Upgraded to win7

[asutcliff]

Hi Tony,

I've recently updated my PC to win7 (dual-booting at present). Can I copy my old page headings, standard loads & notes etc. to the new installation in win7, or do I have to re-enter everything?

[Tony Bryer]

Originally Posted by asutcliff

Can I copy my old page headings, standard loads & notes etc. to the new installation in win7, or do I have to re-enter everything?

If you count yourself reasonably computer literate, you can copy the data over. Selecting Configuration, Information on the installed program you want to copy from will show you where the program settings (including headings) are stored - usually two files each called SDA_Apps.ini in different folders. The standard notes are stored in a separate file, usually called StdNotes.sbps.

The standard notes file is the easy one: note the file name and location in the current version and on the newly installed version. You need to copy the first file over to replace the second one and when you restart the newly installed version it should show your set of notes.

Transferring headings etc involves editing the Program Settings ini file. Ini files are text files so can be loaded into Windows Notepad or any other text editor. The format is simple, a section header name in square brackets and then a series of key and value pairs. Most of the program settings are in a section headed [SuperBeam 4] or [ProSteel 5]. Available heading templates are listed in a section headed [Headings] and then listed in the format TemplateName=H_TemplateName, e.g.

[Headings]
Greentram=H_Greentram

There will then be a section headed (in this case) [H_Greentram] which contains about 50 lines with the fonts, text etc. Transferring the heading involves copying the entire (in this example) H_Greentram header and lines from the old file, pasting it into the corresponding file for the newly installed copy, also adding the necessary line into the [Headings] section as above. If none of this makes any sense to you, then don't try it.

The alternative quick and dirty method is to go into the newly installed version, select the Configuration, Information option and print the sheet for reference. Then exit the program and replace the entire Program Settings ini file (name and folder as per CI printout) with the corresponding file from the old program. When you restart the program you may get one or more error messages about missing files: select Configuration, User Setup, correct the corresponding entry on the File Names and Locations page, then exit and restart.

Apologies if the above is somewhat convoluted: it rather suggests that we need to add an easier way to migrate settings from one computer to another - no promises but I have added this to the wish list.

[asutcliff]

Thanks Tony, worked a treat. The only thing that went temporarily wrong was that the program asked if I wanted to overwrite the settings file once I'd changed the file location & it put the old values onto the new file. Should have read the prompt box more carefully. All is fine now though, thanks for the help

Andy