Upgrading to the latest version from version 9 or older

Versions of WinSQL after v9 are significantly different from older versions. Newer versions have been designed to work concurrently with v9 or older. In other words, you can install both WinSQL 9 and the latest version on the same machine.

An obvious question that comes in mind is why do you need both version? Consider using both versions if you are using one of the following features:

• Scheduled Tasks
• Command line parameters

Scheduled Tasks

When executing a scheduled task, WinSQL 9 depends upon file extension registration. The extension WXF is associated with WinSQL, allowing the operating system to execute WinSQL. In this case the Action parameter in a Windows task gets set to the absolute path of WXF file.

Since there are two executables in version 10 (or above) and above (32 and 64 bits), the file extension WXF is no longer used. Instead, Action parameter is now set to the actual EXE file and WXF file is passed as a parameter. Consider the following example:

Action parameter in WinSQL 9 (Screenshot)

C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\WinSQL\ScheduledScripts\MyTask.wxf

Since the extension wxf is registered with WinSQL, the operating system spawns WinSQL.exe in order to run the task.

Action parameter in WinSQL 10 (or above) (Screenshot)

C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSQL32\WinSQL.exe C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\WinSQL\ScheduledScripts\MyTask.wxf

In this example, the operating system will spawn the 32bit version of WinSQL passing the WXF file as a parameter.

If you want these tasks to run using WinSQL 10 (or above), you will have to open the Task Scheduler in WinSQL and save every tasks again, which will update the Action parameter in Windows Task Scheduler. Therefore, you may want to let them run in WinSQL 9 and upgrade at a later time if there are too many tasks.

Command line parameters

Since the default installation path for WinSQL 10 (or above) is different from version 9, you may have to modify batch files that run WinSQL passing command line arguments. Therefore, consider using both versions if you have too many scripts to modify.

Default installation folder in WinSQL 9

C:\Program Files(x86)\Synametrics Technologies\WinSQL\WinSQL.exe

Default installation folder in WinSQL 10 (or above)

C:\Program Files(x86)\Synametrics Technologies\WinSQL32\WinSQL.exe  (32bit)
C:\Program Files(x86)\Synametrics Technologies\WinSQL64\WinSQL.exe  (64bit)

Other Important Changes

It is important to keep the following points in mind when upgrading.

• WinSQL version 10 (or above) is fully compatible with UNICODE. The Query History feature will break if you use UNICODE characters in your query when using the latest version. Once UNICODE characters are saved in the history, WinSQL 9 won't be able to read them. There will not be any problem if your queries are in English.
  
  
• The version of ODBC drivers is newer in the latest version. If you are using both WinSQL 9 and 10 (or above), we recommend using the older drivers that come with WinSQL 9. Registering the newer drivers will result in PATH related errors in WinSQL 9.
  
  
• Version 10 (or above) of WinSQL uses Windows Scheduler 2.0, whereas WinSQL 9 used Windows Scheduler 1.0. Therefore, if you modify a scheduled task using the newer version of WinSQL, you will not be able to modify the same task in WinSQL 9. If this happens, you will have to modify the task schedule from Windows Task Scheduler provided by the operating system.
  
  
• One feature in WinSQL is to generate an EXE file based on a query result. This generated EXE will be 64bit if you use 64bit version of WinSQL. Similarly, it will be 32bit if it is generated using the 32bit version. If you are not sure about end-user's machine, generating a 32bit is better because that will work on both platforms.