Where can I find instructions on how to upgrade? I'm going from 3.4.7 to 3.5.0 and the only official documents I can find are for installation.
 
Thank you

I've backed up my DB and server files..
 
Should I upload the new 3.5.0 files overtop of my existing files, or should I delete my existing files first?
 
Is there an upgrade script that makes changes to the DB?
 
Thank you

... well that was scary but i managed to upgrade..
 
 
writing it out in case it helps someone else ..
 
 
i uploaded all the 3.5.0 files overtop of my existing 3.4.7 files,
 
then ran into this problem:
http://www.viart.com/forum.php?sf=&sw=This+encoded+file+is+corrupted
 
which was solved by forcing binary upload of the /include folder (i've never heard people doing this??)
 
as well as redownloading my license.php file from viart and uploading it to the /includes folder (guess it gets overwritten by the 3.5.0 file package?)
 
then i ran into this problem
http://www.viart.com/forum_topic.php?thread_id=1487&page=1#message_form
 
which was solved by manually going to xxx/store/admin/admin_upgrade.php and upgrading the db this way.
 
 
It's ridiculous that upgrade instructions weren't included in the release... I've been working with php/db/etc scripts for 7 years and have never seen an upgrade process as bad as this.
 
 
.. not to mention all my custom template changes will have to manually ported into the new 3.5.0 files (will be using the /templates/sitename trick from now on)

I also believe that there should be an official step-by-step install and upgrade instructions like any other CMS software available like:
 
1- Back up all files
2- chmod example.php to 777
3- Upload files
4-run ../store/admin/admin_upgrade.php
etc. etc.

Ok well I"m going to attempt alkatraz's instructions.. wish me luck

I may be too late to offer some help, but I think this works ...
Create a sub folder - like VIARTv3
Copy all your folder and files there.
Upload.
Change you file location in admin to SITEurl/VIARTv3/
This should keep your site live whilst you upgrade.
You can then change the site location in admin - any problems, revert to temp location and resolve problem.

When I created a temp sub folder and changed my adm last time, the system generated friendlyURL for my products/pages like abc.com/temp/abc.htm etc. which appeared in google index. When I switched back to normal folder in adm, thoses urls with /temp/ prefix were still being indexed. It took me some time to clean up in google index. Any thoughts on this issue?

Here is some information about upgrade routine:
http://www.viart.com/frequently_asked_questions_faq#a84

What about the admin settings, is it possible to back those up? It was very annoying changing static messages, various options, and the template layouts especially..
 
Not to mention the related products - I have hundreds of items that are associated with each other, not cool having to do that over..