Simeon 3.x to Simeon 4.0.x Upgrade Notes This document describes the issues involved with upgrading from Simeon 3.x to Simeon 4.0.x. Viewer Associations ----------------- Viewer Associations in Simeon 3.x have been replaced by Helper Applications in Simeon 4.0.x. Simeon 4.0.x does NOT automatically convert V3.x Assocations into V4.0.x Helper Applications. The following paragraphs contain the detailed discussion of the differences between the two, the reasons why we changed to the new format and the tools which have been provided in Simeon 4.0.x to ease the transition from 3.x. There are major differences between Simeon 3.x Association definitions and Simeon 4.0.x Helper Application definitions. The V3.x Association description was based (centered) on the MIME type, whereas V4.0.x Helper Applications is centered on the helper application. As a result, in version 4.0.x, a helper application can act as a viewer for many MIME types, and a particular MIME type may be used for many file types. In practice, there is generally one file type for each MIME type -- but not always. The key motivation for the format change is that the version 4.0.x format makes it much easier to bind with and use operating system provided association information. For example, we can now incorporate Windows application registry databases and Mac Finder databases into our "list of available helper applications" transparently. Version 4 is helper application centric, rather than MIME centric. Following is a pseudo syntax for the option formats that an administrator has to deal with. Version 3.x Association Option Format: Associations.IDList '{' id_list '}' Associations.{assoc_id}.Name string Associations.{assoc_id}.MimeType MIME_major '/' MIME_minor Associations.{assoc_id}.Mac Mac_file_creator '/' Mac_file_type Associations.{assoc_id}.Unix extension '/' Unix_pathname Associations.{assoc_id}.Win extension '/' DOS_pathname Version 4.0.x Association Option Format: Viewers.IDList '{' id_list '}' Viewers.{viewer_id}.Name string Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeList '{' id_list '}' Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.{mime_id}.Name MIME_major '/' MIME_minor Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.{mime_id}.UnixExtensions (extension '/')+ Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.{mime_id}.WinExtensions (extension '/')+ Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.{mime_id}.MacExtensions (Mac_file_type '/')+ Viewers.{viewer_id}.UnixCommand Unix_pathname Viewers.{viewer_id}.WinCommand DOS_pathname Viewers.{viewer_id}.MacCommand Mac_pathname Viewers.{viewer_id}.MacCreator Mac_file_creator Rules for translation from 3.x to 4.0.x Associations.{assoc_id}.Name -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.Name Associations.{assoc_id}.MimeType -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.1.Name Associations.{assoc_id}.Unix -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.1.UnixExtensions -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.UnixCommand Associations.{assoc_id}.Win -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.1.WinExtensions -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.WinCommand Associations.{assoc_id}.Mac -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.MimeType.1.MacExtensions -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.MacCommand -> Viewers.{viewer_id}.MacCreator Note that there is no way to automatically convert between these formats because of the fundamental change to the basis of the format. A program cannot make a decision about what to name the new association, because the v3 associations were named from the MIME type -- not the application. We believe that automatic conversion will lead to confusing configuration for users, and require that they somehow try to "clean up" the results of the conversion. We have instead provided the following alternative mechanisms and work arounds to getting the v3 association information into v4. 1. Simeon v4 supports the concept of an "association wizard". The wizard does two key things to help users manage their associations without having to know too much about file types (extensions) and MIME. First, it will access and merge any operating system association information with the list of defined Simeon associations (either user or sysdflt.tcl defined). This allows Simeon to always present association options that are immediately quite complete in terms of what is available to run on your platform. Secondly, Simeon is capable of learning about new associations by asking for any information it does not have, then remembering that information as new or extended association information in the user's configuration. We believe that this defines a mechanism for "evolving" association information over time, making it much easier and a much less onerous task for users. 2. Modify the shipped sysdflt.tcl to include your favorite site associations in the new format. The new format uses a completely different namespace to keep the two sets of options completely separate. You can quickly generate new sets of association information using the new association management preference dialogue, saving options to a file, then copying the appropriate section back to a site "sysdflt.tcl" file. Note that Simeon 4.0.x does an automatic conversion of any other configuration options that have changed format or semantics from version 3.x. Local Address Books ------------------- Simeon 4.0.x 16 bit will automatically convert version 3.x local address books the first time it accesses them. Once they have been converted, Simeon 3.x will be unable to read them. If you wish to access your version 3.x local address books with the 32 bit version of Simeon 4.0.x, you will have to export them via the 16 bit version first. Note: Local address book formats are platform specific. This means that local address books created by the Win 16 version of Simeon 4.0.x can only be read by Win 16 Simeon 4.0.x. This is true for all platforms: Win16,Win32, Macintosh and Motif. As a result, Win 16 Simeon cannot read local address books created by Win 32 Simeon 4.0.x and vice versa. If you wish to access an address book created on a different platform you must export it into a text file using the address book export utility provided in Simeon and then import it with the new platform version you wish to use. End Simeon 3.x to Simeon 4.0.x Upgrade Notes