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=== Modify settings directly === | === Modify settings directly === |
Revision as of 08:05, 20 July 2010
The iMacros Player
Features of the iMacros Player:
- All features of Scripting Edition, except the ability to record new macros
- The option to install and run in the background (no visible user interface).
- Small size - The Player consists only of a few files (see detailed list below).
- All settings can be predefined, and macros/files can be added or removed from the installer - Roll-out a customized version to your users.
- Unlimited number of installations for a very low cost - royalty free!
The player license allows you to ship macros, scripts and programs based on iMacros along with a copy of iMacros itself to your users *without* royalty payment. Technically speaking this means that if iMacros is unlocked with the player license key your users have all the features of the SCRIPTING EDITION available except the ability to record new macros.
The iMacros Player license is available as 5-User, 50-User or Unlimited User license package.
iMacros Player licensing examples:
Question: I want to set up 12 PCs at twelve locations to monitor a WEB application and upload response time data to a central database. What license do I need to order?
Answer: You only need to order one iMacros Scripting Edition license to create (record) the macros (Note: This assumes that you do all the recording on one machine). To replay the macros on your monitoring servers you can use an iMacros Player license package.
Question: Am I able to run the player concurrently?
Answer: Yes! Technically there is no limit in the number of Players than can run concurrently. The number is only limited by the memory and CPU resources of your PC of your machine(s). As a rule of thumb, you can open as many iMacros Player instances as you could open Internet Explorers instances on a given machine. From a license point of view, you can run an unlimited number of iMacros Players on the same machine at no extra charge (it counts as one license only).
There are two different approaches to distribute iMacros with your application.
Distributing the iMacros setup
You can distribute the normal setup executable from http://www.iopus.com/download/.
When installing your application on the clients computer, you can easily call the iMacros setup and install the iMacros Trial version. You can then either write the Player key in the iim.ini from your setup, use the license key as parameter in iimInit() or let your client enter it manually. Your client will then be able to play any macro you created. The Scripting Interface also works.
The setup supports some command line switches that make life easier.
Setup Command Line Switches
The installer program accepts the following optional command line parameters.
/SILENT /VERYSILENT
These instruct Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent the Wizard and the background window are not displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is very silent this installation progress window is not displayed. Everything else is normal, so for example error messages during installation are displayed.
If a restart is necessary and the /NORESTART command isn't used (see below) and Setup is silent it will display a "Reboot now?" message box. If it's very silent it will reboot without asking.
/NOCANCEL
Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation process by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the close button. Useful along with /SILENT.
/NORESTART
Instructs Setup not to reboot even if it's necessary. Note that installing iMacros does not require a reboot unless iMacros was already installed and running on the machine during the setup.
/DIR="x:\dirname"
Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Directory Wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified. If the [Setup] section directive DisableDirPage was set to yes this command line parameter is ignored. Example:
imacros-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /DIR="c:\imacros"
installs the software automatically in the c:\imacros directory.
/GROUP="folder name"
Overrides the default folder name displayed on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. If the [Setup] section directive DisableProgramGroupPage was set to yes this command line parameter is ignored.
/NOICONS
Instructs Setup to initially disable the "Don't create any icons" check box on the Select Start Menu Folder Wizard page.
The uninstaller program (unins000.exe) also accepts an optional command line parameter.
/SILENT
When specified the uninstaller will not ask the user any questions or display a message stating that uninstall is complete. Shared files that are no longer in use are deleted automatically without prompting. Any critical error messages will still be shown on the screen.
Restricted User Accounts
iMacros runs well on restricted user accounts, locked down systems and systems that use Active Directory services.
If you install the software for users with restricted rights, please note:
1. The software must be installed by a user with administrative rights 2. iMacros folders (Macros, Datasources, Downloads and Logs) are personal, that is each user will have his own %USERPROFILE%\Documents\iMacros folder. However only the user who installed iMacros will have the Demo macros in his User Profile folder.
Modify settings directly
All settings used by iMacros are stored in a text file called iim.ini. We do not recommend editing this file manually unless you know what you are doing. If in doubt please contact the iMacros Support Team. The entries in this file are saved in the standard user setting way, i.e. in key=value pairs. The keys should be self-explanatory.
In Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and Win 2008, this file is typically located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\iMacros\
How to change settings in this file:
1. Stop & close iOpus iMacros.
2. Locate iim.ini.
3. Open iim.ini with a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and make the changes. Then save the file under the same name.
4. Restart iMacros
5. The new settings are active.
Distribute iMacros with your setup
This paragraph assumes that do you not want to use the iMacros installer, but want to create your own setup. iMacros is a compact application that consists only of the following files, which you need to copy to your client's computer:
- imacros.exe
- Required, the iMacros engine
- imatl.dll
- Required, register with regsvr32.exe
- imsys.dll
- Required
- iimwnk.dll
- Required
- iimConnector.dll
- Required, register with regsvr32.exe
- iimds.dll
- Required
- imgr.exe
- Required, register it with imgr.exe /regserver after installation
- iim.ini
- Optional, settings file (iMacros creates this file if it does not exist)
- iimInterface.dll
- Required, Scripting Interface (COM object), register with regsvr32.exe
- iimInterface64.dll
- Optional, native 64-bit version of the Scripting Interface, register with regsvr32.exe (The regsvr32.exe file in the System32 folder on 64-bit Windows is a 64-bit version, despite the "32" in the name!)
