Can I Upgrade from version 2.4 to 3.1.7 (Windows)

SilentGrove

By the way, if this discussion should go in different section of the forums, let me know. I'd be glad to move it.

I'm the new AV guy for our church. The old AV guy is gone, so I'm on my own. The old AV guy told the pastor to not upgrade OpenLP from 2.4. No clue as to why he said that.
Our older installation of OpenLP is 2.4 is on an old, slow Windows 10 computer.
We want to upgrade to a new Windows 11 computer.
I installed OpenLP 3.1 7 on the new Windows 11 computer.
I copied the data files (C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Roaming\openlp\data) from the old installation to the new.
I copied the conf file from the old installation to the new.

Questions:

Does it work, in general to go from version 2.4 to 3.1.7? Should I go to something before 3.1.7 since 3.1.7 is new?
Despite copying the conf file from the old an using it for thew new, the windows (panels?) in OpenLP aren't the in same configuration as the old installation. Did I do something wrong? Is there something else I should have done?
In the new installation, I can see no list of the past services under the File menu (C:\Program Files\OpenLP). Are they stored somewhere else than where the main data is stored? Otherwise, why can't I see the list of old services under Recent, or under Open?
Would it help if I upgraded from 2.4 to 3.1.7 on the old system and then moved the data files and conf to the new computer? That is uncomfortable since the old system is our production computer for Sunday mornings at the moment. I'd rather not have something break because of upgrading and then have no computer/OpenLP for next Sunday's service.
In the new installation (OpenLP 3.1.7, Windows 11), when I tried to move a song from the Library to the Service window, I received the following error message (what should I do about this?)(Oh, just got an email that this error is assigned to a ticket, #2035):
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "openlp\core\ui\servicemanager.py", line 1831, in drop_event
File "openlp\core\common\registry.py", line 147, in execute
File "openlp\core\lib\plugin.py", line 250, in process_add_service_event
File "openlp\core\lib\mediamanageritem.py", line 600, in on_add_click
File "openlp\core\lib\mediamanageritem.py", line 621, in add_to_service
File "openlp\core\lib\mediamanageritem.py", line 661, in build_service_item
File "openlp\plugins\songs\lib\mediaitem.py", line 639, in generate_slide_data
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'is_file'

MickWUK

Question 3...
Where were the services saved on the Win10 PC? Go to File-Save Service As... on that PC to see where they were last saved. You probably need to copy them to the Win11 PC.

Question 4...
I wouldn't recommend that for the reason that you state.

More generally...
I have just done something very similar to you. I have big problems with Powerpoint on Win11 and OpenLP 3.1.7. If you don't use Powerpoint, moving to 3.1.7 may be fine. We are sticking with 2.4.something currently on our Win10 PC which works well.

oykleppe

MickWUK Which problems do you have with Powerpoint in the newest version?

MickWUK

oykleppe The main problem is that when I go live with a PPT presentation, the slides are not displayed on the target screen. Powerpoint is launched - I can see it in the task bar - but the slide doesn't seem to be displayed anywhere. Also, from that point on, OpenLP hangs ("not responding") and I have resort to killing it from Task Manager.

From some searching, this may be associated with the following problems, but I'm not sure.
https://gitlab.com/openlp/openlp/-/issues/1836
https://gitlab.com/openlp/openlp/-/issues/1977

Any advice on this would be gratefully received.

revncele

Personally, I try to go to the latest version. I see it as participating in the development by helping find the bugs. Also, I have learned that getting too far behind in the updates can make for a difficult transition at some time--just as well try to keep up.

For an update procedure, one must be careful moving files from 2.xx to 3.xx, or for that matter with any update. The better way is to install the upgrade on to an old installation so that the files can be updated. I believe there were some changes between 2.xx and 3.7 which need changes in the files. The new version cannot just access the old data files.

Please note that Songs and Custom slide from a service will automatically saved into OpenLP. So if a service was setup on one system, then used on a different installation, what is in the song in the service will update the database. (Which is why we the portable system.)

In our setup, we run the portable version from a USB drive. My office computer and the sanctuary computers assign the same letter to the drive. I can then setup services on my office computer and then run them on the sanctuary system. We have two such drives and keep one as a backup. (Especially when updating versions.) The key is to keep ALL OpenLP files on the USB drive (media and everything) and keep the path consistent.

Next, watch between 2.xx and the most recent 3.xx version. The "start live items automatically" in the system settings is not working. You have to set the flag on each item when you place it in the service.

We use the Remote Interface extensively. (I use and Android table to run both OpenLP and OBS whenever we are short handed.) Anyway, I think it is between 2.xx and 3.xx that the remote interface changed "big time". It now uses Web Remote, which needs updated from time-to-time (though version 1.1.1 has been stable for several months).

