I have inherited an application from a previous developer that utilized StrataFrame. I have all of the source code for all of the SF modules.



I do not have access to the SF installer version they used previously (trying to get it).



I need a little advice/guidance on how to get SF installed (so that I can access its features through VS2005) but also incorporate the existing SF source files I have to keep all of the work that has been done.



Thanks,



Jason

A couple of things here.  I noticed that you just signed up for a trial account.  You will really want to get your license details ironed out if you are taking over that persons license or if you intend to purchase a license on which you will work.  The trial will work in regards to getting you going, but depending on the version of SF that your app is currently using, you may need to take that into account.  Also, you do not get source code until you have purchased SF.  So this goes back to my initial statement in regards to your license.

It would obviously be my recommendation to get the most recent build of SF as there has been a lot of new features, enhancements, fixes, etc. even between our 1.6.5 and 1.6.6 builds.

Okay, thanks, but that doesn't really address my questions.



The company I am contracting for is working on getting the licenses worked out (they have 4 now). So that will not be an issue. The licenses they have include source code.



The concern I have is that if I install the latest build, how will I propagate the existing work that has been done into the new installation?

Jason, I really don't totally understand your question.  Are you talking about your install or the StrataFrame install?  If you are referring to StrataFrame, then all you need to do is download the latest 1.6.6 beta (highly recommended) as it is a supported build and you can get the source for this build through the My Account area.  Once loaded, depending on the version of SF that you are currently using, you may or may not have any build errors.  We try to make everything backward compatible, so you more than likely will not have any issues once the new update is loaded.

If that is not what you were referring to then please provide more information.  Thanks.

okay, i have a project developed using SF but I don't have SF on my machine. I have since installed it and opened the legacy project (using a previous version of SF).



The problem I am facing is that none of the BusinessObjects are mapped, etc. None of the previous SF configuration that made my legacy application work correctly is present (because I am using a fresh install of SF).



How do I resolve this? I need to be able to open the legacy project and modify the SF configuration (i.e., object mapping, etc.).



Thanks,



Jason

Additionally, although I have the original SF sourcecode (which I am not sure how I will need to use given that I have installed a newer version of SF on my machine) do I also need the SF databases from the original project as well (to restore to my local db for use in the new SF installation)?



Thanks,



Jason

Hey Jason.

Unless for learning or debugging purposes, you won't need the SF source code right now to continue the development from where it stopped. Of course, if you guys have a current subscription, you can just download the beta installer (latest version) and then go to the "My Account" area and download the source code for your convinience. For that, you will probably need to ask the company that bought SF for a valid username and password.

It is really important that you get to know the structure in which SF bases its functionality. And having I said that, you do need access to the SF database, which probably already exists there somewhere on your company installation. You will want to have that to continue the work from now on.

First of all, you will want to get the StrataFrame database from the people who mapped this project.  This is where all of the mappings reside for the BOs, etc.  Otherwise you will have to recreate the mappings.

Once you get this, just load the new SF update and it will update the structures.  If you cannot get the original StrataFrame database, then you will still need to load the update and allow the StrataFrame database to be created, but at this point, you will have to manually map the BOs to their source manually.

That is exactly the information I needed. We are on the hunt for that database (as I figured we would need it for all the mappings).



In the event that I can't get that database, what is the procedure for re-creating the mappings?



Thanks,



Jason

Recreating the Bo mappings is pretty straight forward, though it can be time consuming depending on how large your project is (so lets hope you can find that database ).

There are more in depth descriptions of this in the help file, but just to give you a point in the right direction:

1) Open your project within visual studio.

2) Select "Business Object Mapper" from the StrataFrame menu

3) Click on your project under the "Available Projects" tree on the left pane and select the "Configure Project" link on the right.

4) If you had your StrataFrame database present and mapped, you would be able to select your project from the "Choose Project" list, if not, you will need to create a new one by clicking New....

5) Give a project name and Database type. The Database Deployment Toolkit can be used to define these structures, but that is housed within the StrataFrame database as well (and as such would have to be re-created before mapping the BOs in the event that you lost the StrataFrame database.)  If you are using a different database type, just select it from the radio group and provide the appropriate connection information.

6) Once the project is defined, select the first business object, click "Configure Business Object", and give it the associated table.

7) Rinse and repeat for the remaining business objects, then click Rebuild All

The issue here is that you may not know where any advanced options were used. It goes without saying that finding that StrataFrame database would be miles simpler and more reliable than trying to rebuild all of this information after the fact.