path should be correct, if, when you originally installed ShowMan
you accepted the Default path.
If this is the case, you
can just click ‘Update ShowMan’.
- N.B. When you first open the Updater, the Drive and Folder displayed in the
‘Select a different Drive’ and ‘Select a different Folder’ panels
on the right of the upgrader screen WILL NOT BE SET TO THE Default
ShowMan installation folder – it will point to the folder
from which the installer is running.
If you originally installed
ShowMan to a drive and/or folder other than the default, use the DRIVE
and FOLDER selector controls to select the correct location. You must
Double Click the ‘Select a different Folder’ control to make the selected
folder appear in the ‘Target Folder to be Updated’ box.
Once this box shows the
correct location, click the ‘Update ShowMan’ button.
If you have selected an
incorrect path, you will get an error message.
If all is set correctly
then you will quickly get a message ‘Update Completed’.
- IMPORTANT - Now CLOSE the Updater programme
Once the update is complete,
you can, if you wish, open ‘Control Panel’,’Add-Remove Programs’ and
remove the ‘Updater’ programme – make sure that you have closed it all
down before you do this.
- WARNING - DO NOT try to upgrade
by MANUALLY COPYING any files in the 'C:\Program Files\Update 2.6'
folders to the 'C:\Program Files\Showman 2' folders. If you do this the upgrader
will NOT make
some VITAL alterations to the configuration files.
Stage 4
START Showman.
If you only have a Single Section Registration, you just need to carry out the following -
Open the Database Maintenance Page and click on the REWRITE button. Wait for the Rewrite Complete message.
N.B. DO NOT click on ANY other options in the Database Maintenance module at this time.
- If you have a multi-section registration, make each Section Active, in turn, and then repeat the step in BLUE TEXT for EVERY Section in your Show.
Once you have done this, ShowMan should accept UP TO 50 characters in the two 'Phone, Email etc; fields of the Address module in EVERY Section of your Show.
If you fail to update any Section(s), then Showman will crash if you try to enter more than 20 characters into either of these two fields. Make sure that you have updated EVERY Section as in described in BLUE text.
Now Make a NEW Backup
Because the upgrader replaces quite a few files,
modifies some configuration files, and adds several new files and
folders, once you have successfully upgraded ShowMan to version 2.6, I suggest that
you make another NEW backup, this time using the NEW and IMPROVED
facilities in Showman.
Go to the ShowMan 'Backup' page(in version 2.6), from where
you can BACK UP everything that contains your DATA and SETTINGS with ONE CLICK. This backs up
ALL Data and Configuration files for ALL Sections, so that you will have a set of backups
that are completely up-to-date. Your Registration file is also backed up.
- This NEW backup will now be the STARTING POINT for future Restores.
- CAUTION - you may wish to ARCHIVE ANY Backups
you made BEFORE you UPGRADed to version 2.6, but you SHOULD NOT RESTORE
these backups into Showman 2.6. If you do results will be unpredictable.
- If you want to ACCESS Data in the old backups,
your best course would be to install a copy of the OLDER Showman to
a different machine and restore the older backups to that copy
Making a MANUAL Backup of your Old Files
- I prefer Total Commander (www.ghisler.com)
for this type of job - you can download a description of this programme
from this web site, on the Computer Topics page. However, in the following
discussion, I will describe using 'My Computer', as everyone will
have this programme.
- If you have an external device like a USB ‘Thumb’
drive or USB hard disk, I would suggest that you place all backups
on this – an external device is more secure, in the event of a problem
with your machine.
- If your computer has a second hard disk inside
it, you could use that, but this would be less secure.
- In the notes below, the 'Target' drive is the
drive on which you will place your Backup. The 'Source' drive is the
drive containing your Showman installation - normally C:\Program Files\Showman
2 for versions of Showman before version 2.8.
- You MUST hold down the CONTROL key while dragging
files or folders in order to ensure that COPY them. If you do not,
you will MOVE the files/folders.
