How to upgrade W3StudioCMS for the standalone application

The standalone application is a full pre-configured WAMP (webserver Apache, database Mysql, script language Php for Windows) application which runs W3StudioCMS. Everytime a new release of W3StudioCMS is deployed you don't need and you don't have to download the new release of the standalone application to upgrade W3StudioCMS, because you've already downloaded the system and if you download another standalone application you will lose all the changes you made. So what you have to do is to download only the plugin release and configure it. Let's see how.

Suppose that you have downloaded the 1.1.0 standalone application and you have unpacked it under C:\w3studiocms. Now you want to upgrade to the 1.1.4 version to try the new faboulous w3sExtensionMbMaskedGallery plugin which requires at lest that release. Here the steps to follow:

Download the sfW3studioCmsPlugin-1.1.4.tar.gz from w3studiocms.com website
With a file browser go to C:\w3studiocms\htdocs\application-sandbox\plugins
Move the sfW3studioCmsPlugin folder to another directory, i.e. you can move it under C:\
Unpack here the file you have downloaded
Run the standalone sandbox and leave it minimized
Open a dos session. (Click the start buttom then select run, type cmd in the window that's opened then confirm)

In the dos console, type the following commands:

 cd C:\w3studiocms\htdocs\application-sandbox
 C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony w3s-propel:upgrade-to-112
 C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony propel:build-model
 C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony propel:build-filter
 C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony propel:build-form
 C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony plugin:publish-assets
 C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony cc

You're done but an important note is required. The second command:

C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony w3s-propel:upgrade-to-112

is required only when the new release explicitely indicates that an upgrade is require. In fact if you open the sfW3studioCmsPlugin folder you can see that there is a file called UPGRADE_TO_1.1.2. When you find one of this files you should open and read it because it contains additional operations you have to do to upgrade from your version to the new one. If you open that file you will notice that the only command required to upgrade is symfony w3s-propel:upgrade-to-112, exactly the first command launched (C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe is the program which runs the command).

You may note that in the sfW3studioCmsPlugin there is another upgrade file called UPGRADE_TO_1.1.0, so you may wonder why it is not required. The answer is simple. It is not required because you have downloaded the release 1.1.0 and that upgrade is needed only for the version released before the 1.1.0 so your applications has already that changes.

If you've downloaded the 1.1.2 standalone application, you don't have to run the upgrade command because the your application is already up-to-date.

After you completed the upgrade, the standalone application is updated to version 1.1.4, so next time you want to upgrade you don't have to run the symfony w3s-propel:upgrade-to-112 again.

Optional operations - Database backup

Before upgrading it's strongly suggested to backup the database too if it is involved in an upgrade. To backup your database, with the application closed move the file C:\w3studiocms\dbdir\w3studiocms to a safe folder.

Note that this is not the best method to perform this operation, but the best one requires some knowledges and this guide is written for newbies. The best way to backup a database is using a dedicated tool like phpmyadmin.

Recover

If something went wrong or simply you want to go back to previous version, you can remove the sfW3studioCmsPlugin folder from the C:\w3studiocms\htdocs\application-sandbox\plugins folder and move here the old one you've backupped. You have to do the same operation for the database, then from a dos console launche the following commands:

cd C:\w3studiocms\htdocs\application-sandbox
C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony plugin:publish-assets
C:\w3studiocms\server\php\php.exe symfony cc