Posted: September 15, 2014 at 6:45 pm
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In preparation for updating from EE3 (3.1.36.5P) to EE4, I’m wondering, precisely, what I need to do to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Besides a full backup of my entire website, I need to know how much I should be backing up manually, ready to re-enter after the update. For instance, I need to know what will automatically survive the update, without any effort from me: General Settings Also, will the Event Categories and the Shortcodes need to be manually re-entered or changed, or will they all get updated automatically? If they need to be updated manually, are there instructions anywhere? I’m also wondering if what I have in My Custom CSS will still be effective: .events.widget { I know this is a lot, but this is my business, and I can’t afford to be without my website (http://www.CPR-TwinCities.com) being functional. So the fewer surprises I encounter, the better. |
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Hi, A promotions system is not currently available in Event Espresso 4. Custom email templates will also not transfer as that has been replaced with the messages system. Also, the following shortcodes are available for Event Espresso 4: https://eventespresso.com/wiki/event-espresso-4-shortcodes/ Other shortcodes will not work with Event Espresso 4. The existing CSS will not apply. You could duplicate your site into a staging/development site and then manually upgrade it there. https://eventespresso.com/wiki/updating-event-espresso/#ee4 — |
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Okay, I’ll lose the promotions codes. That’s okay. But, to be perfectly clear, out of that long list (from General Settings to System Status, I don’t need to do a single thing to prepare other than copy and save my custom emails? Everything else will survive the update without me lifting a finger? Is that true? Are there written instructions on finding and replacing shortcodes? If I were to buy a token to update from EE3 to EE4, how much could we get accomplished in that amount of time (without having to purchase additional tokens)? |
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We not longer upgrade sites in exchange for support tokens. All available shortcodes are on this page: https://eventespresso.com/wiki/event-espresso-4-shortcodes/ If you do not see an existing shortcode on there, then it will not work with Event Espresso 4. — |
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September 16, 2014 at 10:32 am First of all, the link you sent me says this: “Need more help? Purchase a Priority Support Token and get one-on-one support the Event Espresso Staff (additional fee)” So please update your documents so they are accurate. Second, you missed my first question, so please answer it: “Everything else will survive the update without me lifting a finger? Is that true?” Everything else in that long list will transfer over (other than emails and promo codes), without any effort on my part? Third, a followup question about shortcodes. The list of EE4 shortcodes is tiny, compared with the list of EE3 shortcodes. Here are a couple of mine that I must be able to use, or find a simple way to replace: [EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW template_name=”calendar-table” change_title=”Classes” event_category_id=”upcoming-events-1335378101″] [EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW template_name=”calendar-table” change_title=”Classes” event_category_id=”professional-training-1330119554″] What about critical codes like these: [EVENT_ESPRESSO_CATEGORY event_category_id=”pub”] [EVENT_ESPRESSO_CATEGORY event_category_id=”standard-first-aid-1330119395″] As per usual, Lorenzo, I am frustrated by your answers. You always give broad, big picture answers, but I need to ask you to focus on details. |
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September 16, 2014 at 12:09 pm Hi, That article does not have any current restrictions. Try opening it in an alternative web browser: https://eventespresso.com/wiki/event-espresso-4-shortcodes/ Event Espresso 3 and Event Espresso 4 are different software platforms. The software is similar in certain areas but is different other areas including: + new WordPress menus system + Different WordPress screens Any customizations that have been done through CSS will not apply. Any customizations to template files will also not apply as EE4 uses a different codebase. This is why I’ve recommended duplicating the site and running the upgrade. If your expectation is for everything to be the similar after upgrade, then unfortunately that will not happen and you should delay the upgrade and continue using Event Espresso 3. [EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW] for the calendar table template is not available. It uses a template which is not currently available for Event Espresso 4. The following shortcode is available for showing a category of events: [ESPRESSO_EVENTS category_slug=”free-events”] — |
