Problems with site update, v6.1.2

[NickD]

I recently upgraded from Catalog 6.0.1 to 6.1.2 (and will soon get the patch for 6.1.3)

Since upgrading to 6.1.2, I noticed when uploading my site using the blue "up arrow" update button, that it seems to send ALL the files and not just those that have changed, i.e. it does a full site refresh instead of just an update. This works, but takes a long time. This did not happen with 6.0.1.

Might I have done something to affect the way this button works? I wondered if it might remember the last "update" or "refresh" used from the drop-down menu and use that...

Regards

Nick Dobson

[Menar]

Hi there,

I noticed when uploading my site using the blue "up arrow" update button, that it seems to send ALL the files

The difference between a Web refresh and a Web Update as I understand is, when a Web refresh is carried out this sends all the files to the server from scratch as well as synchronising all the files together, however, when a 'Web update' or the ‘blue arrow’ is used within Actinic, although it seems that all the files are being sent, Actinic executes a check and send process i.e. it compares all the files already on the server and only takes the modified and new files across.

Hope this helps

[NickD]

On the old 6.0.1 software there was a huge difference in the send time, now there isn't, and it takes ages. Also you can see messages saying "sending (filename)" during the send, and all files seem to have one of these.

Nick

[pinbrook]

you can always test it, by changing the text on one product and then asking for an update

if it is doing an update then just one html file will be copied to the server ( and a couple other files like cats, or fils)

if it does a refresh then the whole lot goes up, a refresh will re copy all the images

[NickD]

I tried that already - just changed the "last updated (date)" text on the front page - and it still sends the lot. Behaviour is definitely different to that of v6.0.1.

Regards

Nick

[HowardW]

Hi
I am having the same problem since I upgraded to version 6.1.3 from 6.0.1. Updates are taking about the same time as complete refreshes. (about 8 hours!)
Howard

[cdicken]

When you first upgraded, did you do a complete refresh? It is sometimes wise to do this as it starts Actinic off in the new version on a level playing field.

Try doing a 'Web | Refresh Website' (you may want to do this overnight!) and see whether this prevents the 'Web | Update' from feeling it has to upload everything.

[NickD]

An update on this one...

Yes, I did a complete refresh after the update - and have done so again since.

On closer examination, the problem is not quite as I first described. It does not send ALL the files everytime - just most of them. For example, it does not send all the image files every time. However, it does send all the .html files, no matter how small the changes made.

Also I noticed that at the start of the sending process, a warning message is displayed, which indicates Catalog thinks that something has changed since the last upload. This is attached as a .jpg. This is shown even if NO changes are made, and does not go away after a complete refresh. Whatever, it thinks it has to rebuild and send all the .htmls.

Interestingly, this same message is also shown when downloading orders from the site.

All input gratefully received.

Regards

Nick

[cdicken]

Try removing all the *.fil files from your 'Site1' folder and also from your 'acatalog' folder and then do a 'Web | Refresh Website'.

This will force Actinic to upload all new *.fil files (which are, amongst other things, your search keyword indexes) and should prevent this problem from resurfacing.

[NickD]

I'll try that and report back later.

Regards

Nick

[NickD]

Hi Chris

Just a quick clarification sought before trying this - I presume you are referring to directories on the site server - where there is of course an acatalog folder with some .fil files in it, however there is no "site1" folder. I don't want to delete the wrong things, please confirm exactly what you mean.

Regards

Nick

[cdicken]

For "Site1" just substitute the name of the site with the issues. You will find the folder within 'Actinic Ecommerce v6\Sites'.

[NickD]

So you mean delete files on the C: drive? I had thought you meant the files to be deleted were on the web server...


Nick

[pinbrook]

Try removing all the *.fil files from your 'Site1' folder and also from your 'acatalog' folder and then do a 'Web | Refresh Website'.

you need to remove the .*fil files from both your C drive and the webserver

[fainster]

We are on 6.13 and have noticed that when we do an upload we also send all the .cat files (we have over 7000 on our site) and all the html files, so if we have only added one item it takes about 5 hours to upload the change.

[cdicken]

Have you tried the suggestion I provided above (i.e. remove all *.fil files from your 'Site1' folder and a 'Web | Refresh Website')?

[fainster]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your reply. I have removed and replaced all the .pl, .pm and .cat files the first time we refreshed after the upgrade.
We originally had a problem upgrading as the patch we downloaded crashed half way through, partly upgraded our database, which resulted in a few problems. I spoke to Tracy in support, who arranged for a disc to be sent of 6.13 which corrected the problems encountered (quantity boxes were pre-filled with 4 on the single add to cart pages to name one!).
We did an upload last night and I had added 10 small subsections and it sent all the .cat files again - upload started at 6pm - finished at 3am this morning.
Thanks,

[cdicken]

I have just patched my sites to 6.1.3 and found that the first upload, after the update, would take a while as it need to upload a lot.

The next update would then go as normal.

If you would like someone to take a look at your database, then please register a email support query HERE (http://www.actinic.co.uk/support/register.htm). Someone will get back to you to request your database.

[fainster]

Thanks for your reply. I have just done another update - amending about 20 products and the upload this time went much quicker.... and only sent a few .cat files and the usual .fil files....

It did send some html and .jpg files that hadn't been altered - no great problem though.
Upload only took 15 mins - great improvement on the last week!:)

[NickD]

It's happened again. It wants to upload all the files even for a minor change.
I checked the .fil file fix (which worked last time) again and found that this time I can't delete all of the .fil files from the server. Some you can, some you can't. I deleted the ones I could, and all of those on the c drive, and did a complete refresh - I then made a minor tweak to a single product and tried uploading again, to check if the fix had worked, and it hasn't. It still wants to upload everything. Any ideas?

Nick

[Mike Hughes]

You could try changing the permissions on any .fil files that you can't delete. Set them to 755 or 777 and then try deleting them again.

Mike

[NickD]

Tried that after my last post - still no joy.

Nick

[NormanRouxel]

I see that 2 1/2 years have elapsed between posts 19 and 20. I assume things have been working OK during that time.

As to the problem recurring, it's quite possible that your server people have done something (a restore after a system failure perhaps) that has changed the timestamps of your files on the server.

Actinic will detect this and re-upload these files in order to be sure that your PC and the site are in sync.

[NickD]

Things have been OK in the intervening period. The problem has just come back with no apparent trigger.

With my FTP package I can see all the timestamps - as all the .fil files were (after initial permissions problems) deleted, and new ones with new timestamp are now there. I've also done a full refresh and that's made no difference.

Nick

[cdicken]

Try a 'Housekeeping | Compact Databases'. This sometimes helps Actinic to behave itself with regards to uploading.