Upgrading Symbol Factory .NET Version 1.x to Version 2.0

Upgrading from Symbol Factory .NET Version 1.x to Version 2.0 is possible; however, you must follow a careful process that we outline in this FAQ.

You will need a valid license for Symbol Factory.NET 2.x in order to perform this upgrade, and you will need to first upgrade to version 2.0.0.221 and then to the most current version. Contact our sales team for a quote for a Version 2.x license first. 

DO NOT install the latest version newer than 2.0.0.221 without first going through the process on this page first. Once you have purchased a version 2.x license, our team can provide the intermediary version 2.0.0.221 installer that you will need. 

Backup First

Upgrading Process

• Upgrade to Version 2.0.0.221 using the instructions on this page
• Backup your project
• Perform the physical upgrade
• Change the new Symbol Factory Configuration file. See if you need to do this.
• Perform the steps listed below on this page.
• Backup your project again to a DIFFERENT location
• Test test and test. Ensure your project is working right
• If you made any changes, backup your project again to a different folder
• Upgrade to Version 2.0.0.238 from 2.0.0.221 using the process using the Version 2.0.0.238 Upgrade FAQ

 Upgrading from V1.x to V2.0.

1. You need to have the latest  version of 1.x installed first before you upgrade to Version 2.0. To determine the version of Symbol Factory .NET you currently have installed, do the following:
   • Open up any project that uses Symbol Factory .NET.
   • Go into Design Mode, right-click on any Symbol Factory component, and select "Symbol Factory .NET Properties" from the pop-up menu.
   • Click on the "Style" tab.
   • Click on the "About" button. The latest version will be located at the top of the screen.
   • If it is not Version 1.1.0.452, then please first upgrade to that version before you attempt to upgrade to Version 2.0. You can download that version from here.
2. Once you are certain that your current Version 1.x Symbol Factory .NET is at Version 1.1.0.452, you may now proceed to run the Symbol Factory .NET Version 2.0 installation package. This will install the latest version as a separate .NET assembly.

Post-installation upgrade.

For each project that you developed with Version 1.x, you will need to do the following:

1. Open up your project.
2. Remove any old references to Symbol Factory .NET. You can do this by expanding the "References" section of your project and selecting each of the references below. To select multiple ones at the same time, hold down the "ctrl" key while clicking on each reference. Finally, hit the "Delete" key to remove the references.
3. Add in the references to Symbol Factory .NET Version 2.0. To do this:
   • Right-click on the References section of your solution, and select "Add Reference".
   • Select the .NET tab on the Add Reference dialog box, and select the four assemblies for Symbol Factory .NET. We suggest sorting the list by "Path" in order to see all the references in one place. You can sort by clicking on the "Path" column header in the dialog box.
     
     Make certain that the listing is for Version is "2.x.x.x", where "x.x.x" can be any combination of numbers. If the version is anything other than "2.x.x.x", click on Cancel, exit Visual Studio, and run the installation program again. Please contact us for further assistance if needed.
     
     Otherwise, select each of the four components listed above by holding down the "Ctrl" key and clicking on each component. Finally, click OK. The components will be added to your project.
4. Rebuild the project by selecting "Build ⇒ Rebuild Solution" from you Visual Studio Menu.
5. You will get some errors pertaining to Symbol Factory .NET enumerations. These errors are expected, since the locations of the Symbol Factory .NET enumerations changed from Version 1 to Version 2. The error will look like this:
   
   The name 'BandStyleOptions' does not exist in the current context.
   
   Open up each file affected by these errors and add either the "using" statement (for C#) or the "Imports" statement (for VB) at the beginning of you code. This will tell Visual Studio where to find the enumerations for Version 2.0.
   
   (VB) Imports SymbolFactoryNetEngine
   (C#) using SymbolFactoryNetEngine;
   
   Rebuild the project once again to check your work.

6. Finally, open up the designer, select any Symbol Factory object on your form, open the Symbol Factory .NET properties for that object, then click OK. This will re-compile the behind code for the Designer and complete the upgrade.

7. Rebuild, and run. Your project will now be fully converted.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Change the new Symbol Factory .NET Configuration File

If you have symbols that are both Rotated 90 or 270 degrees and Flipped, you will notice a change in your project in how the symbols are displayed. This is because the order that Symbol Factory .NET version 1 flipped and rotated the object differed from the original Symbol Factory versions. This has been corrected in Version 2.0.

If you do not have any symbols both Rotated 90 or 270 degrees and Flipped, then there is no need to create or change this configuration file.

In Version 1, the default behavior of the control was to rotate the symbol then flip. However, older versions of Symbol Factory flipped the symbol first then rotated. If you had rotated the symbol either 90 or 270 degrees, then the results were different. The New Default Operation for Symbol Factory Version 2 is now changed to Flip then Rotate so that it is in-line with older versions of the product.

What to do if you want your symbols rotated and flipped as they are in Version 1.

Luckily, you can change the default operation of Version 2 to match what was done in Version 1. This would require creating a Symbol Factory Configuration file and adding a configuration item. For more information on how this is done, please see the Help File for Symbol Factory .NET.