Using snAppShot

Once you are familiar with when and why to use the snAppShot utility and understand some of its advanced features, you are ready to begin using it to create Application objects. When you start snAppShot, you see a screen similar to the one in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3. The Main menu in the snAppShot utility, which allows users to select which discovery mode they want to use.

This startup screen for snAppShot allows you to select from standard, custom, express, or super express (command-line) modes (explained in detail in the following sections) depending on your needs, and on whether you already have a preference file ready.

Using Standard Mode

You should use the standard mode in snAppShot to discover the application installation changes on a workstation using default settings. If you have never run snAppShot before, and are unfamiliar with the available settings, this is the best option. It requires little intervention.

To use the standard mode, simply select it and perform the operations outlined in the following sections to create the needed files.

Name the Application Object Icon Title

Once you select the standard mode installation from the main screen in snAppShot, a window similar to the one shown in Figure 5.4 is displayed. From this screen, you need to input the name that the Application object has in the eDirectory tree and include a title for the icon that represents the Application object.

Figure 5.4. snAppShot window for naming the Application object and the application's icon.

NOTE

It is recommended that you choose object and icon names that are descriptive enough to distinguish among applications, and often, among versions. This saves confusion and time later.

Specify the Network Location of the Application Source (.FIL) Files

Next, a screen similar to the one in Figure 5.5 enables you to set the network location to store the application source files (.FIL).

Figure 5.5. This snAppShot window allows users to specify the location to store the application source files.

When setting this location, remember the following two issues:

• Make sure you select a location that all users who will need the Application object have access to.

• Make sure there is enough disk space in the network location to store the entire application.

Specify the Network Location of the Application Template (.AOT and .AXT) Files

Once you have specified a network location for the .FIL files, snAppShot enables you to set a network location for the application template (the .AOT and .AXT files). Set the network location by either entering it into the text window or by clicking on the folder button and navigating to the appropriate directory.

Specify the Drives That Will Be Discovered

Once you have selected the network location to store the Application object support files, you need to select which disk drive to scan on the workstation to determine changes, as shown in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6. snAppShot window for specifying which disk drives, network and local, are scanned during discovery.

You can add drives to the list by clicking on the Add button and selecting the drives you want to scan. Conversely, you can remove drives from the list by selecting the drive and then clicking on the remove button. You can select network drives as well, but only if they are mapped. This allows you to install applications to a larger network drive if needed and still discover the changes.

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Make sure you select all drives that the application install or upgrade affects. If you do not select a drive and the application install or upgrade adds, removes, or modifies files on that drive, the changes will not be discovered.

Read the Pre-Discovery Summary to Check Settings

Once you have all the drives you want to select added to the list of drives to be scanned, click Next and a summary of the preferences is displayed in the next window, as shown in Figure 5.7. The information displayed includes:

• Application object name

• Application icon title

• Template filename

• Application files directory

• snAppShot's working drive

• Scan options

• Disks to scan

• Directories to exclude

• Files to exclude

• System text files to scan

Figure 5.7. This snAppShot window allows you to review the current preference settings before starting the first discovery.

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Click Save Preferences to save the snAppShot preferences you have defined thus far to a file. Later, during a similar snAppShot session, you can choose the preferences you save now to accelerate the process.

Run the First snAppShot Discovery

The first snAppShot discovery runs when you click Next from the Preference Summary window. A screen shows the status of the discovery and a count of the following items that have been discovered:

• Folders and files

• Windows shortcuts

• .INI files

• System configuration files

• Registry entries

Run Application's Installation or Upgrade

Once the first snAppShot discovery is complete, a Run Application Install button is available. When you select the Run Application Install button, a pop-up menu appears. You can navigate to the application install executable and execute it.

Once the application install is complete, you can continue with the discovery process of the snAppShot application.

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Write down where the installation program installs the application's executable file. This information will be useful later when creating and distributing the Application object.

Enter the Path to the Application's Executable

Once you have completed the application install, snAppShot gives you the option to specify a path to the application's executable on this workstation. You can enter the location of the installed application files on this workstation in the text field.

Of course, if you do not want snAppShot to set a target distribution location, leave this field blank and continue.

Run the Second snAppShot Discovery

Once you are finished setting the path to the application's executable and you click the Next button, snAppShot runs the second discovery. Once again, you can monitor the status of the discovery by noting the count of the following items:

• Folders and files

• Windows shortcuts

• .INI files

• System configuration files

• Registry entries

Once the discovery is finished, snAppShot begins generating an object template. This is where the differences between the two discoveries are discerned and the template files are created.

