Hi all.

We are studying the possibility of upgrading our platform from Pureconnect 2016R3 to 2018R1. The only doubt we have is regarding handlers since we have many customized handlers and a few modified system handlers. Does anybody know if the upgrade should be seamless? Any major issues? Any recommendations?

I come from a PureEngage world where upgrading Genesys had very minor impact on strategies (the equivalent of handlers), but perhaps ININ products behave differently.

TIA

#handler #upgrade #customization 

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------
​​​

My concern here is when you state " a few modified system handlers." This is a BIG no-no and for this very reason!

The correct way to use custom handlers is to use the built-in Customization Points (these are all the Subroutines that begin with the word "Custom".) These do not get overwritten by upgrades. If one doesn't exist at the point where you absolutely have to have one, then open a Support ticket and, if they agree to the need for one at that location, one will be added.

I assume you have a development / test environment? My advice would be to upgrade this first and then thoroughly test. (To be fair, if it were me, I'd be doing this anyway....) If you have a list of the System Handlers that have been modified, you might be able to check the release notes to see if any of them are affected.

Finally, get a project approved to move the modifications into Cutsomization points so that you don't have this problem next time.

As mentioned earlier modifying system handlers can get you in trouble when it comes to upgrade but you can mitigate this risk with a little work. Do you have your customized handlers documented so you know which ones have been modified? If you do then great, this should not be too bad. Check the list of handlers that are published and see if any of your system handlers will be overwritten, if they have been then when you apply the update to your dev server you will need to add your customization back into the updated system handler. While you are at it make sure you document what this change does, and its always a good idea to confirm you still need the customization. Doing this documentation will help you ensure you don't miss something with an upgrade and make the next time you do this easier.

Handler Diff is your best friend for stuff like this. Before I upgrade a server I always compare the x:\i3\ic\server\handler folder vs the x:\i3\ic\handlers\40Handlers with handler diff to identify ALL handlers that have been customized. Note this is assuming someone hasn't messed with the 40Handlers folder. Couple things to mention too you may want to deselect "HANDLER_FILE_SIZE_DIFFERENT" and "HANDLER_NOTES_DIFFERENT" as I have found that sometimes the file size is a couple bytes different or the handler notes have "auto published" in the notes which does not seem to always be populated.

As a final clean up process before I modify the new system handler with my customization I always double check the system handlers to see if I can move the customization into a customization point. The benefit of moving to a customization point is that customization points don't normally get republished on upgrades so you won't have to add your customization back into system handlers for the upgrade again.


------------------------------
Mark Tatera
ConvergeOne

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer. Any suggestions or programming changes I suggest come with no warranty and should be tried at your own risk.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 07:16
From: Paul Simpson
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

My concern here is when you state " a few modified system handlers." This is a BIG no-no and for this very reason!

The correct way to use custom handlers is to use the built-in Customization Points (these are all the Subroutines that begin with the word "Custom".) These do not get overwritten by upgrades. If one doesn't exist at the point where you absolutely have to have one, then open a Support ticket and, if they agree to the need for one at that location, one will be added.

I assume you have a development / test environment? My advice would be to upgrade this first and then thoroughly test. (To be fair, if it were me, I'd be doing this anyway....) If you have a list of the System Handlers that have been modified, you might be able to check the release notes to see if any of them are affected.

Finally, get a project approved to move the modifications into Cutsomization points so that you don't have this problem next time.

------------------------------
Paul Simpson
Senior Technical Instructor

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 06:17
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Hi all.

We are studying the possibility of upgrading our platform from Pureconnect 2016R3 to 2018R1. The only doubt we have is regarding handlers since we have many customized handlers and a few modified system handlers. Does anybody know if the upgrade should be seamless? Any major issues? Any recommendations?

I come from a PureEngage world where upgrading Genesys had very minor impact on strategies (the equivalent of handlers), but perhaps ININ products behave differently.

TIA

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------

Thx Paul & Mark for your answers.

I understand from your answers that if we have only used "Customization points" to adapt custom handlers then we are safe. Would like to point out that thoroughly testing 150 custom handlers is simply not feasible. Tend to think that if the handler gets published without any warnings or errors then it should be working as expected (and tested with the previous version).

In the case of the system handlers it seems that these require ultra-special attention. OK.

Any other suggestions or tips are welcome.

Once more, thank you very much for helping me. Greatly appreciated.


------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 06:17
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Hi all.

We are studying the possibility of upgrading our platform from Pureconnect 2016R3 to 2018R1. The only doubt we have is regarding handlers since we have many customized handlers and a few modified system handlers. Does anybody know if the upgrade should be seamless? Any major issues? Any recommendations?

I come from a PureEngage world where upgrading Genesys had very minor impact on strategies (the equivalent of handlers), but perhaps ININ products behave differently.

