Version 2.0 of the Auto FE Updater
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From: David W. Fenton on 3 Feb 2010 18:23 "Tony Toews [MVP]" <ttoews(a)telusplanet.net> wrote in news:gi4im5pkhttivl2eku64domlb8e5jtggn8(a)4ax.com: > "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote: > >>> Another much fancier option might be to interrogate Active >>> Directory and give the initial user, the developer, a list of >>> accounts which they could then click on to add. But that's >>> not really necessary. Someone can easily type in six or ten >>> characters of a user name to add to the configuration file. >> >>Neither workstation nor user logon would have helped me one iota >>in the situation I was in. In the future, I'll just write a batch >>file to do it, but because I'll be running it from the user's >>logons on their workstations, it will have to be without any >>security limitations. >> >>Why not have an option in your config file so I could put in >>workstation "*" and it would allow all of them to run it? When I'm >>done configuring all the workstations, I could remove it. > > Or to change your wording slightly allow a * until you've finished > testing your test workstations? > > If so I'd change that slightly to have the utility add up to five > work station and user id pairs, or maybe just three or five user > ids automatically until the slots are full up. Then any new > workstation ids/user ids won't be added. It just seems easier to me to have a wildcard, rather than an arbitrary limit. What happens if I set up 6 workstations? In future, regardless of what you do with the wizard, I'll likely just create a batch file to do the job. Or, if I understand how your wizard INI file works, I'd clear the first workstation, and then the wizard would run again, no? -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
From: David W. Fenton on 3 Feb 2010 18:24 "Tony Toews [MVP]" <ttoews(a)telusplanet.net> wrote in news:49rhm59sprrbo7m887inc1uepaao57hvp2(a)4ax.com: > "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote: > >>>>I just installed it this morning. The real win is picking the >>>>icon and having your wizard figure out the index number (which >>>>is not obvious from the interface that Windows provides when >>>>creating a shortcut). >>> >>> That particular feature has been there for a few years and was >>> on a form called from the main INI file list form. Maybe it >>> wasn't obvious to open the form that allows you to select the >>> icon file and choose the icon. >> >>I haven't actually configured a site with it in at least 5 years. > > BTW every seven days, unless you change the value, that you run > the Auto FE Updater it will now ask you if you want to check for > an update. The users do not get this prompt. Just the users > running from the workstations as mentioned in my previous posting. Not good. I'll have to do something about that so that the workstation I used for the setup (which is sometimes an active workstation) doesn't prompt. > (And every 30 days it will now ask you to voluntarily purchase a > license for the program. Again the users won't get that message.) I have never encountered the type of setup you've implemented with recording the workstations in the INI file with any other utility or application, so I don't quite understand what it's trying to accomplish. -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
From: Clif McIrvin on 3 Feb 2010 20:11 "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote in message news:Xns9D14BAB8D5919f99a49ed1d0c49c5bbb2(a)74.209.136.97... <snip> > But I'm setting up the workstations for them, so I'm going from > machine to machine running the utility to get the shortcut on the > desktop. If I could get the wizard to run, I could select the INI > file and run it to create the desktop shortcut. > > Now, obviously, in large organizations, this wouldn't be helpful. > But I was at the client last Friday setting it up and there were 4 > workstations to set up. The first was the one I created the INI > files on, but the other three required me to pass the full > commandline. I guess, obviously, I could have created a shortcut or > batch file on the server to run the thing without launching the > wizard, but I was expecting EASE OF USE, which meant that I expected > it to behave the same way on the other machines as it did on the one > where I ran it the first time. Hmm... I've been working with Tony a bit in the area of documentation for the Auto FE Updater. Your comments caught my attention as indicating that we may have shortcomings in communication. Did you notice the bit about creating an email containing a hyperlink to send the users for the initial launch from user workstations (as opposed to admin workstations)? I'm curious if you considered that and rejected that option because of the simplicity of simply walking around the office to four workstions and doing the setup yourself; or actually never even noticed that option. In the short while that I've been working with this utility the usage that you describe has never even occurred to me --- after all, one main point of the utility is removing the necessity of visiting individual workstations for doing the setup. To do what you describe, the method of choice would in fact be to use the wizard to create a shortcut on the server, which you would then invoke one time only from the user workstations. EASE OF USE ... Ah, the wonderful world of anticipating expectations :-). Would you care to suggest what could be done differently in the writeup to have helped you avoid this bit of frustration? Clif McIrvin "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote in message news:Xns9D14BAB8D5919f99a49ed1d0c49c5bbb2(a)74.209.136.97... > "Tony Toews [MVP]" <ttoews(a)telusplanet.net> wrote in > news:dc1im5d0rhe3p2runi77dgv74ue9ik2otk(a)4ax.com: > >> "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote: >> >>>> Another much fancier option might be to interrogate Active >>>> Directory and give the initial user, the developer, a list of >>>> accounts which they could then click on to add. But that's >>>> not really necessary. Someone can easily type in six or ten >>>> characters of a user name to add to the configuration file. >>> >>>Neither workstation nor user logon would have helped me one iota >>>in the situation I was in. In the future, I'll just write a batch >>>file to do it, but because I'll be running it from the user's >>>logons on their workstations, it will have to be without any >>>security limitations. >>> >>>Why not have an option in your config file so I could put in >>>workstation "*" and it would allow all of them to run it? When I'm >>>done configuring all the workstations, I could remove it. >> >> Umm, I