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How to move data between versions of SK? 2

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jbuchanangb

Technical User
Jan 14, 2002
41
GB
Hi
We have two offices. In one we have a Win95 PC with SK 2.0. In the other we just installed new PC with Win XP. Systems are not networked. We used to have SK2.0 in both offices, and use Backup and Restore to move data between offices on diskettes. We have installed SK98 OK on the XP machine. When we run BU&R on SK98 to read the files from SK2 it objects on the grounds that it can't find files ISKPGBK.LOG and ISKMLTDK.LOG.
Have looked on diskette. There are LOG files there with similar names but not exactly the same. The MASTER data is being maintained on the SK2 system. The XP system just needs a regular copy for reference.
Any suggestions?
 
Dear jbuchanangb in a a word,Yes

But don't use the backup and restore facility in Sidekick, use WinZip to compress the File onto the Floppy and then unzip the file(s) to a location/Folder and then open it/(them) in SDK98.
Remember when in the Open Dialogue, to specify SDK2 Files in the Files of type Drop Down.

You can Unzip and overwrite a Cardfile that is open in SDK98 as long as it is
(a)opened at the first card and
(b)it has been saved (Ctrl+L)since any alterations were made and
(c)it is not the Active Cardfile (ie it is not the Visible Cardfile).

If any corruption does occur with the Display of that Cardfile when you make it the Active Cardfile again, just close it and then re-open it

If you are transferring WriteFiles or Calendar Files remember to select all the relevant Files that make them up

Important:save all the files in SDK before you use Winzip to BackUp as it won't prompt you like Backup and Restore does.
See the SDK98 manual for the file names and Extensions.
Hope this helps
Regards Jim
 
Further to the previous message:
It would be more efficient to use a backup program like SecondCopy2000 (use Google to find it) and you can set up profiles (Backup Jobs) to do what I described and it only involves a couple of clicks
Do not use the append source path to destination and archive folders
as you end up having paths to paths
Regards Jim
 
Thanks for your help. We're working on it. As the SK files on the SK2 system don't add up to more than 1.4Mb we are using Windows Explorer just to copy files to/from diskette.
Have also downloaded User guides for both SK95 and SK98 and looked at the relevant sections to get the filenames.

Struggling a bit to correctly identify the right files, but confident we will solve it.

Will let you know when sorted.
 
OK Card file successfuly found and transferred.

Calendar found and transferred, but with a problem. The problem is that in SK98 only those appointments occurring during Daylight Saving Time are displayed, and those are all displayed at a time one hour later than the correct time.
None of the appointments during Winter Time are displayed at all.
I have checked the time zone settings on the SK98 system and they are ok. The appointments show the correct time zone, "Western Europe (UK)" which is the right zone for the "Local Time" and "Home Time" for the home city of London, England.

I'm guessing that the settings on the SK2 system must be wrong. How can I go about sorting this out?
 
Dear jbuchanangb,
Are the appointments spread throughout the day including (7am-9pm) or later than that in the evenings?
I just need a bit more information to work on.
Regards Jim.

 
Most of the appointments are regular recurring, and are timed with starts from 9am to 9pm as shown (which is an hour later than should be.) But even the non-recurring events are showing an hour later then they should be. Events are every day of the week. There no events with start times earlier than 9am or later than 9pm.

Days have multiple appointments, I can see as many as six on one day including overlapping appointments.

When I right-click the recurring events, I can edit them as single event, but the "Recurring..." pick is greyed out.

The only events which seem to survive the transition from summer time to winter time are "multi-day" events.

Calendar has got entries in from July 1999 through to September 2002. (But all entries seem to be missing in winter time except the "muti-day" ones)

I'm really puzzled.

John.
 
Dear jbuchanangb,
So am I.
I will do a little research on this, ie Install Sdk2 and try it out.
I have never even used it (the earliest version I used was Sdk95).

The computer you use Sdk2 on, has it got any add-in board that reinterprets Year 2000 dates?.....
Just a stab in the dark that!


I will get back to you, but in the meantime has anyone else out there got any ideas?
Regards Jim
 
Hello James
Appreciate your help. This thing is time zone related for sure, with a twist to do with daylight saving time.
I'm testing this on SK98 in a W98SE environment but the user in the XP environment is reporting everything exactly the same.
He has even tried importing the SK2 calendar data into Outlook XP, and it imported ok, but with the winter appointments missing!
This tells me that the files from SK2 are being misinterpreted by both SK98 and OLXP. So maybe we are missing a data file in the transfer process (?) But nothing is reporting any errors.

I don't think the W95 machine with SK2 has got any wierd Y2K hardware.

Before I became embroiled in this I had not used any version of SK, but I am seeking to assist the end users.

