Upgrading to Dynamicweb 9

To upgrade to Dynamicweb 9 your current Dynamicweb version should be 8.8.1.12 or later. If it isn't, upgrade to the 8.8.1.12  in the standard manner before proceeding.

DO NOT downgrade an upgraded solution to DW8 again. This can lead to a number of problems, some of which are very serious indeed.

When upgrading to Dynamicweb 9, there are several things you must be aware of in order to prepare your solution and ensure a smooth transition to Dynamicweb 9.

Once you've upgraded to Dynamicweb 8.8.1.12 - which is a prerequisite for upgrading to Dynamicweb 9 - you will have access to a DW9 Upgrade Check node located at Management Center > System > DW9 Upgrade check (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 The DW9 Upgrade Check node

From the DW9 Upgrade Check node you can:

  • Prepare your database for DW9 (convert datatypes in db)
  • Check your solution for potential problems

You need to pay attention to:

  • The list of deprecated modules and features in Dynamicweb 9
  • Changes to the public API and the places where they may affect you
  • Other important changes, e.g. changes to the solution settings and removal of support for Access databases

Here’s a rundown of the key areas where you may encounter problems.

The following modules and features have been removed from Dynamicweb 9:

Note that many of these modules have been deprecated for years, and are only finally being removed from the codebase.

Feature/Module

Replaced by

Notes

Accessibility

Not replaced

Has been deprecated since 2014

Audit

Not replaced

 

Booking beta

Items

Never released as real module

Calender

Items

 

Calendar

Items

Has not been supported since 2014

Calendar v2

Items

 

Content subscription

Not replaced

Has not been available for new DW8 solutions since 2014 and is completely removed on both new and upgraded solutions on DW9.

CRM Integration

Data Integration

 

Database Publishing

Data lists

 

Dealer Locator/Dealer Search

Maps / Items

 

eCards

Items

 

Employee (HR)

Extranet / Items

Has not been supported since 2014

Forms & Forms Extended

Forms for editors

Forms for data lists or Items can also be used

Forum & Forum v2

Forum DW8

Forum & Forum v2 are old versions of the forum, which have not been supported since 2014.

The Forum module from DW8 is part of DW9.

Image Gallery

Gallery / Items

 

Import/Export & Import/Export Extended

Data Integration

Has not been available for new DW8 solutions since 2014 and is completely removed on both new and upgraded solutions on DW9.

Indexing/Searching (old)

New indexing / Query publisher

 

Insert .ascx control

 

The corresponding template tag - @LoadControl() - has also been removed.

Integration

Data Integration

Has been deprecated since 2014

iPaper & iPaper Extended

Gallery

 

Keywordfinder

 

 

Link Management

Not replaced

 

Media Database

Gallery / Items

 

Multiple columns

Designs & Layouts (placeholders)

 

Payment Gateway (old)

Ecommerce

Has not been supported since 2014

Product Gallery (old)

Ecommerce

Has not been supported since 2014

News

News v2

News v2 is simply called News in DW9

Newsletter v3

Email Marketing

 

Poll

Items

 

Rotation

Designs & Layouts with Items

 

RSS

 

 

SEO

SEO Express

SEO Express is a basic feature in DW9, not a module

Shopping cart (old)

Ecommerce

Has not been supported since 2014

Sitemap

Sitemap v2

Sitemap module has not been supported since 2014
Sitemap v2 is simply called Sitemap in DW9

SMS (old)

SMS (new)

 

Statistics, Statistics Extended & Statistics v3

 

 

Survey

Forms for Editors

 

Tagwall

Items / Comments

Has not been supported since 2014

Templates

Designs & Layouts

 

Weblog

Items

Has not been supported since 2014

You must remove or replace any paragraphs using these modules, as they will no longer be available after upgrade.

The following checkout handlers have been removed in Dynamicweb 9:

  • Buckaroo
  • DIBS Mobile
  • DocData
  • GarantiBankOOS

Additionally, the following core features have been removed or changed in Dynamicweb 9:

  • Customized URLs in Dynamicweb 9 can only be set to Path or default. Any other options will be converted to default on upgrade.
  • Product field groups are no longer supported in Dynamicweb 9, and any Product Field Groups will be removed on upgrade.
  • The Stylesheets implementation model has been removed. The model was replaced by Designs & Layouts in Dynamicweb 7.1. Any websites implemented using the old model must be reimplemented using Designs & Layouts.
  • Likewise, the so called graphical navigation method for creating website navigation has been removed in Dynamicweb 9. Any websites using the graphical navigation method must be reimplemented using Designs & Layouts.

