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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS > Converting Data from Prior Versions of the Program |
If you were already using a much earlier version of DONATION (any version from 2.30 to 2.70, the last of which was released in 2007!) and you install the current version for the first time, a conversion will be required. This is because starting in version 3.00, released in October 2007, the database was stored in a new file, with new database software (Firebird). Previously the program used the Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere database software, and the database filename was DONATION3.DB. Now the filename it is in is DONATION4.DB.
If you are converting from another program, rather than a much older version of DONATION, see Converting Data from Other Programs.
Note: This program can no longer convert from the very early versions of our DONATION program (version 2.29 or lower). If you still need to do that conversion, contact us and we will direct you to install and use an older version (2.70) that can do the conversion.
The main reason that a new database was required for new versions starting in 2007 is that a new open source database software, Firebird, was adopted. This provided several advantages over the old database, not least of which is the ability for future upgrades of the program to make changes to the database structure without going through a serious conversion process, as was required for the upgrade to all versions starting at 3.00, and as was required by several earlier upgrades.
Several new fields were added to the database for version 3.00, including eligible amount fields for both the donations and the receipts, and a 2nd organization name field (to handle French and English names for Quebec-based charities). Further new fields were introduced in subsequent versions of DONATION.
How to Do the Conversion
If the program detects on startup that you are running version 3.00 or higher for the first time, your new-version database is empty, and an old database is present, it will tell you so in a message box, and ask whether to do the conversion. If you answer Yes to that message box, it will automatically transfer all of your data from the earlier version of the database to the new version. You can see the progress of the conversion in a window that will be displayed on the screen. (The old database will be unchanged.) You will then be able to run with the new features, with all of your data intact.
If you answer No the conversion message box, it will just start you up with an empty database in the new format, and prompt you to enter your Organization Info and Categories just as it did the first time you ran your much older version of DONATION. You can then transfer your data from the old to the new database later, using the Backup/Restore ⇒ Restore Old Database menu option. (Please be sure to read that linked Help topic to fully understand it.)
If you answer Cancel to the original conversion message box, the program will exit.
Converting from Earlier Versions when you have Multiple Databases
If you used the Database ⇒ Switch Databases option to handle multiple database with version 2.30 or higher of DONATION, then when you switch databases to a different database using version 3.00 or higher, the conversion question will again come up, and you will be able to convert your data from the old database file to the new database file. If your old database filename was (say) DONATION3.ABC, the new one will be DONATION4.ABC.