Accessing Older SuperPro (User) Databases

When upgrading to a new version of the software some of the databanks’ structure(s) contained in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database (i.e. the database tables) most probably have been upgraded as well. You know that the database’s version has changed if the file name has changed. If you have populated your ‘SuperPro (User)’ databanks with lots of entries (components, mixtures, sites, equipment, vendors, etc.) chances are you need to gain access to that data from your new SuperPro Designer version. You can gain access to the data contained in your old ‘SuperPro (User)’ database file by adopting one of the following two options:

A. Upgrading all ‘SuperPro (User)’ Database content...

If you want to make the entire contents of the previous ‘SuperPro (User)’ database file available to the new version, then the process is very simple. First make a copy of the previous ‘SuperPro (User)’ database file (for backup purposes). Then, simply use the Databases: Availability Password & Locations Dialog and force the newest version of SuperPro Designer to use the old ‘SuperPro (User)’ database file. That’s it. The file will be automatically converted to the latest format and all the contained databanks will be available for immediate use in your future projects. It is recommended that you change the name of the new database file in a way that is reminiscent of its version number in order not be confused in the future with the file used by the previous version.

B. Upgrading Selected ‘SuperPro (User)’ Database content...

If you want to make only portions of the data in the old ‘SuperPro (User)’ database file available to the new version of SuperPro Designer, then you should use the Import Data from Another SuperPro (User) DB File Dialog (see Importing Data from Another SuperPro DB). Please note that data importing is a very sensitive process that could fail if it creates conflicts with data preexisting in the databank, e.g. if it attempts to import a component that already exists in the new databank. Users are warned for such conflicts and if the number of failures exceeds a limit, the transfer process is aborted. Therefore, it is highly recommended that this process be executed when the destination ‘SuperPro (User)’ database is still fairly empty (ideally, right after installation of a new release of SuperPro Designer). Some entities (e.g. site descriptions including their resources such as labor types, heat transfer agents, etc.) cannot be imported currently with this method. For this reason or if you have extensive data in the above databanks, it is recommended that you upgrade the entire ‘SuperPro (User)’ database file (option (a) above).