Installation Instructions (Remote Deployment)

The following instructions describe remote deployment using Group Policy or other administrative installation methods. [For installation of Schemax Calendar at the desktop see this article].

System Requirements

  • Windows XP or Vista
  • Outlook 2003 or 2007
  • Exchange Server 2003 or 2007 (optional)

Software Components

In addition to the above system requirements Schemax Calendar depends on deployment of the following software. We recommend that you deploy the software in the order indicated.

  1. .NET Framework 2.0
  2. Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs)
  3. Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition
  4. Adobe SVG Viewer 3.03
  5. Schemax Calendar 2.0

Before proceeding you should download the Schemax Calendar 2.0 installer (install.exe) as it contains several important files that are referenced in the following instructions. Once you have downloaded the install.exe file run setup with the /silent switch, which will extract the necessary files into a sub folder e.g.

install.exe /silent


Instructions

1. NET Framework 2.0

The following instructions are taken from Aaron Stebner's WebLog.

  1. Download the redistributable .NET Framework 2.0 package (dotnetfx.exe).
  2. Create an administrative installation point for .NET 2.0 and note location of the installation package (netfx.msi).
  3. Create and edit a group policy object. Ensure that the installation package will be installed with elevated privileges.
  4. Under Computer Configuration add a software installation item by referencing the netfx.msi package that is created at the administrative installation point. The path must be specified as a network share e.g.

    \\{server}\{path}\netfx.msi

  5. Link the GPO to OUs containing the target computers.

2. Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs)

The MS Office Primary Interop Assemblies allow .NET managed code (e.g. Schemax Calendar) to call unmanaged code in Microsoft Office using the various Microsoft Office COM-based object model APIs. If you have deployed a standard installation of MS Office on computers that already have the .NET framework the PIAs will be installed the first time they are required. However, if your computers do not have the PIAs they need to be deployed and the methods for Office 2003 and Office 2007 deployments differ.

[Note that the redistributable versions of the Office PIAs are used in the desktop installation of Schemax Calendar and they work well under this scenario. However, although the redistributable PIAs are packaged as .msi files, network deployment via Group Policy and other methods is not recommended due to idiosyncrasies with the packages.]

Office 2003

See this article.

Office 2007

See this article.

3. Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition

  1. Download the redistributable Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition runtime (vstor.exe).
  2. Create an administrative installation point for VSTO and note location of the installation package (vsto.msi).
  3. Create and edit a group policy object. Ensure that the installation package will be installed with elevated privileges.
  4. Under Computer Configuration add a software installation item by referencing the vsto.msi package that is created at the administrative installation point. The path must be specified as a network share e.g.

    \\{server}\{path}\vsto.msi

  5. Link the GPO to OUs containing the target computers.

4. Adobe SVG Viewer 3.03

The Adobe SVG Viewer is a browser plug-in that enables Schemax Calendar to view vector files.

  1. Locate Adobe SVG Viewer 3.03 (SVGView.exe) in the Setup\Adobe subfolder where you ran install.exe.
  2. Copy SVGView.exe to a network share.
  3. Locate the batch file SVGView.bat in the Setup\Admin subfolder where you ran install.exe. SVGView.bat will install the SVG Viewer in silent mode.
  4. Edit SVGView.bat to ensure the variables DeploymentServer and LogLocation point to appropriate network paths.
  5. Create and edit a group policy object. Ensure that the installation package will be installed with elevated privileges.
  6. Under Computer Configuration | Windows Settings add a startup script.
    1. Double-click Startup in right pane to open Startup Properties dialog.
    2. Click Show Files. A window will open.
    3. Copy SVGView.bat into the window.
    4. In the Startup Properties dialog Click Add, then Browse and the window where you copied SVGView.bat will appear. Select SVGView.bat, click Open and click Ok. Batch file will now appear in the dialog window.
    5. Click Ok to close the Startup Properties dialog window.
  7. Link the GPO to OUs containing the target computers.

5. Schemax Calendar 2.0

  1. Locate the Schemax Calendar 2.0 installation package (Schemax_Calendar_2_0.msi) in the Setup subfolder where you ran install.exe.
  2. Create and edit a group policy object. Ensure that the installation package will be installed with elevated privileges.
  3. Under Computer Configuration add a software installation item by referencing the Schemax_Calendar_2_0.msi package. The path must be specified as a network share e.g.

    \\{server}\{path}\Schemax_Calendar_2_0.msi

  4. Locate the files scHKLM.bat and scHKLM.reg in the Setup\Admin subfolder where you ran install.exe.
  5. Under Computer Configuration | Windows Settings add a startup script.
    1. Double-click Startup in right pane to open Startup Properties dialog.
    2. Click Show Files. A window will open.
    3. Copy scHKLM.bat and scHKLM.reg into the window.
    4. In the Startup Properties dialog Click Add, then Browse and the window where you copied scHKLM.bat will appear. Select SVGView.bat, click Open and click Ok. The batch file will now appear in the dialog window.
    5. Click Ok to close the Startup Properties dialog window.
  6. Locate the files scHKCU.bat and scHKCU.reg in the Setup\Admin subfolder where you ran install.exe.
  7. Under User Configuration | Windows Settings add a logon script.
    1. Double-click Logon in right pane to open Logon Properties dialog.
    2. Click Show Files. A window will open.
    3. Copy scHKCU.bat and scHKCU.reg into the window.
    4. In the Logon Properties dialog Click Add, then Browse and the window where you copied scHKCU.bat will appear. Select scHKCU.bat, click Open and click Ok. The batch file will now appear in the dialog window.
    5. Click Ok to close the Logon Properties dialog window.
  8. Link the GPO to OUs containing the target computers and the OUs containing the target users.

Final Note - once you have assigned the above GPOs to the appropriate OUs it is important to ensure that the deployment will proceed in the required order. For example, if you are using the Group Policy Management Console you will need to select each OU and verify that the first GPO to be applied has the highest link order, the last GPO (Schemax Calendar) has the lowest link order etc.