NOTE

Dependingon the number of folders, files, and Registry entries on your workstation, the second discovery process can take a considerable amount of time. However, both the discovery and the template generation screens have status counters to let you know how far along they are.

Read the Completion Summary

Once the second snAppShot discovery is complete and the template files are generated, a completion summary of what took place is displayed in the window shown in Figure 5.8. The completion summary contains information about the application template creation, including:

• The location of the new Application object template (.AOT)

• The location of the new .FIL files

• The location of the textual version of the Application object template (.AXT)

• Listing of the steps to take to create the Application object

• Statistical totals from the second discovery

• Statistical totals from entries added to the Application object template (.AOT)

Figure 5.8. This snAppShot window allows users to review the summary of the Application object template generation.

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You havethe option from this window to print the summary. It is recommended that you do so and keep the printout as a record to aid in troubleshooting future problems if they happen to occur.

Using Custom Mode

You should use the custom mode in snAppShot to set specific options when discovering the application installation or upgrade changes on a workstation. Custom mode is much like standard mode except that it gives you the added opportunity to specify the drives, files, folders, Registry hives, and shortcuts that you want to include or exclude in the discovery process. You can save these settings in a preference file for later use if you need to run snAppShot for a similarly configured application.

Only in custom mode can you see and use all of snAppShot's features. To use the custom mode, simply select it and perform the following operations to create the needed files:

1. Choose the snAppShot preferences file.

2. Name the Application object and icon title.

3. Specify the network location of the application source (.FIL) files.

4. Specify the network location of the application template (.AOT and .AXT) files.

5. Specify which parts of the workstation to include or exclude.

6. Specify the drives that will be discovered.

7. Read the pre-discovery summary.

8. Run the first snAppShot discovery.

9. Run the application's installation or upgrade.

10. Specify how to handle the creation of files, folders, .INI file entries, and Registry settings.

11. Enter the path to the application's executable file.

12. Define macros for distribution automation.

13. Run the second snAppShot discovery.

14. Read the completion summary.

Choose the snAppShot Preferences File

The first window that comes up after you select the custom mode in snAppShot is the Choose snAppShot Preferences window. From this window, you have the option of either using a previously saved preference file, or using the snAppShot default settings.

If you have previously created and saved a preferences file in a previous custom mode, you can navigate to that file or enter the path to it into the text field as shown in Figure 5.9.

Figure 5.9. The snAppShot window for specifying a pre-created preference file or for using the default settings.

Name the Application Object and Icon Title

Once you select the preference file option in custom mode in snAppShot, a window is displayed. From this screen, you need to input the name that the application object will have in the eDirectory tree and a title for the icon that represents the application object.

Specify the Network Location of the Application Source (.FIL) Files

Once you have set the name for the application object and title for its icon in the custom mode install, a screen enables you to set the network location to store the application source files (.FIL).

When setting this location, you should remember the following two points:

• Make sure you select a location that all users who will use the application object have access to.

• Make sure there is enough disk space in the network location that you set to store the entire application.

Specify the Network Location of the Application Template (.AOT and .AOT) Files

Once you have specified a network location for the .FIL files, snAppShot enables you to set a network location for the application template (.AOT and .AXT files). Set the network location by either entering it into the text window, or by clicking on the folder button and navigating to the appropriate directory.

NOTE

If files already exist with the same object name, you have the option of overwriting the older ones.

Specify Which Parts of the Workstation to Include or Exclude

Once you have selected the network location to store the Application object support files, you can select which of the following parts of the workstation you want to include or exclude, as shown in Figure 5.10:

• Files and folders From the Workstation Scan Customization menu in snAppShot, you can modify which files and folders you want to include or exclude. Simply select the files and folders option and click the Customize button. A window similar to the one in Figure 5.11 pops up, and you must select which files and folders to ignore.

  Figure 5.11. The snAppShot window for specifying how and which files and folders are created in the Application object template.

  

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  Wildcards are valid here. For example, if you want to exclude all .DAT files, you could specify *.DAT in the list of files to ignore.

  
  

• .INI files From the Workstation Scan Customization menu in snAppShot, you can modify which .INI files to exclude. Simply select the .INI files option and click the Customize button. A window pops up from which you select which .INI files to ignore.

• System configuration text files From the Workstation Scan Customization menu in snAppShot, you can modify which system configuration text files you want to include in the scan. Simply select the system configuration text files option and click the Customize button. A window similar to the one in Figure 5.12 pops up, from which you select which system configuration text files you want to include.

  Figure 5.12. This snAppShot window allows you to specify which system configuration files are created in the Application object template.

  

• Windows shortcuts From the Workstation Scan Customization menu in snAppShot, you can modify which Windows shortcuts to exclude. Simply select the Windows shortcuts option and click the Customize button. A window pops up, and you select which Windows shortcuts to ignore.

