Upgrading an existing installation of Content Station Aurora

This article describes the required steps for upgrading an existing Content Station installation to a new version of Content Station.

Before you start

Before upgrading, please read the Release Notes for any important changes or upgrade instructions. Verify this for all versions that were released after the version that you have currently installed.

Note about Enterprise Server

Content Station Aurora is available in 2 Editions, each requiring a different minimum version of Enterprise Server:

1. Content Station print, requiring Enterprise Server 10.0, 10.1 or 10.2
2. Content Station multichannel, requiring Enterprise Server 10.2 or higher

It is assumed when performing a minor upgrade of Content Station, that the same Edition is used.

When deciding to upgrade from Content Station print to Content Station multichannel, follow the full installation steps which includes additional information about installing and setting up Enterprise Server.

Performing a minor upgrade of Content Station

This involves the following steps:

1. Downloading the new files
2. Upgrading Content Station
3. Upgrading the Content Station plug-in for Enterprise Server
4. (Optional) Upgrading the Desktop Application
5. Testing the installation

1. Downloading the new files

Download the new version of Content Station and the Content Station Server plug-in from the Software Release page (either the latest version or an intermediate version made available in an announcement).

2. Upgrading Content Station

Step 1. For reference purposes, access the configuration settings of your current Content Station installation. Do this by opening the following file and copying the content to a temporary text file:

• <Enterprise Server path>/contentstation/config.js

Step 2. Remove Content Station by removing the folder named 'contentstation' from the root of your Enterprise Server installation.

Step 3. Unzip the downloaded version of Content Station and place the extracted folder named 'contentstation' in the root of your Enterprise Server installation.

Step 4. Open the following file and update the settings with the settings from the reference file created earlier:

• <Enterprise Server path>/contentstation/config.js

Caution: Do this by comparing the files to find the differences. You must not just copy your old configuration settings over the new ones as important modifications may have been made.

Step 5. Save the file.

3. Upgrading the Content Station plug-in for Enterprise Server

Tip: To ease the upgrading process of the Content Station plug-in, store all modified configuration settings in the config_overrule.php file of Enterprise Server instead of in the config.php file of the plug-in itself. This way, only the plug-in needs to be replaced without having to update its configuration file.

Step 1. (Optional, only when the settings are not stored in the config_overrule.php file) For reference purposes, access the configuration settings of your current Content Station plug-in installation. Do this by opening the following file and copying the content to a temporary text file:

• <Enterprise Server path>/Enterprise/plugins/ContentStation/config.php

Step 2. Remove the currently installed Content Station Server plug-in by removing the folder named 'ContentStation' from the following folder of your Enterprise Server installation:

• config/plugins

Step 3. Unzip the downloaded version of the Content Station Server plug-in and place the extracted folder named 'ContentStation' in the config/plugins folder of your Enterprise Server installation.

Step 4. (Optional, only when the settings are not stored in the config_overrule.php file) Open the following file, update the settings with the settings from the reference file created earlier.

• <Enterprise Server path>/Enterprise/contentstation/plugins/ContentStation/config.php

Caution: Do this by comparing the files to find the differences. You must not just copy your old configuration settings over the new ones as important modifications may have been made.

Step 5. (Optional, only required when installing Content Station 11.31 or higher on Enterprise Server 10.5 or lower). Add the following code to your config_overrule.php file:

if( file_exists( BASEDIR.'/config/plugins/ContentStation/backwards_compat_es.php' ) ) {
  require_once BASEDIR.'/config/plugins/ContentStation/backwards_compat_es.php';
}

Step 6. Log in to Enterprise Server, access the Server plug-ins page and verify that the plug-in named 'Content Station' is enabled (as indicated by a green icon). When a red icon is shown, click it to enable the plug-in.

4. (Optional) Upgrading the Desktop app

The Content Station Desktop app is used for setting up the communication between Content Station and other applications and for controlling some of the features of the Desktop app itself (For more information, see Using the Desktop app of Content Station Aurora.)

When the Desktop app is already installed and a new version of the Desktop app and/or the Chrome extension is made available, perform the steps below.

Upgrading the Desktop app

Step 1. Quit the Desktop app by right-clicking the icon in the system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac OS) and choosing Quit.

Step 2. Install the new version by following the general installation steps. During this process, overwrite the already installed version when asked to.

Step 3. Start Chrome and start the Desktop app. It will connect to Chrome and detect that the Chrome extension is already installed; it will not offer to install it.

Upgrading the Chrome extension

No steps are required for upgrading the Chrome extension, it is automatically updated by Chrome.

5. (Optional) Create Component Sets and assign them to Digital article templates

In Content Station 11.18, Component Sets were introduced. In short, they control which components a user can make use of in the article, how these components look and how they work.

Component Sets are made available for a Digital article by assigning them to the template on which a Digital article is based when it is created.

Create as many Component Sets as needed and assign them to the Digital article template in which the set of components need to be available.

Note: When a Digital article is based on a template which does not have a Component Set assigned, the user is asked to choose one when the article is opened. Note that users may not be familiar (enough) with Component Sets to make a correct choice, so it is advised to add a Component Set to each Digital article template.

6. Testing the installation

Step 1. Access the Health Check page in Enterprise Server.

Step 2. Click Clear All to deselect all selected tests.

Step 3. Select the following tests:

• InDesign Server / CS Editor
• Content Station

Step 4. Click Test.

The test results are displayed next to the test and should display OK.

Note: If the test fails, an error is displayed together with instructions for how to solve it. Follow the instructions to fix the issue and then run the test once more.

Step 5. Access Content Station by entering the following URL in a Web browser:

<Enterprise Server URL>/contentstation

Example: http://127.0.0.1/Enterprise/contentstation

Step 6. Test the installation by performing tasks that are part of the daily workflow such as creating an article, checking-out a layout or image, and so on.

Step 7. (Optional, only when you are seeing unexpected results) Clear the Web browser cache, close the tab in which Content Station Aurora is run and access it again.

Document history

• 6 February 2019: Updated section 3 'Upgrading the Content Station plug-in for Enterprise Server' with an additional step for Content Station 11.31.