Upgrading from Events Calendar Pro v1.3.2 to v4.4.19

[midwestseniorliving]

Hello,

I want to upgrade from Events Calendar Pro v1.3.2 to v4.4.19, but my Events do not transfer. To put it another way, the new version doesn’t appear as an upgrade, rather, it acts like a separate plugin, and when I activate both old and new simultaneously then I get two different “Events” tabs.

Is there a way to perform this upgrade and keep my old Events?

Thanks,
Matt

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Matt,

Thanks so much for reaching out!

As a first step, I’d recommend updating slowly, as it is a big jump from v1.3.2 to our current version.  This will ensure that your data doesn’t get corrupted, and this way you can test for issues occurring along the way.

Here is what I would recommend:

• First, make sure you have a good backup. Tutorial: Updating WordPress and Making Backups
• Disable Events Calendar PRO 4.4.19
• Now upgrade to each major version via Manual Updates and Downloads page:
  • 2.0
  • 3.0.3
  • 4.0.4

Let me know how it goes!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[midwestseniorliving]

Hi Jaime,

That all sounds promising! However, I only have access to v4.4.19 from /my-account/downloads/. I assume that I am limited to the versions that come out after I bought my license (just a week ago).

Would you please provide a way for me to download the major versions that I need to complete your troubleshooting steps?

Thanks,
Matt

[Jaime Marchwinski]

This reply is private.

[midwestseniorliving]

Hi Jaime,

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to fix the problem by upgrading one major version at a time. Instead, I get a 500 error when simultaneously activating “Events Calendar PRO” v2.0 and “The Events Calendar” v4.6.7. I am able to fix the error by deleting “Events Calendar PRO” v2.0 from the filesystem. It seems like the newest version of “The Events Calendar” may be to new for v2.0 of “Events Calendar PRO”, so maybe I need to through the major versions of both plugins?

However, I feel like it is a moot point. The original problem was that the “Events” of the old version do not carry over to the newest version — I’ve take a look in the database, and it appears that the post_type of the old events is “sp_events”; whereas, the post_type of the new Events is “tribe_events”. I assume that the code just does not view the two as the same…

Does this make sense?

Thanks,
Matt

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Matt,

I’m sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with upgrading versions of your plugins.  We have changed the way that events, and especially recurring events, are stored in the database since the first incarnation of the plugin.  That may be why you are seeing the issues that you are seeing.

Let me know how you’d like to proceed and how I can further assist you.

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[midwestseniorliving]

Hi Jaime,

Well, I was thinking I could just change the name of the “sp_events” table to “tribe_events”, but that was probably a naive thought, since the tables are probably structured very differently (?).

I guess my first question then is: Do you have upgrade code to transform the old table into the new table? I assume not, otherwise I am sure you would have passed that to me already. If not then do you feel it is reasonable for me to attempt to do this work? Or has so much changed between the two tables that it would really be more work than it is worth?

If we cannot transform the old events (easily) then I feel a reasonable alternative is to archive the old events, and begin using the new plugin to create new events. So, the idea here would be to leave the old Events Pro plugin active alongside the new Events plugin. A visitor to the site would see new events on the calendar, but not old historical — instead, they would click a “view events archive” link, that would take them to the old events plugin. Does this make sense? Do you feel that this is a reasonable alternative?

Another idea would be to leave the old plugin active, and not use the new plugin. As a programmer, I bet that I could fix the issue that started this thread, where the old plugin no longer shows the monthly calendar. If we went this route, are there serious security/technical issues to worry about (that is, from continuing to use an out-of-date plugin)?

Finally, obviously, we could just abandon old events and start using the new plugin. Sorry to throw so much at you — I am a contract programmer who is helping the owner of the plugin, and since it seems like some work has to be done here, I am just looking for some objective input from you regarding our paths forward.

Thanks,
Matt Kirk ([email protected])
5NINES, llc

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Matt,

I truly apologize for any inconvenience that this migration has caused you and the site that you are working on.  As you can see, when you try to upgrade from a very old version of a plugin to a new one, many things change and it can be difficult to migrate the data properly.

We unfortunately don’t have code to transform the old table into the new table.  It may be a larger undertaking, but that depends on what you are up for doing.

With that being said, in my opinion, I would recommend using the new version of the plugin.  You will undoubtedly run into issues again, even if you are able to resolve the issue that caused the need for the update in the first place.

I think either the option to use the old plugin as an “Event Archive” or to abandon it completely make a lot of sense and I can see the value in either.  It may be easiest to just leave the old data the way that it is and start using the new plugin with the creation of new events.

Let me know your thoughts and please don’t hesitate to fire some more questions at me!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

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