Single workstation with multiple-users


The single workstation with multiple users is the same basic deployment as the single workstation with single user, but has to deal with user profiles under Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and later. The primary concern is the settings to the Windows Registry and security access to special folders (like the user ‚ s Desktop, Program Menu, Start Menu, and Startup). It could be there are several shifts in a company or multiple people share a job with someone working on specific days or certain hours during a day, and another person or people work the other available days or hours.

There are two options available. The first is each user can log on and run the installation setup. This is not bad for a small company with a couple of users and one computer. What about deploying an application in a large company with hundreds of computers that have more than one person logging in over the course of a week (such as automotive vendors running three shifts). Each user needs to have the appropriate ActiveX controls and runtimes registered for their session, and potentially Windows Registry entries. In this case, enabling the ‚“All Users ‚½ functionality of a Windows Installer deployment package could save the customer hours of installation time, which is significant.

This feature is very important if your application uses Registry entries stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU) node. Entries under the current user node should follow the industry standard: Software\<Company Name>\<Application Name >\<Version>\<Key>. Here is an example of the free Tab Order Builder available from the White Light Computing tools line.

  HKCU\Software\WhiteLightComputingTools\TabOrderBuilder.0\TabOrderBuilder  

You need to be aware of behavior with respect to registry entries and how Windows Installer packages install them. If your user opts for the ‚“All Users ‚½ choice (see Figure 1 ) and you include keys under the HKEY_USER_SELECTABLE (HKUS) registry hive, the registry keys are written to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) hive. If the user selects install ‚“Only for me ‚½ with user level privileges (per user install), the HKEY_USER_SELECTABLE registry hive entries are copied to the to HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive.


Figure 1. The Customer Information step of most Windows Installer based deployment packages provides the option to install the application for anyone who uses this computer, also known as the ‚“All Users ‚½ option.

If you have registry entries under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, the entries are only installed in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive for the user who installed the package no matter what type of installation the user selects.

Another scenario we have seen is storing the data for each user in a user-defined folder. Examples of commercial software include the Outlook data file (PST) and Internet Explorer Favorites. If you architect the application to store data for each user in a separate folder, one idea is to store the data in a subfolder of the MY DOCUMENTS folder. Each user logs on to the computer and the operating system maintains the folder structure.

How do you do this using a tool like InstallShield Express? It is as simple as enabling the Customer Information dialog to be part of the installation package ( Figure 2 ). The Customer Information dialog must be included the installation package so the user can select the option. It is the only dialog that controls this feature. If you want to include the Customer Information dialog, but not enable the ‚“All Users ‚½ option, you set the Show All Users Option property to ‚“no ‚½ and it does not display. In this case, the installation performs an ‚“All Users ‚½ installation by default (not giving the users the option to select it).


Figure 2. The option to show the ‚“All Users ‚½ option in InstallShield Express is found under the Customer Information Dialog settings under Customize the Setup Appearance node.

The ‚“All Users ‚½ feature can also be enabled via the Windows Installer command line as a parameter. See the section ‚“I want my application to be available to all users ‚½ in Chapter 5, ‚“Windows Installer Inside and Out, ‚½ for additional details.




Deploying Visual FoxPro Solutions
Deploying Visual FoxPro Solutions
ISBN: 1930919328
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 232

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