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I keep asking direct, specific, unambiguous, black or white kinds of questions, and I keep getting general, gray answers. Josh, Seth, Garth, anybody else available to help? If so, please start at the top of this discussion and work your way down. |
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Hi John, To explain, EE4 is a vastly different system to EE3, it is not simply an update to Event Espresso but a vastly different system built from the ground up. EE4 Events are custom post types and are styled/templated completely different to EE3 so any custom templates or styling you currently have will not apply to EE4. So to answer your question, No not everything will transfer over, the reason for this is not everything applies to EE4, nor does EE4 support the same features as EE3 (it has more features than EE3 but not the same feature set). Anything from the settings pages that applies to EE4 will be transferred, anything that does not you can not manually re-enter, as it does not exist within EE4. An example for this is Promotional Codes/Groupon codes, none of these will transfer over to EE4 due to the fact that EE4 currently does not support Promo/Groupon codes currently. You Venue’s, Questions, Question Groups, Categories and Calendar Settings should all transfer to EE4. Email Manager – these will not. EE4 uses a vastly different notification system we call the ‘Messages System’, your current templates are not compatible with this system. Template settings will apply were relevant (although that is not many settings due to the reasons mentioned above). None of the custom CSS or styling will apply to EE4. Payment Settings – this depends on which payment gateways you currently use. EE4 supports Auth.net, Paypal and Mijireh (As well of our offline gateways such as Invoice, Check and EFT) Social Media is from the Social Add-on which EE4 does not support although there are sections within EE4 to include your profiles, these will not be transferred to EE4.
The event categories will transfer over. The shortcodes located within the core EE pages (Event Espresso -> General Settings -> Registration Pages) will update to the EE4 equivalents. For example the ‘event-registration’ page (if you have not altered the defaults) will update from [ESPRESSO_EVENTS] to [ESPRESSO_CHECKOUT]. But custom pages containing your own shortcodes, will not update automatically. We currently do not have documentation on manually updating your shortcodes.
Those shortcodes use the Custom Template Add-on for EE3 which is not compatible with EE4, we currently do not have an equivalent Add-on for that specific shortcode.
These can be replaced with [ESPRESSO_EVENTS category_slug=”*Categroy_slug*”], so in this example [ESPRESSO_EVENTS category_slug=”pub”] As Lorenzo mentioned, we recommend creating a duplicate of the site locally (using a plugin such as Duplicator make this easier) and migrating to EE4 there rather than on Live site. This way you can see how EE4 will work on your site, adjust how you display the events to suit EE4 and work from there. It is also possible that now is not the right time for you to update to EE4, it depends entirely on your event requirements. For example EE4 does not support Promo codes, Ticketing or Member Only events currently (to name a few widely used features of EE3), if you require any of that functionality I would recommend you stay with EE3 until EE4 includes those. If you have any further questions just let us know. |
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September 17, 2014 at 12:58 pm Now that’s what I call an answer! Piece by piece, you answered my questions. Thanks for stepping in, Tony (and sorry for leaving you off my go-to list above). I like what you said here, as it’s crystal clear: “Anything from the settings pages that applies to EE4 will be transferred, anything that does not you can not manually re-enter, as it does not exist within EE4.” Regarding your statement about email (“Email Manager – these will not. EE4 uses a vastly different notification system we call the ‘Messages System’, your current templates are not compatible with this system.”), I’m assuming that I should at least copy and save my existing auto-responses in EE3 to use again in the “Messages System” of EE4. Is that true? As for my example of [EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW template_name=”calendar-table” change_title=”Classes” event_category_id=”professional-training-1330119554″] (which looks like this on the website: http://www.cpr-twincities.com/community/bls), is there no way to do this anymore in EE4? It doesn’t need to look identical to that, but it needs to have the same information and ability to register for a class from this page. What are the chances that Event Espresso will be creating documentation on manually updating shortcodes? That sure would be helpful for those of us who are dragging our feet in upgrading. It’s quite possible that I’m making a mountain out of mole hill. But with no clear-cut “In EE3 you did it X way and in EE4 you do it Y way” instructions, I get pretty nervous about taking on the task. Thank you, Tony! John |
