Sitecore - WFFM upgrade

Question

I am upgrading my solution from Sitecore version 6.6 to Sitecore 8. Please not that my site doesn't have DMS installed.

I have SQL dbs running (the ones that come with Sitecore 8) and MongoDb installed and configuration.

I am trying to upgrade WFFM Module from 2.4 rev.141008 to version 2.5 and further on to WFFM 8.

Sitecore SDN Page has some steps listed.

The first step is WFFM conversion - I tried that but got errors. I am guessing this is due to the fact that I don't have DMS?

Error is :

Index for Visitor.ExternalName does not exist, execute script before running
 : CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IDX_ExtrernalUser] ON [dbo].[Visitors] ([ExternalUser])

I also tried running the update package through UpdateInstallationWizard.aspx and that fails too:

ERROR:An exception occured when trying to execute post installation action 
    '[s]Sitecore.Forms.Core.Configuration.UpgradePostStep, Sitecore.Forms.Core[/s]'.<br/>
     Details: [s]System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException: 
     Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions 
     property  for more information.
       at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes(RuntimeModule module)
       at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes()
       at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes()
       at Sitecore.Forms.Core.Configuration.UpgradePostStep.Run(ITaskOutput output, NameValueCollection metaData)
       at Sitecore.Update.Installer.Items.CustomActionInstaller.Process(IProcessingContext entry, IProcessingContext context)[/s]
INFO:Post installation step for the package 
'C:\inetpub\Sitecore8\www\sitecore\admin\packages\Web Forms for Marketers 2.5 rev. 141014.update' has been executed.

I am not really sure what is happening here or what steps I need to take to fix this. Am I missing a step in between?

Have you tried attaching an empty analytics database and configuring the connection string for it then trying the upgrade? — jammykam
Yes, analytics is up and running and configured correctly with the connection string updated. I don't know which DB has the table 'Visitor' in it? Could it be the DMS db? I only see one way of converting WFFM from 2.4 to 2.5 (and then onto 8 eventually) and that involves conversion tool. But looks like the tool is used to convert DMS data? — NomadTraveler
@jammykam is there a way where in I can do a fresh install of WFFM 8 module and then migrate data from 2.3 to 8 instead of going through incremental upgrades? — NomadTraveler
I have a feeling you might have missed a step - I don't think there's a Visitor table any longer in SXP8, it's now all about Contacts. I take it you've upgraded your Sitecore instance to 7.5 already before attempting the WFFM upgrade? — Trayek
Hi @Trayek I am on Sitecore 8. Hence the problem with the upgrade. If I do a clean install of WFFM 8, data migration would still be an issue, right? — NomadTraveler

jammykam jammykam · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-18T08:28:26

It seems like you have missed a step. The WFFM 2.5 module is for Sitecore 7.5 so it won't work with Sitecore 8. You should have followed these steps on your upgrade from 7.2 to 7.5. For Sitecore 8 you'll need install the version 8 module (e.g. WFFM v8) but that still doesn't help with your conversion.

It's possible to move the forms across from your existing solution, using either serialization/packages/TDS/Unicorn, but that will only move the definition of the forms themselves over and not the data related to those forms. There are a host of other changes going on during the upgrade process so the forms may not be converted correctly (e.g. there is no "Save to Database" action in 7.5 now, everything is automatically saved to MongoDB).

The recommended solution would be to make these upgrade steps on Sitecore 7.5 (you remembered to take backups of your source code and databases along the way right?).

You could try serialization/packages to install your forms into a clean install of Sitecore 7.5, attach a clean analytics database (from Sitecore 7.2) and your existing forms database along with a clean install of MongoDB and then try following the upgrade instructions again, but that's not guaranteed to work and there may be missing parts to this. You could follow instructions similar to the following but heed the advice of the last post as well:

Sitecore - WFFM upgrade

1 Answers