Setting up the InfoConnect Administrative Tools

InfoConnect uses the Microsoft Windows Installer application installation and configuration service. The Windows Installer gets installation information from a relational database, which is saved and deployed as a Microsoft MSI file. When you deploy an MSI file to a user workstation, the Windows Installer on the workstation accesses the information in the MSI file to perform the installation.

Use the following tools to customize and deploy InfoConnect. These tools are installed as part of the administrative install image.

About the Tools

The Setup Program

The InfoConnect Setup program ( setup.exe) is the recommended tool for installing and deploying InfoConnect. This tool uses the primary InfoConnect MSI file to install InfoConnect but it also installs prerequisite software (if needed) and has several other features that provide a smoother deployment than installing directly with the primary InfoConnect MSI file. When the Setup Program installs InfoConnect, it determines whether each workstation has the required .NET Framework and Microsoft Windows Installer version and automatically installs them if necessary. It also automatically uses the correct language for the installation and removes previous versions of InfoConnect. (This is required to install the new version.) If the Visual Basic feature is selected, the Setup Program also installs the Visual Basic core MSI, along with the appropriate Visual Basic language MSI.

The Setup program has a command-line interface that you can run from a command line, a batch file, or a deployment tool. You can set command-line options to preset installation parameters and limit user interaction as InfoConnect is installing. You can also suppress installation dialog boxes to provide an unattended installation or use command-line options to prepare InfoConnect for installation by users. In general, any of the MSI command-line options can be used from the Setup program command line.

To see a list of available command-line parameters, enter:

setup.exe /?

Feature Selection

Use the Features Selection tab of the InfoConnect Setup program to select which features to install. The features available to you depend on your InfoConnect Product. The following table summarizes the features for each of the following:

• InfoConnect Desktop for Unisys Pro

• InfoConnect Desktop for Airlines Pro

The following utilities do not appear in the InfoConnect Setup program feature tree. They are installed as follows:

• The Database Editor and InfoConnect Manager are installed with all InfoConnect products.

• T27 Printer Services are installed with both Unisys products.

• PTR Printing can be added to the Airlines products as an add-on.

• The Reflection IBM Printer is installed when you install the 3270/5250 feature, which is available with Unisys Pro and Airlines Pro.

Data Location

Use the Data Location tab in the InfoConnect Setup program to configure where InfoConnect stores data. This tab includes two options—a user data location and an application data location.

• User data

  The user data location is used for session documents, customization files (such as themes and keyboard maps), macros, translation tables, Secure Shell configuration, Reflection Certificate Manager configuration, and FTP Client settings.

  The default is user-specific: C:\Users\username\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect. You can modify this to use the Public Documents folder, or specify an alternate location of your choice.

• Application data

  The application data location is used for the InfoConnect database, PTR configuration, and trace files.

  The default location is shared by all users: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect. You can modify this to a user-specific location in the Documents folder, or specify an alternate location of your choice.

Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab includes options for creating an administrative installation point and for managing the installation log.

Choose the type of Installation

Two choices are available.

• Install to this PC

  Use this option to install InfoConnect.

• Create an administrative install image on a server

  Use this option to create an administrative install image, typically on a network server. This network location can be used by deployment tools to access and create packages that are deployed to workstations. Also, end users can perform installations by running setup.exe from this location.

  Note

  An administrative install image is not a working installation of the product. If you want to install all available features on an administrative workstation, select Install to this PC, and use the Feature Selection tab to configure installation of all features.

Set logging options

By default, an installation log file is created and then deleted after installation successfully completes. (This configuration avoids accumulation of large log files after successful installations.) To save a log file for all installations, including successful ones, select Create a log file for this installation, and clear Delete log file if install succeeds.

The installation log file, which provides details about the installation, is saved in the user's Windows temporary folder (%tmp%) with a generated name that begins with atm and uses a .log extension. To open this directory, launch the Start menu Run command and enter %tmp%.

Installation Customization Tool

You can use the Installation Customization Tool (ICT) to customize InfoConnect or customize the way it is installed. The tool lets you create the following files:

• Companion installer package(MSI). This package contains the customized configuration settings and files that you choose to deploy with the installation (or independently). Companion packages show up as independent entries in the Windows list of installed applications. To customize InfoConnect, see Configure and Automatically Package Workspace Settings.