• Registry From the Workstation Scan Customization menu in snAppShot, you can modify which Registry hives you want to include or exclude. Simply select the Registry option and click on the Customize button. A window similar to the one in Figure 5.13 pops up, and you select and deselect from a list of hives to include.

  Figure 5.13. This snAppShot window indicates which Windows Registry hives are created in the Application object template.

  

Figure 5.10. The snAppShot window for specifying which parts of the workstation to include or exclude.

Specify the Drives That Will Be Discovered

Once you have specified which parts of the workstation to include or exclude, you must select which disk drive to scan on the workstation to determine changes.

You can add drives to the list by clicking on the Add button and selecting the drives you want to scan. Conversely, you can remove drives from the list by selecting the drive, and then clicking on the Remove button.

NOTE

You can select network drives as well, however, only if they are mapped. This enables you to install applications to a larger network drive if needed and still discover the changes.

Read the Pre-Discovery Summary

Once you have all the drives you want to select added to the list of drives to be scanned, click Next and a summary of the preferences are displayed. The information displayed includes:

• Application object name

• Application icon title

• Template filename

• Application files directory

• snAppShot's working drive

• Scan options

• Disks to scan

• Directories to exclude

• Files to exclude

• System text files to scan

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Click SaveSettings to save the snAppShot preferences you have defined thus far to a file. Later, during a similar snAppShot session, you can choose the preferences you save now to accelerate the process.

Run the First snAppShot Discovery

The first snAppShot discovery runs when you click Next from the preference summary window. A screen shows the status of the discovery, and a count of the following items that have been discovered:

• Folders and files

• Windows shortcuts

• .INI files

• System configuration files

• Registry entries

Run the Application's Installation or Upgrade

Once the first snAppShot discovery is completed, a Run Application Install button is available. When you select the Run Application Install button, a file pop-up menu appears, from which you navigate to the application install executable and execute it.

Once the application install is complete, you can continue with the discovery process of the snAppShot application.

NOTE

Record where the installation program installs the application's executable file. This information is useful later when creating and distributing the Application object.

Set Options for Creating Files, Folders, .INI File Entries, and Registry Settings

Once the application's installation or upgrade is complete, snAppShot enables you to specify how to handle the creation of entries for the Application object. From the screen shown in Figure 5.14, you can set the additional criteria for the entries described in the following sections.

• Folder and file entries From the Application Object Entry Addition window in snAppShot, you can choose whether files and folders are added to the Application object. Click the down arrow under the folders and files option and select one of the following additional criteria, as shown in Figure 5.15:

  • Copy always

  • Copy if exists

  • Copy if does not exist

  • Copy if newer

  • Copy if newer and exists

  • Request confirmation

  • Copy if newer version

  • Copy if different

  Figure 5.15. The snAppShot window that allows the users to specify how snAppShot handles the creation of file and folder entries in the Application object template.

  

• .INI files From the Application Object Entry Addition window in snAppShot, you can configure whether .INI files are added to the Application object by clicking the down arrow under the .INI files option and selecting one of the following additional criteria, as shown in Figure 5.16:

  • Create always

  • Create if does not exist

  • Create if exists

  • Create or add to existing section

  Figure 5.16. The snAppShot window for indicating how snAppShot handles the creation of .INI file entries in the Application object template.

  

• Registry entries From the Application Object Entry Addition window in snAppShot, you can configure whether Registry entries are added to the Application object. Click the down arrow under the Registry entries option and select one of the following additional criteria, as shown in Figure 5.17:

  • Create always

  • Create if does not exist

  • Create if exists

  Figure 5.17. The snAppShot window that allows the users to specify how snAppShot handles the creation of Registry entries in the Application object template.

  

Figure 5.14. The snAppShot window for specifying how snAppShot handles the creation of file, folder, .INI file, and Registry entries in the Application object template.

Enter the Path to the Application's Executable File

Once you have defined the additional criteria for entries into the Application object, snAppShot gives you the option to specify a path to the application's executable on this workstation. You can enter the location of the installed application files on this workstation in the text field.

Of course, if you do not want snAppShot to set a target distribution location, leave this field blank and continue.

Define Macros for Distribution Automation

Once you are finished setting the path to the application's executable and have clicked the Next button, you can define macros to control the distribution of Application objects. A screen similar to the one shown in Figure 5.18 enables you to add, edit, or remove macros to control automation of application distribution.

Figure 5.18. This snAppShot window allows the users to add, edit, or remove macros to be used in the Application object template.