- imimage.dll
- Required, the Image Recognition library
- imacros.dll
- Optional, the Internet Explorer Add-On
- ab1.ico
- Optional, Icon for Internet Explorer Browser Bar
- ab2.ico
- Optional, Icon for Internet Explorer Browser Bar
Depending on your version of Windows you may also have to install and register the following redistributable Microsoft System Files into the Windows System directory. You will find them on any PC that has the regular iMacros installation:
- mscomctl.ocx (register with regsvr32.exe)
- tabctl32.ocx (register with regsvr32.exe)
- msstdfmt.dll (register with regsvr32.exe)
- comdlg32.ocx (register with regsvr32.exe)
- msvcr90.dll
- msvcp90.dll
- msvcm90.dll
- Microsoft.VC90.CRT.manifest
Tip: To trouble-shoot installation related issues we find Dependency Walker useful.
Set location of the iMacros Data Directory
The settings file iim.ini can be included in the setup for predefined settings, for example the iMacros Player License key. If you use this file you need to store the location of the iim.ini file in the registry. The file is located in the root of the application data directory. This location is defined in the registry.
A global registry key ("UseAppDataFolder") defines if you want to use a global or a user specific data directoy:
The parameter UseAppDataFolder can have these values:
UseAppDataFolder: 1 => This is the default. The data directory is the same for all users and is stored in a global registry key called "AppDataFolder":
Note: If you use this option 1 you must include both, the UseAppDataFolder and AppDataFolder values in your setup. It is not sufficient to just define one value. Otherwise iMacros considers this to be a corrupt installation and overwrites the values with its default value.
Root: HKLM; Subkey: "Software\iMacros"; ValueType: dword; ValueName: "UseAppDataFolder"; ValueData: "1" Root: HKLM; Subkey: "Software\iMacros"; ValueType: string; ValueName: "AppDataFolder"; ValueData: "c:\myini\"
UseAppDataFolder: 2 => User specific data directory. The location is defined by the Windows constant CSIDL_MYDOCUMENTS/iMacros.
Root: HKLM; Subkey: "Software\iMacros"; ValueType: dword; ValueName: "UseAppDataFolder"; ValueData: "2"
UseAppDataFolder: 3 => User specific data directory. The location is stored in the user's registry branch (HKCU):
Root: HKLM; Subkey: "Software\iMacros"; ValueType: dword; ValueName: "UseAppDataFolder"; ValueData: "3" Root: HKCU; Subkey: "Software\iMacros"; ValueType: string; ValueName: "AppDataFolder"; ValueData: "c:\user1\"
Creating a Custom Install
The iMacros Setup executable was made using the Inno Setup custom installer, although no special features were used so you could use other installation software to create your own Setup Executable.
Inno Setup is available free of charge from here: [1]
You should also download the iMacros Player Inno installation script. The complete and documented source code is available as download inside our customer resources area.
Once you unzip the example script you will see the directory structure as shown.
You can open the Inno Setup Script file "iimv600-engine" within the IS Tool.
Here you can enter your Player license key and any settings you require.
You should also ensure that the latest iMacros files are located in the appropriate folder of the input directory.
You can then compile and run the script to create your installation file and it will be generated in the output folder.
Changes in an existing installation
Edit Settings
All iMacros settings are stored in a text file called "iim.ini". You can change most settings through the user interface so editing iim.ini is not required or recommended for most users. However, some low level settings can only be changed by directly editing the settings file.
How to change settings in iim.ini:
(1) Stop & close iMacros
(2) Locate "iim.ini". This file contains the iMacros settings. It is is typically located in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\iMacros"
(3) Open "iim.ini" with a text editor (e. g. notepad. exe) and make the changes. Then save the file under the same name.
(4) Restart iMacros
(5) Now the new settings are active
Note: The iMacros for Firefox settings are not stored in the iim.ini. Here we follow the Firefox standard and store the addon settings in the Firefox user profile. So while the iMacros Browser and iMacros for Internet Explorer settings are global (= for all users), the iMacros for Firefox setting are per user. You can view and edit them by typing "about:config" in the address line. You can even select a certain user profile via the iimInit "-fxProfile" switch.
Edit Paths
All iMacros paths can be changed directly in the user interface. To change them, go to the EDIT tab, click OPTIONS and open the PATH tab:
Change Settings File Location
The default location of the iim.ini file is
- C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\iMacros (Windows 2000, XP, 2003)
- C:\Users\Public\Documents\iMacros (Windows Vista, 2008)
How to change the location of iim.ini:
(1) Stop & close iMacros
(2) Open the Microsoft Registry Editor and navigate to
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\iMacros (Windows 32-bit)
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow3264Node\iMacros (Windows 64-bit)
(3) Locate the iMacros AppDataFolder entry. Change the path to the new default path, e. g. d:\mydata\
(4) Close the Registry Editor and restart iMacros
(5) Now the new iim.ini location is active. If there is no iim.ini file at the new location then iMacros will create one.