I'm way behind on one of my sites, and would like to update. I am most of the way there but would like a way to copy over the custom css that I used in 332 behind the scenes, without making the theme live.

Is there a way to do this?

If you search the forum for Juggledad's upgrade method you can upgrade pretty seamlessly with the idea that you can always switch back to the old theme if something isn't working quite right. I think everything except images and certain core tweaks will already be in place.

Thanks, I've done quite a bit of searching on this and read a lot of the great posts by juggledad. The thing that is still not clear to me is how to copy my custom css from my working 3.3.2 install to the new 3.4.6 install, without having to actually switch the theme and paste it into the css insert window via ATO. This would create some time where the blog did not look right and there would inevitably be some tweaking time. The site I am working on is used by a business and gets a fair amount of traffic, so I can't be screwing around with it very much while it's live.

I want to be able to copy the custom css settings over to the new install so I can preview and tweak them without making going live until I am ready.

Any setting made in the Atahualpa options are stored in the database so you will not lose any of those. This of course includes CSS settings. If you made some changes to the code itself you would have to tweak that though. That's why I typically stay away from anything outside of the options pages. You will need to copy images you added to the atahualpa folder to the new one.

Too keep the upgrade as seamless as possible what I would do is...

• Backup - Database and files
• Upload the new Atahualpa theme files into a folder called atahualpa346 (don't activate yet)
• Copy all the images you have uploaded into the various Atahualpa image folders into the new Atahualpa 3.4.6 folders. This includes favicons, header images, etc
• Use a maintenance mode plugin during low use hours and activate the new version to see how it looks
• Tweak any paths where atahualpa346 needs to replace atahualpa
• Go live when satisfied

I hope that helps

If you went in and actually changed the css.style code (or anyother code) you have a little more work on your hands. In that case, I would suggest building a second wordpress install which is a copy of the first. Create a subdirectory in your sites root - call it wptest - and install WP there with all your plugins and themes - ie copy the wp-contents file. Next, create a database called 'wptest' and do a backup from the current site and import it into the wptest db.

Now you can take your time making the changes. when it is the way you want, you export the Atahualpa theme options and import them into the 'live' database and you should be good to go.

Thanks, juggledad. I was thinking about something along those lines and you made it clear how to do it.

This rookie (me) has a practice of making all CSS changes in the "CSS Inserts" section. I just use the same style name, and make my changes. Those changes, since they are 'loaded' after the main styles, will 'overwrite' the main styles.

Hope that made sense. The advantage is that any changes will survive any theme updates. And since there's a way to add code to 'the loop' via the Atahualpa theme options, those should survive an upgrade.

The only thing I've noticed during upgrades is that I have to remember to put my header image files in the images/header folder.

...Rick...

Originally Posted by juggledad

If you went in and actually changed the css.style code (or anyother code) you have a little more work on your hands. In that case, I would suggest building a second wordpress install which is a copy of the first. Create a subdirectory in your sites root - call it wptest - and install WP there with all your plugins and themes - ie copy the wp-contents file. Next, create a database called 'wptest' and do a backup from the current site and import it into the wptest db.

Now you can take your time making the changes. when it is the way you want, you export the Atahualpa theme options and import them into the 'live' database and you should be good to go.

It all went fine until I imported to working database into the test WP install. Now I can't login to the test wp-admin area. I just keep getting redirected back to the original login page when I enter my password. Can't wait till I get this upgrade done!

If you want to import an ENTIRE database into a second site, you have to do one of two things

1) edit the export to change the wp-options 'siteurl' and 'home' to point at the new url
or
2) use phpMyAdmin to edit the wp-options table to change them

Remember, you will be bringing in the users from the first DB with their passwords also.

Ah, it's the url thing. Just changed 'siteurl' and 'home' values in the test db and it worked. Thanks! I know about enough to get me in trouble, but can follow directions pretty well.