When you click the Add button in the Macro Definition window, you can specify a variable name and a string that is replaced within the template data, as shown in Figure 5.19.

Figure 5.19. The snAppShot window for specifying a variable name and string in macros.

Run the Second snAppShot Discovery

Once you are finished with defining macros to automate Application object distribution, click Next, and snAppShot runs the second discovery. Once again, you can monitor the status of the discovery by noting the count of the following items:

• Folders and files

• Windows shortcuts

• .INI files

• System configuration files

• Registry entries

Once the discovery is finished, snAppShot begins generating an object template. This is when the actual differences between the two discoveries are discerned and the template files are created.

Read the Completion Summary

Once the second snAppShot discovery is complete and the template files have been generated, a completion summary of what took place appears. The completion summary contains information about the application template creation, including:

• The location of the new Application object template (.AOT)

• The location of the new .FIL files

• The location of the textual version of the Application object template (.AXT)

• Listing of the steps to take to create the Application object

• Statistical totals from the second discovery

• Statistical totals from entries added to the Application object template (.AOT)

Using Express Mode

You should use express mode when you've already saved a snAppShot preference file from a previous discovery process. By choosing this file, you can skip over most of the standard or custom mode settings, which enables you to discover a new application installation much more quickly than in standard or custom modes.

To use the express mode, simply select it and perform the operations described in the following sections to create the needed files.

Choose the snAppShot Preferences File from a Previous Session

The first window that appears after you select the express mode in snAppShot is the Choose snAppShot Preferences window. From this window, you can choose to use a previously saved preference file.

If you have previously created and saved a preferences file in a previous custom mode, you can navigate to that file or enter the path to it into the text. If you have not previously created and saved a preference file, you must do so before selecting the express mode.

Read Summary Page to Verify snAppShot Discovery Settings

Once you have selected a preference file from a previous application package, click Next and a summary of the preferences are displayed in the next window. The information displayed includes:

• Application object name

• Application icon title

• Template filename

• Application files directory

• snAppShot's working drive

• Scan options

• Disks to scan

• Directories to exclude

• Files to exclude

• System text files to scan

Run the First snAppShot Discovery

The first snAppShot discovery runs when you click Next from the Preference Summary window. A screen shows the status of the discovery and a count of the items that have been discovered, including:

• Folders and files

• Windows shortcuts

• .INI Files

• System configuration files

• Registry entries

Run the Application's Installation Program

Once the first snAppShot discovery is complete, the Run Application Install button is available. When you select the Run Application Install button, a file pop-up menu appears, and you can navigate to the application install executable and execute it.

Run the Second snAppShot Discovery

Once the application install or upgrade is finished, click Next, and snAppShot runs the second discovery. Once again, you can monitor the status of the discovery by noting the count statistics of the following:

• Folders and files

• Windows shortcuts

• .INI Files

• System configuration files

• Registry entries

Once the discovery is finished, snAppShot begins generating an object. This is when the actual differences between the two discoveries are discerned and the template files are created.

Read the Completion Summary

Once the second snAppShot discovery is completed and the template files generated, a completion summary of what took place is displayed. The completion summary contains information about the application template creation, including:

• The location of the new Application object template (.AOT)

• The location of the new .FIL files

• The location of the textual version of the Application object template (.AOT)

• Listing of the steps to take to create the Application object

• Statistical totals from the second discovery

• Statistical totals from entries added to the Application object template (.AOT)

Super Express (Command-Line) Mode

You can use super express (command-line) mode to discover changes to a workstation in the fastest possible way. The super express mode of snAppShot enables you to run snAppShot from a command prompt, which enables you to discover changes to a workstation faster than the other available modes.

In order to use this mode of snAppShot, which you do exclusively from the command line, you must use a preferences file from a previous snAppShot session. To use the super express mode, perform the operations described in the following sections.

Change to the Directory Where snAppShot Is Located

The first step to use the super express (command-line) mode in snAppShot is to enter DOS and change to the directory where the snAppShot utility is located.

Enter the snAppShot Command

Once you are in the directory of the snapshot utility, enter the following command from the DOS prompt.

snapshot /u:<filename>

<filename> is the name of a snAppShot preferences file you defined and saved earlier when running snAppShot in custom or express modes.

Specify Whether to Overwrite a Previous snAppShot Discovery

Once you have executed the snAppShot command from the DOS session, a window appears that gives you the option to overwrite the existing Application object template, as shown in Figure 5.20. You must select Yes to continue.

Figure 5.20. The snAppShot window that allows you to overwrite the previous snAppShot discovery when using the super express mode.

Once you select Yes, the Application object template creation continues the same as in the regular express mode, by displaying the pre-discovery summary screen, followed by the first discovery.