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Tutorial: Upgrading Zap Calendar from Joomla 2.5 to 3.x

(aka upgrading from Zap Calendar 3 to 4)

Zap Calendar 3.x supports up to Joomla 2.5 and Zap Calendar 4.0 only supports Joomla 3.x, so different versions of Zap Calendar are needed for these Joomla versions.  Also, the database layouts are different in these versions, so the calendar data will need to be upgraded.

There are two methods to upgrading Zap Calendar from Joomla 2.5 to 3.x.  The first method migrates the data from one Joomla site to another.  This procedure can work between a Joomla 2.5 and a Joomla 3.x site, or between two Joomla 3.x sites.  The second method provides an in-place upgrade when migrating an entire Joomla site from Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3.x .  Both procedures are discussed below.

 

 

Method 1: Migrate From One Joomla Site to Another

Here is the procedure to migrate Zap Calendar from 3 to 4.  In addition to some column name changes, the events table is now timezone aware in Zap Calendar 4, so a straight table export/import will cause problems with event times.  The following procedure imports events in the proper time zone.

From Your Joomla 1.5/2.5 Site

  1. Backup your database (this is obvious to many but it is worth mentioning)
  2. If you do not have a calendar view defined containing all your categories, create one now from the back-end calendar view manager.
  3. Press the "click" link in the appropriate calendar view entry in the view manager. This will display a popup of a public and private icalendar export URL. Right-click the private URL to save the data to a file.  This file will contain events, categories and any defined locations.

From Your Joomla 3.x Site

  1. If you have not done so already, install Zap Calendar 4 on your Joomla 3.x site.
  2. From the Zap Calendar tools page, select the iCalendar import option. Use the following options in the import screen:

    Import Mode: Import events into separate categories
    Date Range: Import all events
    Import Type: File
    Specify iCal formatted file to import: (select file you exported above)

  3. Press the "Import" button. This will import your calendar events.

 

Other Notes

Only categories and locations that are being used in events will be migrated.

Calendar views and category order and sub category definitions will still need to be defined.

Beginning with Zap Calendar 3.1.2 and Zap Calendar 4.0.8, icalendar imports and exports support HTML in event descriptions.

This is the preferred method if migrating data from a Joomla 1.5 site.

 

Method 2: In-Place Upgrade

Starting with Zap Calendar 4.0.15, Zap Calendar data from a Joomla 2.5 site can be upgraded during the site upgrade.  Here are the steps:

Prior to upgrading Joomla:

  1. Backup your Joomla installation and database.
  2. Uninstall Zap Calendar and any associated plugins or modules.  Your Zap Calendar data will still reside in the database even if the application is removed.
  3. To avoid possible error messages later on, run the following SQL command on your database (use your database prefix for '#'):

    DELETE FROM `#_assets` WHERE `name` LIKE 'com_zcalendar%';
  4. Do your other pre-upgrade procedures as recommended by Joomla.

After upgrading Joomla:

  1. Backup your Joomla installation and database (you can never have enough backups :-).
  2. Install Zap Calendar from the Joomla Extension Manager.
  3. After the initial installation, click the link "Click here to complete the Zap Calendar installation."
  4. Zap Calendar will detect that a database change is needed and will prompt you to upgrade your database.  You will be asked to enter a time zone, which will be the time zone Zap Calendar 3 used by Zap Calendar 3.  This will be used to put all the events in the proper time zone, since Zap Calendar 4 has multiple time zone support.
  5. Once started, let the database process continue to its completion.  It may take several minutes depending on how many events you have.

 

Other Notes

The in-place upgrade method works starting with Zap Calendar 4.0.15.

Plugin settings have changed, you may need to modify them in the event , category, location and calendar managers.

Joomla does not support in-place migration from a Joomla 1.5 site.  Use method 1 if migrating from a Joomla 1.5 site.

 

Related Articles

Tutorial: Installation Guide for Zap Calendar 4

Uninstalling the Zap Calendar Component Manually