TIA

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------

One more thing, which you may already know. After the upgrade its a good idea to re-publish all your customized handlers, which you can do as a batch.

Open a admin Command Prompt and browse to the folder containing your custom handlers and run the following 2 commands:

Dir /b *.ihd >publishlist.lst
idu /publish:publishlist.lst

------------------------------
Scott Williams
Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 11:50
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Thx Paul & Mark for your answers.

I understand from your answers that if we have only used "Customization points" to adapt custom handlers then we are safe. Would like to point out that thoroughly testing 150 custom handlers is simply not feasible. Tend to think that if the handler gets published without any warnings or errors then it should be working as expected (and tested with the previous version).

In the case of the system handlers it seems that these require ultra-special attention. OK.

Any other suggestions or tips are welcome.

Once more, thank you very much for helping me. Greatly appreciated.


------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 06:17
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Hi all.

We are studying the possibility of upgrading our platform from Pureconnect 2016R3 to 2018R1. The only doubt we have is regarding handlers since we have many customized handlers and a few modified system handlers. Does anybody know if the upgrade should be seamless? Any major issues? Any recommendations?

I come from a PureEngage world where upgrading Genesys had very minor impact on strategies (the equivalent of handlers), but perhaps ININ products behave differently.

TIA

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------

Handy tip Scott. Thx.

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 12:01
From: Scott Williams
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

One more thing, which you may already know. After the upgrade its a good idea to re-publish all your customized handlers, which you can do as a batch.

Open a admin Command Prompt and browse to the folder containing your custom handlers and run the following 2 commands:

Dir /b *.ihd >publishlist.lst
Idu /publish:publishlist.lst

------------------------------
Scott Williams
Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 11:50
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Thx Paul & Mark for your answers.

I understand from your answers that if we have only used "Customization points" to adapt custom handlers then we are safe. Would like to point out that thoroughly testing 150 custom handlers is simply not feasible. Tend to think that if the handler gets published without any warnings or errors then it should be working as expected (and tested with the previous version).

In the case of the system handlers it seems that these require ultra-special attention. OK.

Any other suggestions or tips are welcome.

Once more, thank you very much for helping me. Greatly appreciated.


------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 06:17
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Hi all.

We are studying the possibility of upgrading our platform from Pureconnect 2016R3 to 2018R1. The only doubt we have is regarding handlers since we have many customized handlers and a few modified system handlers. Does anybody know if the upgrade should be seamless? Any major issues? Any recommendations?

I come from a PureEngage world where upgrading Genesys had very minor impact on strategies (the equivalent of handlers), but perhaps ININ products behave differently.

TIA

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------

You will still want to double check the customization points. Although rare I have seen customization point input/output parameters change between versions. But at mentioned this typically doesn't happen so you should be good.

One last note on custom handlers. If the handler is completely custom, meaning it is a completely new subroutine, it should be fine on the upgrade as the upgrade script will only publish subroutines that come with the system. However, for instance CustomSubroutineInitatorRouter is the subroutine you would call a custom handler from attendant so it is possible that CustomSubroutineInitatorRouter could be modified and you would need to reassociate your custom handlers.

In regards to tool steps they sometimes change but I don't think I have seen one change since the code base was changed to 4.0 so you should be fine there.

I hope you are testing the upgrade in a non-prod environment before upgrading which if there are quirky behavior you should see it there. Obviously based on how you use the system you probably won't be able to test everything but if the majority of the system works that is a pretty good indicator that the system is OK.

------------------------------
Mark Tatera
ConvergeOne

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer. Any suggestions or programming changes I suggest come with no warranty and should be tried at your own risk.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 11:50
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Thx Paul & Mark for your answers.

I understand from your answers that if we have only used "Customization points" to adapt custom handlers then we are safe. Would like to point out that thoroughly testing 150 custom handlers is simply not feasible. Tend to think that if the handler gets published without any warnings or errors then it should be working as expected (and tested with the previous version).

In the case of the system handlers it seems that these require ultra-special attention. OK.

Any other suggestions or tips are welcome.

Once more, thank you very much for helping me. Greatly appreciated.


------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.

Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2018 06:17
From: Juan Antonio Ortega
Subject: Upgrades: any impact on handlers?

Hi all.

We are studying the possibility of upgrading our platform from Pureconnect 2016R3 to 2018R1. The only doubt we have is regarding handlers since we have many customized handlers and a few modified system handlers. Does anybody know if the upgrade should be seamless? Any major issues? Any recommendations?

I come from a PureEngage world where upgrading Genesys had very minor impact on strategies (the equivalent of handlers), but perhaps ININ products behave differently.

TIA

------------------------------
Juan Antonio Ortega
Datapoint Iberica S.A.
------------------------------