We're planning on upgrading an Umbraco site running 4.7.2 to the latest version (currently 7.2.5). But before starting that journey, we would like to know a little more about the upcoming challenges. So, to some questions:
Are there any obvious breaking changes that will require us to rewrite parts of the site?
Version 4.7.2 is built using Master-pages. As far as I understand, version 7.2.5 is MVC based. Will we have to rewrite the code using MVC (and Layouts) instead of the Masterpages or will Masterpages continue to work?
In our current installation, we're are using Macros a lot. Should we count on rewriting some of these? Will Macros still be supported?
Before you get into it you need to figure out, which 3rd party packages you're currently using and whether they're still supported in Umbraco 7 or not. If you're using a 3rd party data type, which is not compatible with v7.2 then you need to figure out how to make that migration for instance.
Also you need to consider whether you'll convert the site to run MVC or keep using Webforms - By default Umbraco 7 is using MVC as the templating engine but Webforms are still supported and can easily be enabled in the /config/umbracoSettings.config file.
Also...if you're making use of any of the Umbraco API's you'll probably need to refactor some of the code since the API's changed in the release of v6.
Macros are still supported - However if you're using XSLT (Which is still supported) you may need to change the code slightly since the umbraco.config scheme has changed a little if I remember correctly some some minor refactoring may be needed. Also some of the build in extensions may not work or exist in v7 anymore.
I think that you can also benefit from reading the experiences from another developer who have done the same travel http://www.blix.co/blog/2014/6/5/follow-the-path-upgrading-umbraco-from-v4-to-v7.aspx - But keep in mind that no Umbraco installation is the same and there may be stuff specific to your solution that you'll also have to deal with.
Finally I suggest that you consider if a better approach could be to install a clean v7.2.x and then migrate the existing website to this version instead of going down the upgrade route?
Upps! I accidently put my own answer as the solution... The solution should have been the answer from Jan! :-/
Thanks Jan for your superanswer! :-) Highly appreciated! And thanks for the upgrade guidelines!
Luckily, we are only using Contour and uComponents as 3rd party packages, and it seems that we’re on the safe side regarding these. I’ve seen that you have to do a workaround for uComponents when going to 4.8.1 (regarding the Lucene.Net.dll), but that seems well documented. Rewriting some of the code is something that we are counting on and we are only using Macros today, no XSLT (yay!).
Nice to hear that Webforms are still supported. Still continuing using webforms will lead to some downsides I guess, one being that the majority of the code examples out there will be written in MVC (and these are a savior sometimes :-). And I guess that the support for webforms will disappear eventually… Rewriting the site into MVC is very attractive, at least for me as a developer... harder to explain to the site owners though.
Doing a migration with a clean 7.2.x install isn’t a bad idea :-) A question that pops up is in my mind is the content… How do we migrate the content and media from our 4.7.2 database to the 7.2.x database?
Jan, if you have any further input on the "clean install 7.2.x migrate existing", and in particulare the content migration question I would be very happy :-)
Upgrade 4.7.2 -> 7.2.5
Hi,
We're planning on upgrading an Umbraco site running 4.7.2 to the latest version (currently 7.2.5). But before starting that journey, we would like to know a little more about the upcoming challenges. So, to some questions:
Are there any obvious breaking changes that will require us to rewrite parts of the site?
Version 4.7.2 is built using Master-pages. As far as I understand, version 7.2.5 is MVC based. Will we have to rewrite the code using MVC (and Layouts) instead of the Masterpages or will Masterpages continue to work?
In our current installation, we're are using Macros a lot. Should we count on rewriting some of these? Will Macros still be supported?
Any other challenges we will have to adress?
Thanks for any input! :-)
Cheers!
Hi Jessica
Before you get into it you need to figure out, which 3rd party packages you're currently using and whether they're still supported in Umbraco 7 or not. If you're using a 3rd party data type, which is not compatible with v7.2 then you need to figure out how to make that migration for instance.
Also you need to consider whether you'll convert the site to run MVC or keep using Webforms - By default Umbraco 7 is using MVC as the templating engine but Webforms are still supported and can easily be enabled in the /config/umbracoSettings.config file.
Also...if you're making use of any of the Umbraco API's you'll probably need to refactor some of the code since the API's changed in the release of v6.
Macros are still supported - However if you're using XSLT (Which is still supported) you may need to change the code slightly since the umbraco.config scheme has changed a little if I remember correctly some some minor refactoring may be needed. Also some of the build in extensions may not work or exist in v7 anymore.
I think that you can also benefit from reading the experiences from another developer who have done the same travel http://www.blix.co/blog/2014/6/5/follow-the-path-upgrading-umbraco-from-v4-to-v7.aspx - But keep in mind that no Umbraco installation is the same and there may be stuff specific to your solution that you'll also have to deal with.
Also make sure to read the official upgrade guidelines here https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/Installation/Upgrading/ - Make sure to read all of it - Both the version specific and general guidelines.
Finally I suggest that you consider if a better approach could be to install a clean v7.2.x and then migrate the existing website to this version instead of going down the upgrade route?
Hope this helps a bit.
/Jan
Upps! I accidently put my own answer as the solution... The solution should have been the answer from Jan! :-/
Thanks Jan for your superanswer! :-) Highly appreciated! And thanks for the upgrade guidelines!
Luckily, we are only using Contour and uComponents as 3rd party packages, and it seems that we’re on the safe side regarding these. I’ve seen that you have to do a workaround for uComponents when going to 4.8.1 (regarding the Lucene.Net.dll), but that seems well documented. Rewriting some of the code is something that we are counting on and we are only using Macros today, no XSLT (yay!).
Nice to hear that Webforms are still supported. Still continuing using webforms will lead to some downsides I guess, one being that the majority of the code examples out there will be written in MVC (and these are a savior sometimes :-). And I guess that the support for webforms will disappear eventually… Rewriting the site into MVC is very attractive, at least for me as a developer... harder to explain to the site owners though.
Doing a migration with a clean 7.2.x install isn’t a bad idea :-) A question that pops up is in my mind is the content… How do we migrate the content and media from our 4.7.2 database to the 7.2.x database?
Hi Jessica,
Upgrading tutorial you can read here :
https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/installation/upgrading/version-specific
And yes, you have to rewrite admin controls, because now admin part is on Angluar.
Thanks, Alex
Thanks Alex for your input! :-)
Jan, if you have any further input on the "clean install 7.2.x migrate existing", and in particulare the content migration question I would be very happy :-)
Upps! I accidently put my own answer as the solution... The solution should have been the answer from Jan! :-/
is working on a reply...