Procedure
N.B. if at any time you get a warning message
about viewing hidden files, or words to that effect, you should ignore
this warning choice – Microsoft is being excessively cautious – click
the option to proceed or view.
Open ‘My Computer’, and then double click on the
Target drive – if you only have a C: drive, you will have to use that
drive.
However, if you have a different hard disk in
the computer, or your single hard disk is split into Partitions so as
to appear as more than one hard disk, choose a drive or partition other
than C:. Preferably use an EXTERNAL hard disk or 'thumb' drive connected
via a USB connector. This is much more secure and also portable between
computers.
After you double click on the TARGET drive, the
next window will display the files and folders on the target drive.
You now need to make a suitable folder on the target drive to receive
your backups.
Click the right hand mouse button on this panel
(showing the contents of the Target drive). From the pop-up box choose
‘New’ and then ‘Folder’. A new folder will appear, with a name of ‘New
Folder’. Change this name to something suitable like OldSMan
Backup dd-mm-yy. Note this name contains the date, to help you
remember when the folder was created.
Now double click this NEW folder – you should
then see an EMPTY panel – showing that your new folder is currently
empty.
Now open ANOTHER copy of ‘My Computer’. Double
Click on the icon for the 'C:' drive, and Then double click ‘Program
Files’. and then Double Click ‘ShowMan 2’
If you have done this correctly, you should see
the file ‘ShowMan.Exe’ displaying the ‘ShowMan’ icon, as well as several
files and folders, including ‘Logos’, ‘TipFiles’ and so on.
- If you have registered a SINGLE SECTION Show,
your main data folder will either be called ‘ShowData’, or the name
you have CHANGED IT TO.
- If you have MULTIPLE SECTION Registration,
you will have the above data folder, plus others displaying the NAMES
of the Sections you have created.
Using the mouse, in the SOURCE panel, click on
EVERY folder that has the NAME of one of your Show Sections, IN TURN, and DRAG each one to the NEW TARGET folder.
Once ALL of your Section
folders have been copied, copy the files ‘Register.Inf’ and 'ShowMan.Cfg' to the Target folder. These files only exist ONCE,in the main Showman folder so you only need to copy them one time.
YOU MUST COPY ALL OF THE ABOVE FOLDERS and FILES
for a FULL BACKUP.
- However, DO NOT COPY ANY OTHER files in this
folder (eg; ShowMan.Exe, Showman.Hlp, Showman.Chm, Setup.Exe, Setup.Ini,
Note16.Ico, Book02.Ico) - if these files are inadvertently restored
to a NEWER version of Showman, you will have returned ShowMan (in
full or in part) to its' previous version)
- When you have finished, you should see ALL
of the COPIED Files and Folders IN BOTH LOCATIONS.
- If so, the backup is complete
Restoring Files from the Backup you have Just
Made
VERY IMPORTANT
- IF THE UPGRADE WAS SUCCESSFUL, DO NOT RESTORE FILES
AND FOLDERS FROM THE ABOVE BACKUP . If
you do, you will loose the NEW Configuration Settings.
- The backup described in this Section (ie BEFORE upgrading ShowMan to version 2.6) has been
made in case the upgrade wasn't successful and you need to go back
to your older version of Showman temporarily.
- If the Upgrade was successful,
Start ShowMan 2.6 and run the NEW Backup routine from within ShowMan to create a NEW backup of the successfully modified files. This will give you a new starting backup for version 2.6
- If the Upgrade failed,
use Add-Remove Programmes to uninstall Showman and the Upgrader. Reinstall
the OLD version of ShowMan. Restore the backed up files MANUALLY as
described above, (but in the REVERSE DIRECTION of course - the TARGET
drive will this time be drive C:). If you are asked whether to OVERWRITE
the files already existing on the Target drive, permit this action.
- Run Showman to test that
all is well. Then try to Upgrade again. Contact me if you are still
having problems.
CB January 1st 2010 |
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