KBEC-00166 - Importing procedures from newer Flow versions

Summary

PLEASE DO NOT IMPORT PRODUCTION DATA directly from a later version to an earlier version by patching out the version string.

There is no way to predict the effects of it.

Even if it appears to work, there could be latent problems resulting from Flow schema changes. It is not designed for and it is not tested and there is no explicit record kept of what is incompatible between releases.

Solution

• Set up a test server with the Flow version you are attempting the import.
• Change the version export stamp of the exported file XML file to the version of the target test machine.
• Import the newer exported XML on the test server.
• Verify the imported procedure on the test server.
• Export the procedure from the test server.
• To be doubly sure, you can reimport the test export into the test server, verify it again, and re-export it. After this second cycle, it is extremely unlikely for there to be any unexpected problems.
• Import the properly versioned export into the production server.

Example

The development server is 6.0.2 and the production server is 5.0.5

• Set up a 5.0.5 test server.
• After changing the export XML to match the 5.0.5 version, import the XML file into the 5.0.5 test server.
• Test that the procedure works.
• Export from the 5.0.5 test server
• Import test server 5.0.5 XML into the production 5.0.5 Commander Server

Notes

• This technique is used for bootstrapping self generating code (like compiling a compiler) starting with an external generator