don't quite understand your suggestion and how it relates >> to the utility. >> >> The idea of adding the first workstation, or in the future the >> userid, as being the only workstation that sees the GUI. You get >> it going on your work station, test it an another and then the >> users start executing it. They will continue to execute the >> utility for the next x years never seeing the GUI. All they know >> is they click on a shortcut on the desktop, Quick Launch or Start >> >> Programs menu. > > But I'm setting up the workstations for them, so I'm going from > machine to machine running the utility to get the shortcut on the > desktop. If I could get the wizard to run, I could select the INI > file and run it to create the desktop shortcut. > > Now, obviously, in large organizations, this wouldn't be helpful. > But I was at the client last Friday setting it up and there were 4 > workstations to set up. The first was the one I created the INI > files on, but the other three required me to pass the full > commandline. I guess, obviously, I could have created a shortcut or > batch file on the server to run the thing without launching the > wizard, but I was expecting EASE OF USE, which meant that I expected > it to behave the same way on the other machines as it did on the one > where I ran it the first time. > > Of course, the whole thing was an exercise in frustration. The first > workstation I set up lost its ability to see their server by name > (but not by IP) after I uninstalled A2007 and installed A2003 (they > aren't ready to move to the new UI yet). The 2nd workstation went > fine, but on the third, after doing the same thing, the user's > Outlook shortcut stopped working (I just launched Outlook explicitly > and it reconfigured Office 2007 and worked again). So, everything I > did worked differently on each different workstation (even though > the first two were identical Vista boxes). > > I have reached the point in my computer work that I no longer scoff > at voodoo troubleshooting. Sometimes I almost believe I should carry > a live chicken with me and slaughter it and sprinkle its blood in > appropriate places to insure that the computers work correctly. > > -- > David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ > usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
From: Clif McIrvin on 3 Feb 2010 20:18 "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote in message news:Xns9D14BB14EAB93f99a49ed1d0c49c5bbb2(a)74.209.136.97... > "Tony Toews [MVP]" <ttoews(a)telusplanet.net> wrote in > news:gi4im5pkhttivl2eku64domlb8e5jtggn8(a)4ax.com: > >> "David W. Fenton" <XXXusenet(a)dfenton.com.invalid> wrote: >> >>>> Another much fancier option might be to interrogate Active >>>> Directory and give the initial user, the developer, a list of >>>> accounts which they could then click on to add. But that's >>>> not really necessary. Someone can easily type in six or ten >>>> characters of a user name to add to the configuration file. >>> >>>Neither workstation nor user logon would have helped me one iota >>>in the situation I was in. In the future, I'll just write a batch >>>file to do it, but because I'll be running it from the user's >>>logons on their workstations, it will have to be without any >>>security limitations. >>> >>>Why not have an option in your config file so I could put in >>>workstation "*" and it would allow all of them to run it? When I'm >>>done configuring all the workstations, I could remove it. >> >> Or to change your wording slightly allow a * until you've finished >> testing your test workstations? >> >> If so I'd change that slightly to have the utility add up to five >> work station and user id pairs, or maybe just three or five user >> ids automatically until the slots are full up. Then any new >> workstation ids/user ids won't be added. > > It just seems easier to me to have a wildcard, rather than an > arbitrary limit. What happens if I set up 6 workstations? > > In future, regardless of what you do with the wizard, I'll likely > just create a batch file to do the job. Or, if I understand how your > wizard INI file works, I'd clear the first workstation, and then the > wizard would run again, no? My suggestion would be rather to use the wizard to create an easily accessible shortcut on the server which you launch once from each workstation ... much simpler than re-running the wizard. If you wish to re-launch the wizard from each workstation you could simply delete the wizard INI file -- much simpler than editing it to remove the first workstation. Clif McIrvin
From: Tony Toews [MVP] on 3 Feb 2010 20:32
"Clif McIrvin" <clare.moe(a)nevergmail.com.invalid> wrote: >Did you notice the bit about creating an email containing a hyperlink to >send the users for the initial launch from user workstations (as opposed >to admin workstations)? I'm curious if you considered that and rejected >that option because of the simplicity of simply walking around the >office to four workstions and doing the setup yourself; or actually >never even noticed that option. > >In the short while that I've been working with this utility the usage >that you describe has never even occurred to me --- after all, one main >point of the utility is removing the necessity of visiting individual >workstations for doing the setup. > >To do what you describe, the method of choice would in fact be to use >the wizard to create a shortcut on the server, which you would then >invoke one time only from the user workstations. > >EASE OF USE ... Ah, the wonderful world of anticipating expectations >:-). > >Would you care to suggest what could be done differently in the writeup >to have helped you avoid this bit of frustration? Actually David has a good point. I was thinking of the scenario of a full time developer who works on site and is hooked up to the corporate email system along with all the users. David's coming from the viewpoint of someone who brings in the FE via a USB memory stick and installs it. So he is correct a few paragraphs in when he states he could've created a shortcut on the server, again using the utility, and then clicked on that shortcut on each station. So I need to make David's scenario, which is the second option on the Initial User Install page http://autofeupdater.com/pages/userinstall.htm, more clear as to when and why you'd want to use that option. Also in thinking about it I need to add to the Quick Start page to explain what to do once you have the "master" work station working. Just a few lines telling them to now open the user install page. Tony -- Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/ For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/ Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/ |