Finally, I had trouble the other day running PPT. The one running the OpenLP system took the windows focus of off OpenLP and the Web Remote did not get the advance to PPT. (At least that seemed to be the symptom. )

Anyway, stick with 3.7 and get it working, if at all possible. (read up on the First Screen features in 3.7 )

Fred

MickWUK

What do you mean by the First Screen features please?

revncele

Under Settings>Songs one can design a First Screen and the Footer for songs.
I use this Mako code:

First Slide START

%if first_slide:
${title} 
%if songbook_entries:
 
<%
entries = ", ".join(songbook_entries)
%>
${entries} 
%endif
%if ccli_number:
{sb} CCLI Number  ${ccli_number} {/sb}
%endif
<% return STOP_RENDERING %>
%endif

First Slide END

Footer START

${title} 
%if authors_none:
<%
authors = ", ".join(authors_none)
%>
${authors_none_label}: ${authors} 
%endif
%if authors_words_music:
<%
authors = ", ".join(authors_words_music)
%>
${authors_words_music_label}: ${authors} 
%endif
%if authors_words:
<%
authors = ", ".join(authors_words)
%>
${authors_words_label}: ${authors} 
%endif
%if authors_music:
<%
authors = ", ".join(authors_music)
%>
${authors_music_label}: ${authors} 
%endif

%if authors_translation:
<%
authors = ", ".join(authors_translation)
%>
${authors_translation_label}: ${authors} 
%endif

%if copyright:
© ${copyright} 
%endif

%if ccli_license:
${ccli_license_label} ${ccli_license} 
%endif

Footer END

There is an explanation, of sorts:

Placeholder
Description
${title}
Song Title
${alternate_title}
Alternate Title 1
${written_by}
"Written By" 1
${authors_none}
Authors when type is not set 2
${authors_words_label}
"Words"
${authors_words}
Authors (Type "Words") 2
${authors_music_label}
"Music"
${authors_music}
Authors (Type "Music") 2
${authors_words_music_label}
"Words and Music"
${authors_words_music}
Authors (Type "Words and Music") 2
${authors_translation_label}
"Translation"
${authors_translation}
Authors (Type "Translation") 2
${authors_words_all}
Authors (Type "Words" & "Words and Music") 2
${authors_music_all}
Authors (Type "Music" & "Words and Music") 2
${copyright}
Copyright information 1
${songbook_entries}
Songbook Entries 2
${ccli_license}
CCLI License 1
${ccli_license_label}
"CCLI License"
${ccli_number}
Song CCLI Number 1
${topics}
Topics 2
${first_slide}
Where rendering on first (cover) slide

1 can be empty
2 list of entries, can be empty

The first screen of ours songs give the hymnal page and CCLI number for the song. We stream our services.
This is a first screen for our songs:

This is the footer on the other screens:

The footer is no THAT big ;-)

Fred

revncele

BTW,

Concerning your PPT issue. I have a problem with PPT and Videos on my office system, but not on the system in the sanctuary. With an AMD GPU the picture of the VIDEO or PPT will not show until I click on the screen being used for the presentation. This is not an issue on systems we use that do not have an AMD GPU, and the problem does not appear with my office system if I am presenting on the NVIDIA GPU.

This is an issue that has plagued the 3.xx releases and is reported in several forum threads.

Fred

revncele

Just saw a post from Raul that included this:

The "Disable display transparency" solved many problems on my system. ;-)

I could not see the "Bypass X11 Window Manager" helped. I had tried it before.

Fred

redtogreybeard

One of the reasons I can think of not to update, very disappointingly, is that in version 2.4 when you went to remote control and chose the MAIN option, The same output that you had for the projector you would get in a browser including smart TV's mobiles and other computers (we used it during Covid to add lyrics in OBS to worship videos people had created in their homes). This would be handy in e.g. a candle light service, because people can see the lyrics on their mobile devices, or in an openair where you can't have projection stuff but you want everybody to 'sing from the same hymn sheet' rather than different versions of various internet offerings.
(the only way to get round it, I can think of, is to use a muted ZOOM session)
It would also be very useful if it was possible to have some sort of camera support

revncele

If my memory is right, the issue is that the remote changed processes between 2.4 and 3.1.7. After making the transition I found the new remote much better. It is a web interface that works in most any browser. Below are my settings:

Check for updates for the Web Remote from time to time. With the live view URL, one can make the browser windows full screen. Make sure all the equipment in on the same LAN. I have some problems with my firewall, so check that OpenLP can get through.

Fred

SilentGrove

Things I've learned:

1) Going from 2.4 directly to 3.1.7 did not work for me. What did work was going from 2.4 to 3.0.2 first. I then went in small steps to 3.1.2, then 3.1.6. All of that worked just fine. I tried 3.1.6 to 3.1.7 and have a python error that I haven't been able to solve yet.

Error msg:
"Open LP requires the following libraries in order to show videos and other media, but they are not installed. Please install these libraries to enable media playback in OpenLP.
python3-vlc
See log file for more details."

New questions:
a. How do I get and install the needed python library. I have no experience with python.
b. Were can i find this log file to read more details? Name? Path?

The old conf file didn't seem to help or hurt anything. It looks like it's fine to ignore it.
1. I couldn't see past services because the service files are stored in a different folder than the data folder. The manual mentioned nothing about this. c:\Program Files\OpenLP. Put them in the right place and they worked. On the other hand, an upgraded version can't read the older versions of the services.
Yes. upgrading the older version to newer versions works (at least from 2.4 to 3.0.2 to 3.1.6). Did this on the new PC and everything worked fine. Haven't done it on the older PC that is in production yet.
The newer version of OpenLP doesn't read the older versions of the songs if you just copy from the data folder to the new versions data folder. It does work if you upgrade (install the new version over the current older version) because it then upgrades the song files. The old version of the songs is what generated the error message.