John
 
Dear jbuchanangb,
Recurring Events are not editable in a Global way in SDK98, only individually.
Also and I quote from Starfish:

Calendar data in all versions may reside in up to 9 unique files. The XXXX shown below represents the letters of your initials based on information provided when you installed Sidekick. The XXXX may also reflect the name you assigned a Calendar file.

Calendar files are:

XXXXEVEN.SKW Appointment list data file
XXXXCALL.SKW Call list data file
XXXXALAR.SKW Alarm data file
XXXXTASK.SKW ToDo list data file
XXXXMAST.SKW Goals list data file
XXXXRECR.SKW Recurring Appointment, Call and ToDo data file (Tasks)
XXXXINIT.SKW Calendar initialization data file
XXXXDATA.SKW Multi-day events and Special Days data file
XXXXCSCA.SKW Categories, assigns, call status, and predefined activities data file


(My underline. I feel that this may be the file you are missing)

Go to this address:


See the Opening SKW1 SKW2 SK95 and Sk97 files in SK98

Regards Jim
 
Hello Jim

Thanks again. We have been using the information from the SK95 User Guide to identify the files needed for transfer. This lists EIGHT files.

I have looked at the list you sent and then at the SK98 user guide, which indeed list NINE files, (although the SK98 UG says there are eight before going on to list nine!)

The file we have been omitting to transfer is the

XXXXALAR.SKW

The office isn't open now until Monday, so there will a delay until the users have a chance to try again.

I don't think this saga has finished yet.

John
 
Dear jbuchanangb,
You can open any of these files in notepad if you do not save any changes!!!

It may be a good idea to check the ones from the source machine against the ones from the target machine.
The XXXXINIT.SKW file starts like this on my calendar that has very few entries:

[CalTodo]
LastEditTime=01/25/02
UserID=C:\PROGRAM FILES\STARFISH\INTERNET SIDEKICK\USERDATA\JM
Cal.LT=To Do '<--- these are the positions on screen (my comment)
Cal.LB=Calls
Cal.RT=Appointments
Cal.RB=Viewport
Cal.RL=4500
Cal.RR=5000
Cal.RX=5000


I have added the red color where you may find a difference,
check to see what the last edited Date is on the one in SDK98 and compare to the SDK2, see the SDK FAQ on the Starfish site re: Calendar corruption
Regards Jim
 
Hello Jim

I am trying to get the user to bring me a diskette with the files on from the SK2 system, without tampering with them first.

I just discovered that the diskette I have been looking at so far had been taken to the XP based SK98 system, and then the files were opened DIRECT from the diskette, not copied to the hard drive first. Of course SK98 has modified them. I sussed this out when I looked at the XXXXINIT.SKW file and spotted that the user was A:\CALE

As a consequence I have not been looking at original files.

Hopefully I will get proper files from the user tomorrow, and can look at it again.

Are any other SKW files readable with Notepad?

Regards

John
 
Dear jbuchanangb,

Well all of them are readable in a Text editor (XXXXinit.skw is the only straight text) though they appear to have Binary characters along with the Content, which are replaced in my editor
NotePad Std on opening.

You could use an advanced editor or 'recover text' in Word97/2000 to remove them and treat the rest as Delimited and import them into Access??
Even cardfiles write files and reports are recoverable that way

Just a thought!
 
Well Jim, I think we may be nearly ready to give up.

I got the unsullied SK2 files from the source system, There are seven.

I copied them to c:\temp

I then opened the calendar with SK98 from c:\temp

All the events in winter time except the multi-day events are missing. All the events display 1 hour later then they should, except on March 31, the first day of summer time.
On that date the same event shows with different times in weekly view than in daily view!

I used SK98 Earth Time function to change the time setting of my local time zone so that Daylight Saving time does not apply. The effect of this was that all the events moved to the correct times, but all the winter events are still missing completely.

The user has looked at the SK2 system and tells me that she can't find any time zone functionality. My guess is that there is time zone functionality in SK2, and that the winter time events have some sort of tag on them that SK98 is not recognising, and is therefore not importing the events at all.

Considering that the sidekick data file XXXXEVEN.SKW here is 143Kb in size and contains a very large number of events, as it is used for scheduling the bookings in a church facility with several meeting spaces, we really don't want to abandon all the data and start over with a different PIM system.

I appreciate your patience and willing ness to help. Have you any more suggestions?

Regards

John
 
Dear John,
Send me an email to james.maidment@oceanfree.net and we'll talk a little more conveniently.
Regards Jim
 
For everyone's benefit, this problem was eventually solved with a workaround which is now available in an FAQ in this forum at faq807-1529
 
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