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Hi John, The emails in EE3 use different shortcodes than they did in EE4. It might help to use your emails from EE3 as a reference, but that’s all they’d be, a reference. EE4 email messages take a bit more time to set up, but they look nicer and let you do more. There currently isn’t an EE4 equivalent calendar table plugin, but the regular event table template is now available and would allow for displaying classes in a table format. Here’s a link for more info on the new ee4 table: https://eventespresso.com/wiki/ee4-events-table-view-template/ If you like how the calendar table template displays more info, we’ll have something for you when it’s ready. The Event Espresso 4 shortcode documentation covers which shortcodes can be converted over from Event Espresso 3 can be found here: https://eventespresso.com/wiki/event-espresso-4-shortcodes/#convert-ee3 |
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September 18, 2014 at 10:35 am Josh, thanks for joining the conversation. With great assistance from my web host (Bluehost), I now have a duplicate site set up, and I’ve updated that site to EE4. I know it took me a while (a long while) to accept the fact that that was the way to go. So thanks for encouraging me to take that step. I’ve taken the full tour and I can now see how alike and how different it is to operate EE4. I can see that I have a bit of a learning curve and that it’s going to take a while to get my new site looking as good (or better than) my old site. So it’s great that I can do that out of sight of my customers and not disrupt business (except for my time) in the meantime. I’m sure I’ll need more of your help along the way. As for your info on emails in EE4, Josh, the templates sure look complicated. And I’ll bet they’re not, really. So do you have any handy-dandy documentation on how they work? ~ John |
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September 18, 2014 at 12:36 pm Hi John, You’ll find Messages related documentation articles from our main documentation page under “Menu Guide”. https://eventespresso.com/support/documentation/versioned-docs/?doc_ver=ee4 They start with the term: “Messages System:” The Messages System documentation is broken up into 5 articles. |
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Thanks for the link to info about Messages, Josh. I’m currently experimenting with shortcode to display all — or just some — classes. I’ve looked the links you sent, yet nothing I’m trying is working, so please let me know how to replace these EE3 codes: http://www.cpr-twincities.com/community/choose: [EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW template_name=”calendar-table” change_title=”Classes” event_category_id=”upcoming-events-1335378101″] http://www.cpr-twincities.com/community/bls: [EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW template_name=”calendar-table” change_title=”Classes” event_category_id=”professional-training-1330119554″] If you could give me more than one code for these two views (such as a table view and other options available in EE4), that would be helpful in choosing what works best for me. It doesn’t need to look identical to what I currently have. But what I’m getting through random experimentation (based on the pages you sent me) is resulting in gibberish. |
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Hi John, I’m afraid that the calendar table add-on isn’t available for EE4 yet. In the meantime, you can use the built in event list shortcode, which for your site looks like: [ESPRESSO_EVENTS title=”Classes” category_slug=”upcoming-events-1335378101″] [ESPRESSO_EVENTS title=”Classes” category_slug=”professional-training-1330119554″] You’ll want to double check that category slug in the category manager just in case the slug was modified too. If you install the Event Table template add-on for EE4 (available as a separate add-on) the equivalent shortcode you could use is: [ESPRESSO_EVENTS_TABLE_TEMPLATE category_slug=”upcoming-events-1335378101″] Important note: You’ll need to install the table template add-on for EE4 in order to use the above shortcode. |
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I have no idea why (because I’m pretty sure I’ve tried them before), but these two are now working: [ESPRESSO_EVENTS title=”Classes” category_slug=”upcoming-events-1335378101″] Thank you for getting me this much. I have the table template v1.1. Any idea when the EE4 version will be released? Or is it already out? I’m assuming that I won’t need to pay again, right? |
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Hi John, The Calendar table add-on is not released for EE4 as of right now. It needs to be finished up before it will be released. I’m working on a few of the tickets that are left, and it’s been run through our testing it will be released. I’m not sure about whether you’ll need to buy the new add-on or not, but you can contact someone from the sales department and they can help you with that one. You can contact them here: |