• Transform file(MST). This file modifies the default installation to change how InfoConnect is installed (For example, remove a command button in the Windows Uninstall or change a program list). When the transform is deployed along with the InfoConnect MSI file, it changes the default installation settings to the settings specified in the MST file.

This tool is accessed by running setup.exe from the command line with the admin switch ( setup.exe /admin). To simplify working with this tool, you can create a desktop shortcut to the Setup program and add the admin switch on the command line as shown in Set up a Shortcut to the Installation Customization Tool.

Permissions Manager

Permissions Manager is used to restrict access to InfoConnect Desktop settings and features. It creates special configuration ( .access) files that can be deployed as part of an MSI package. There are different access files for mainframe, AS/400, UNIX/OpenVMS, and application-wide settings.

You can edit .access files by running Permissions Manager as shown in Lock Down InfoConnect To Restrict Access to Controls.

Set up an Environment for Deployment Using InfoConnect Administrative Tools

If you plan to use the InfoConnect administrative tools to customize session documents, the InfoConnect workspace, or the way that InfoConnect is installed, you'll need to set up an environment that you can use to access these administrative tools.

Create an Administrative Installation Point

You create an administrative installation point by installing an administrative install image of InfoConnect on a network share (typically on a file server). An administrative install image is a source image of the application, similar to an image on a CDROM. It includes all the files required to install InfoConnect as well as the administrative tools used for customization.

Use this procedure to create an administrative installation point on a networked file server. This places all of the administrative tools and installation files you need to customize and install InfoConnect to a single location.

To create an administrative installation point

1. Download the InfoConnect installation files.

2. Create a network share on a network file server.

3. From the root directory of the installation files, double-click setup.exe.

   This starts the InfoConnect Setup program.

4. Click Continue and accept the license.

5. From the Advanced tab, click Create an Administrative install image on a server.

   

6. Click Continue.

   The File Location tab is selected.

7. Browse to the network share you want to use for the administrative install image.

   Caution

   Be sure to specify a UNC path for the network share. For example: \\share_name\administrative_install_point

   1. Click Install Now.

   2. The next step in preparing a test environment is to install InfoConnect on a workstation.

      Note

      Administrative install images are typically created in a file server folder but you can create them in any folder on a local hard drive. This is useful for testing purposes.

      If you prefer to install InfoConnect on your workstation first, you cannot use the installation program graphical interface to create the administrative install image. Instead, you must install it from the command line as follows:

      path_to_setup_file\setup.exe /install /admin TARGETDIR=UNC_path_to_administrative_installation_point

Install InfoConnect on a Workstation

After you create an administrative installation point, you'll need to install InfoConnect on a workstation so that you can open and run InfoConnect. If you plan to customize InfoConnect, you will use this installation to create custom configuration files.

To install InfoConnect on a workstation

1. On the workstation, navigate to the network share where you have created the administrative installation point, and double-click setup.exe.

2. From the InfoConnect Setup program, click Continue, and then accept a license.

3. The following steps are optional:

   • To personalize the installation, click the User Information tab and enter the name, organization, and Volume Purchase Agreement (VPA) number, if you have one. (VPA numbers, which are issued by Rocket Software, are used by customer support to expedite service requests.)

   • To change the default installation folder or the default user data directory, click the File Location tab and browse to the folder you want to use.

   • To select which features, components, or languages are installed, click the Feature Selection tab. The default installation does not include all features and components.

4. Click Install Now.

Set up a Shortcut to the Installation Customization Tool

The Installation Customization Tool is designed to be opened from a command line. However, you can create a desktop shortcut that opens this tool. This will save time when you are working with the tool.

To create a shortcut that opens the Installation Customization Tool

1. On your administrative installation point, right-click the setup.exe file, and choose Create Shortcut.

2. Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties.

3. In the Target box, add the /admin option to the end of the command line. For example:

   \\myServer\adminInstallPoint\setup.exe /admin

   Caution

   Make sure that the path in the Target box conforms to the Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) format and does not include drive letters. Drive letters can cause problems if you try to use the shortcut on other workstations.

4. Rename the shortcut and save it on the desktops of your workstation and the server you use for your administrative installation point.

5. To start the Installation Customization Tool, double-click the shortcut, and then in the Select Customization dialog box, choose which mode you want to open.