How do I move my old recipes into new version?

[ChrisGroenewald]

I have recipe's/equipment set up in 2.3.0.

I tried v3 recently but got the crash on new recipe, so I waited for a fix which landed today. Thanks!

But, I'm confused about how I'm supposed to get my recipes into v3.0.9. When I start it up I'm back to a blank slate with only the Bt recipe's visible. I tried to export a recipe to xml from 2.3.0 and import to 3.0.9, but that fails. I tried to backup my DB and restore it in 3... but get a warning that everything (I'm assuming this includes new fermentables, etc that would be great to have) will be wiped. I don't want that either.

So I'm not sure how I reconcile my old recipes into the new version. Bit confusing, or just not possible?

On Windows, FWIW...

Cheers.

[matty0ung]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. In theory, what should happen when you install a newer version is that it automatically upgrades the old 2.3.0 database for you. What I'm wondering is whether 3.0.9 is looking for the database in a different place than 2.3.0. (If the software can't find a database file, it creates a new one for you with the default recipes.)

Hopefully, all you need to do is find the old brewtarget 2.3.0 database file and copy it over the default-generated 3.0.9 database file. You're looking for a file called database.sqlite. The first places to look are inside subfolders of the hidden AppData folder inside your user folder. (Eg on my machine I look in C:\Users\Matt\AppData\. ) Check in all three subfolders, though I think you should usually find what you're looking for in Local. I'm hoping you'll find two folders, one called something like brewtarget_2.3.0 and another called brewtarget. Make sure Brewtarget is not running. Then, rename brewtarget/database.sqlite to brewtarget/database.sqlite.bak and copy brewtarget_2.3.0/database.sqlite into the brewtarget folder.

This is partly from memory, so give us a shout if what you find is totally different!

[ChrisGroenewald]

Thanks, it was: No, yes, and yes, and then no.

I looked and there was only one in 'brewtarget'. I had to hunt around to find the other in the, fairly weird ..../AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files (x86)/Brewtarget-2.3.0/data/ ... But Ok, did find it.

I noted it's smaller (I only have a couple recipes) than the 3.x db. Suspecting my intuition would be right: I backed up the 3.x db, copied the 2.3 over, and yes... there are my recipes. But I note many other things disappear (obviously) like fermentables, yeasts, "Bt" recipes .... Which isn't great.

I've restored the 3.x one now and will probably, I guess, get a sqlite3 client and try do this the hard way.

2c: A better migration path would be nice.

Thanks.

[matty0ung]

Glad you found the DB files! This means there should be an easier way to get your old recipes.

The "export to XML (aka BeerXML)" functionality in 2.3.0 had a few bugs, which should be addressed in newer versions of the software. You should be able to get your old recipes from 2.3.0 as follows:

• Start up the 3.0.9 version of the software using the 2.3.0 database (as you did before)
• Export your recipes to one or more BeerXML files
• Exit the software, restore the 3.x database and restart so you're running the new software with the new DB
• Import the recipes from the BeerXML files

Let us know how you get on.

[ChrisGroenewald]

Hi, been a bit slammed, but had a moment, +thanks to your prompt, to sit down and actually do this: Worked out great. Somehow all my "BT" recipes got duplicated "(1)" ... I'm not sure what I did to do that, but I could just remove them all again.

Anywho, I've been able to successfully migrate so I'll call that a win. Thanks for the great software! Looking forward to your improvements below ... got a batch "crafted" in BT in the fermenter right now, so Cheers again!

[matty0ung]

2c: A better migration path would be nice.

Agreed. I'll try to remember to have a look about adding new data when upgrading from old databases. There is a bit of stuff already that pulls in new data from BeerXML. I want to revamp that when we get to BeerJSON and provide everyone a lot more fermentables, yeasts, hops, default recipes etc.