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I look forward to seeing it. I assume that there’ll be an email announcement when it’s released. Maybe I’ll get a chance to play around with Messages tomorrow. So please keep this discussion open. Thanks, again! |
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Hi, Josh. Finally getting to play with “messages.” I clicked on your link and found some information, but not five articles. For starters, here’s what I’m trying to accomplish. In EE3, I have an auto-response to people who have just signed up. I’ve generically named it:
The email subject line is:
Then there’s this copy:
Can you lead me to where and how I’d re-create such an auto-response, and what changes in the code I’d need to make it work in EE4? I think if I have help with that custom response, I should be able to figure out how to create more afterward. In a related question, if a response doesn’t automatically get sent to me after someone signs up (with answers to all of the questions they’re required asked), please tell me how to set that up, too. Speaking of questions asked of registrants, I want to set it so that I require information about each of the people signing up, not just the primary registrant. How do I make that change? ~ John |
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Hi John,
Within the Event Editor you can select the message groups to be used for both the Primary Attendee and any Additional Attendee’s – http://take.ms/RR5oR Personal information is required for the Primary Attendee, all other question groups are optional. So just tick the groups you would like to require and updated the event. In relation to your messages, we’ll need to know a little more about how your events are set up so we advise you on this although generally you’ll want to edit the ‘Registration Approved’ message as (depending on your default registration status setting) this is the message sent when the attendee has registered and paid for the event. If you go to Event Espresso -> Messages. You’ll find a list of message types, the templates in use and the ‘contexts‘ for each message. There you will find the ‘Registration Approved’ message type, you’ll need to edit the ‘Registrant’ context for that message to include your custom text. (You’ll notice a list of available shortcodes for each section within the sidebar.
This should work this way be default although again depends on your default registration status as to when this message is sent. |
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Getting back to working on my primary “message” to registrants. Here’s what I think I’ve done correctly so far: Registrant: Primary Registrant I’ve placed my logo in the header. Beyond that, I’m at a loss for what code to use where. The following attendee(s) have registered for the following event: [I want it to say the primary attendee, as well as any secondary attendees, if any] After that, I want to place the copy I used before in EE3 (see post above), including the code (or its equivalent, if it has changed in EE4). I have no need for an attendee list, ticket list or daytime list (unless the code I used won’t work here). I don’t know about the question list. Isn’t that handled elsewhere? So, as you can see, I really need your help in setting up this auto-response to registrants to work as before. Okay, that’s one subject. Here’s another: Will I automatically receive notification of each registration (as in EE3)? Or does that need to be manually changed, too? |
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This part of the message:
Can be handled within the ‘Registration Pending Payment’ message, I would place the text after the [EVENT_LIST] shortcode, like so – http://take.ms/wehZZ (altering the text slightly to fit. For the registration approved message, to make sure we are editing the correct message context we need to ask, if multiple attendees are registered do you want the registration confirmation emails to go to only go to the Primary Registrant? Or if not do you want the Primary Attendee to receive different information from any other attendees (other than their personal details entered)?
By default the Event Admin (the user that created the event) will receive a message when the ‘Registration Pending Payment’ and ‘Registration Approved’ message types are triggered. If you go to Event Espresso -> Messages. Look at your message template list, under ‘Recipients’ you’ll see multiple links for each message type. If the link is blue then that message context is active, if it is grey it is not, meaning that message type does not send a message to that context when triggered. So if we look here – http://take.ms/ZiTmQ We can see the Event Admin context is mentioned for the message types I mentioned above. |
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