PREREQUISITES

SPC Office Buddy 3.4

INTRODUCTION

This article discusses converting SPC Office Buddy 3.4 to 4.0. Generally conversion consists of installation and conversion of settings. If you are planning to use SQL Server as your database type, make sure to convert your existing QCC files using the file converter. See the "Upgrading QC-CALC to Version 4.0" related article for instructions on this.

STEPS

Installation

This involves installing the software and copying all settings from your previous version.

1. Install SPC Office Buddy 4.0 on the same PC as SPC Office Buddy 3.x if possible. If not possible, skip to "Copying Settings Manually" section below.
2. On first run of Buddy, a message will appear saying SPC Office Buddy 3.x was detected and offer you an opportunity to copy your settings forward. Choose Yes to keep your previous version's settings and use them with 4.0. Buddy will copy all settings and related files from 3.4 and use them going forward.
3. If you are using SQL Server as the database type, choose Tools > Options > Data Storage. Choose MS SQL Server from the Data Storage Type list and enter your connection path into the 4 fields on the Data Storage screen.
   

Copying Settings Manually

1. Shut down any previous version of the software that is running. This will ensure you are not writing to the settings files as they are being copied.
2. Copy the following files from the old version's directory (i.e. c:\Prolink\SPC Office Buddy 3.4\) to the new directory (i.e. c:\ProgramData\Prolink\SPC Office Buddy 4.0\). Due to Microsoft's software requirements there are two new directories in SPC Office Buddy 4.0; the ProgramData directory and the Users\Public directory.

The directories are typically the ones below unless you installed SPC Office Buddy in a different directory than the default. In this case, the lowest folder will differ slightly in name.

ProgramData directory: C:\ProgramData\Prolink\SPC Office Buddy 4.0

Users\Public directory: C:\Users\Public\Prolink\QSPC Office Buddy 4.0

• AskValues.ini

• SPC Office Buddy.ini
• SPC Office Buddy-WindowSettings.ini
• Update.ini

Copy the following files to the Users\Public directory:

• \ExcelJobs folder
• \Template folder
• \Report folder

Changes

Due to the different settings and data storage options, there are some things that need to be fixed in order for you to run your old Batch and Excel Jobs.

• Excel Jobs may be pointed at folders that are in the 3.4 area. We have supplied variables for the template and output locations, but most people were not aware these variables existed. This means your Excel Jobs are probably hard coded to look for the template in a specific folder. If this folder is located on a file server, then you do not have to do anything, but we recommend editing your Jobs to use the variables anyway.
  
  The [default_template] variable will use the Default Template Folder set in the Tools > Options > Excel Jobs area and [default_report] corresponds to the Default Report Folder. For example "[default_template]Sample_template.xls" would use the template folder location and the name of the template to find would be "sample_template.xls".
  
  Using these variables means that changing your Excel Jobs to a new server is as easy as changing the settings in the Tools > Options > Excel Jobs area.
  
• Record Filters from the 3.4 version were written and stored in a completely different format than is used in 4.0 and there is not a converter available. If you have any Record Filters used in your Batch Jobs, you will need to recreate these in the new system and choose the new filter within your Batch Jobs.
  
• Like Record Filters, Characteristic Filters will also need to be recreated and used from your Batch Jobs.
  
• Batch Jobs have paths to QCC files within them and will be remapped to the same QCQ files when copied. If the path to the QCC file in each step of each batch job is QC-CALC 3.x's installation path, the path will be updated to the QC-CALC 4.0's installation path assuming the QCQ file has been converted. This does NOT apply if you are using SQL Server. With SQL Server, you will need to remap your Batch Jobs to the correct part files after cnversion.