on 10-22-2011 2:44 PM
Hi All
If 8.82 it seems that there is new features for the ard files in that they can have a upgrade and silent install feature. This is great but I'm trying to find any documentation on how to implement it... The SDK help simply state that it is there and the Install sample does not use it,,,
Anyone know where to get more information on the new feature?
Hello,
SAP Business One 8.82 enables you to install and upgrade add-ons and SAP Business One client silently and without administrative rights IF add-onu2019s installation package supports silent installation mode (or silent upgrade mode) which can be turned on via command line arguments of add-on's installation package.
There are 3 major prerequisites to enable the silent add-on installation/upgrade:
1. The u201CSAP Business One Client Agentu201D service must be installed and enabled (this is done by default via the installation of SAP Business One client) on each client machine.
2. Add-on installation package has to support the silent installation mode. This is requires an effort on your side. This feature depends on the technology which you use to build your installation packages. There are many possible ways how to build add-onu2019s installation packages (e.g. Microsoft tools for building MSI packages, InstallShield framework, self-executable archives, etc.). Many of them support silent installation mode via special command line parameters.
3. Add-onu2019s ARD file has to be updated: You can use the new ARD tool (included in the SAP Business One installation package) to update the Add-onu2019s ARD file as follows -
a. Set the u201CSilent installationu201D flag to ON
b. Specify the command line parameters for add-onu2019s installation package (if necessary)
Rebuilding add-onu2019s installation package requires the effort on your side. In some cases it might be necessary to re-design the installation and configuration process.
For example, if the add-on installation is currently guided via installation wizard and collects some input parameters from user in a u201Cvisual modeu201D then you need to change this approach. Instead of configuring an add-on during installation process, you might consider performing the configuration via add-onu2019s UI in SAP Business One client after the add-on is installed. Another option is to provide the configuration options as command line parameters for the installation wizard (they can be specified in add-ons ARD file).
ARD files for SAP Business One 8.81 are supported as well; however the new silent upgrade feature cannot be enabled if they are not updated to the 8.82 version.
How the installation of add-ons works:
1. When you install SAP Business One client or upgrade the existing client to version 8.82, the installer also automatically installs one additional windows service "SAP Business One Client Agent". This service is running under administrative rights. If this service is not installed or enabled / running, then the silent upgrade feature will not be enabled.
2. Maybe you know that if you register a new add-on or a new version of add-on via the Addon Administration in SAP Business One client, then the add-on is uploaded to the SBO-Common. This has been supported by all SAP Business One versions in the market. Also SAP Add-ons are uploaded to SBO-Common using the B1 upgrade wizard (or in previous versions - Common Upgrader). We have not changed this approach in SAP Business One; it is still valid.
3. When SAP Business One 8.82 client starts and connects to the SBO-Common, it checks if the SBO-Common contains some new add-ons, newer version of add-ons or newer version of the SAP Business One client.
If yes, then the client does the following
- Downloads the add-on to the local PC (similarly as in all previous versions of SAP Business One)
- Reads the add-on's ARD file.
- If the ARD specifies that the add-on installation supports the u201Csilentu201D mode, it asks the SAP Business One Client Agent service to install the add-on using the parameters specified in the ARD file. SAP Business One client agent will install the add-on
- If the ARD specifies that the add-on installation does not support silent mode OR the silent installation is not mentioned in the ARD at all, the client tries to install the add-on by itself (as in previous versions) and therefore it is expected that the client is running under administrative rights and it is allowed to install software on the local machine.
In case you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.
Jan Ruzarovsky
Solution Management I SAP Business One
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Hi Jan
Thank you for the information. I knew most of this already but there was a few pointers that helped and via SAP support I now know a bit more about the new zip command line options.
Now the only problem is that the Add-on reg. tool is broken in the current releases (PL01,PL02 and PL03)... It correctly shows the new option but it never save the data to the ARD file itself ... I have logged this to SAP Support so hopefully that will be fixed soon and we can start using it (Tried to manipulate the ARD file manually but so far no luck).
If you need any more information, please let me know.
I would really appreciate your feedback on this functionality and suggestions for improvements. I would like to keep improving this area (life cycle management of add-ons and SAP Business One client).
We are currently evaluating some additional high level ideas related to this but first we would like to collect the feedback from our partners. I will post the following ideas to the new [SAP Idea Place|https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/community/ideas/sme/b1].
Idea 1:
1. Partner releases an update of an add-on
2. RSP downloads the updated add-on from partner to customer and updates the add-on installation package in the SBO-Common
3. SAP Business One client downloads and updates the add-on on the client machine as I have described above.
Idea 2:
The new "SAP Business One client agent" will install the add-ons, their updates and updates of SAP Business One automatically when they are available. It means, it will not wait till user starts SAP Business One client and connects to the SBO-Common, but the service will perform everything on background without SAP business One Client.
Idea 3: Add-ons will not be uploaded to SBO-Common. Instead, they will be copied to a shared folder from where the SAP Business One client agent will install them directly without connecting to SBO-Common and downloading the add-ons locally.
Idea 4 (Alternative to Ideas 2/3):
Add-ons, their updates and updates of SAP Business One client can be distributed to client machines via MSFT SMS and installed/updated on background.
Thank you
Regards
jan
Hello Jan,
thanks for your explanation.
I have this problem: when installing in standard mode (no silent mode) many users run B1 as normal users (without elevated privileges), so they get "Access denied" when installer tries to write files in the addon folder.
How do you solve this? Using silent mode?
And if I'd use silent mode, why my AddOnRegDataGen.exe has silent mode flags disabled so that I cannot check them? I use SAP B1 9.0. AddOnRegDataGen.exe version is 9.0.18.0.
Many thanks!
Hello,
i am also looking for the Documentation. Especially i need additional Information about the Parameterfile
and the "Silent mode".
regards Matthias
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