 

The public API has been extensively cleaned and refactored for Dynamicweb 9. This means that you need to validate any places where you use the API directly, for instance:

  • Any Razor templates interfacing with the API should be examined and validated
  • Any custom code you may have running on your solution must be validated, to ensure that it still compiles and does not use any deprecated parts of the API

You can explore the new API here - or check out the DW9 API cheatsheet.

 

Compatibility pack

Many of the upgrade issues related to Razor templates due to namespace changes are handled through a compatibility pack distributed by us.

This ensures that you will be have an easier time upgrading your solution do Dynamicweb 9 - but naturally this impacts performance and you should endeavour to correct your templates none the less.

If a template is run though the compatibility pack, a small note is added to the page source informing you of the fact.

Download the compatibility pack here.

The following tags have been removed from Dynamicweb 9, and you must find alternative ways to implement the functionality they provided:

Tag

Context

Comment

bodyPageAlignment

Master

 

DwBackgroundColor

Master

 

DwBackgroundImage

Master

 

DwBodyOnLoad

Master

 

InlineStylesheet

Master

 

PageContent

Master

 

Lang

Master

 

DwAddThis.Compact

Page

 

DwAddThis.Large

Page

 

DwAddThis.Small

Page

 

DwAddToAny.Medium

Page

 

DwAddToAny.Small

Page

 

DwBottomLogo

Page

 

DwBottomLogoClean

Page

 

DwCart

Page

 

DwColoumnSpace

Page

 

DwColoumnWidth

Page

 

DwContent

Page

Old stylesheets tag - @DwContent(Content) still exists

DwContentHolderWidth

Page

 

DwContentWidth

Page

 

DwFooter

Page

 

DwFooterClean

Page

 

DwLeftMargin

Page

 

DwLoginBox

Page

 

DwMenuWidth

Page

 

DwPageWidth

Page

 

DwRightMargin

Page

 

DwSearchLayer

Page

 

DwSearchLayerRelative

Page

 

DwTopGraphic

Page

 

DwTopGraphicClean

Page

 

DwTopLogo

Page

 

DwTopLogoAlt

Page

 

DwTopLogoClean

Page

 

ParagraphImageHAlign

Paragraph

 

ParagraphImageVAlign

Paragraph

 

ParagraphSetup

Paragraph

 

ParagraphImageText

Paragraph

 

ParagraphImageLinkAlt

Paragraph

 

LoadControl

Anywhere Removed alongside the Insert .ascx control

A few assorted changes with disruptive potential have been made for Dynamicweb 9:

  • Support for Access Databases has been removed, and Dynamicweb 9 will only run on SQL-Server databases
  • The solution setting Internet Explorer Compatibility has been removed, and all websites will behave as if the Standards Compliance (Default) setting was selected
  • The solution settings for Google API Includes has been removed. If you need any of these libraries, they will have to be manually included in your templates instead
  • Only provider based editors are supported in Dynamicweb 9, and any changes you may have made to the default editor will be lost on upgrade, as the default editor is replaced by a default provider based editor
  • The current Load Balancing  implementation has been removed. It will be replaced at a later date.

If you have:

  • Upgraded to Dynamicweb 8.8.1.12 or later
  • Prepared the database
  • Used the DW9 Upgrade Check tool to identify potential problems and then fixed them

You may be ready to upgrade to Dynamicweb 9.

You can either have us upgrade your solution, in which case you should contact Service Desk.

Or you can upgrade the solution yourself, in which case you should:

  • Verify that your server setup fulfills the requirements for DW9
  • Download and unzip the new application on the server on which our solution is located
  • Open IIS > Website > Open Actions > Basic Settings and switch to the DW9 application you downloaded
Figure 6.1 Upgrading to DW9

And that's it!

Upgrading custom solutions

Please note that you cannot upgrade custom solutions by simply switching to a new application - you must also remove the following files from the bin folder:

  • Dynamicweb.TemporaryServices.dll
  • Dynamicweb.TemporaryServices

Additonally, all files from the new DW9 root folder must be copied to the root folder of the site you are upgrading.