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Task 4.1(a): Create Custom Installation Files, Standard Alternative

Badger TraCS Guides

Task 4.1(a): Create Custom Installation Files, Standard Alternative

Owned by Geraldine Polster
May 05, 2023
7 min read

Task 4.1(a): Create Custom Installation Files, Standard Alternative

Purpose: Creates distribution files to simplify installation of TraCS on additional computers.

Requirements: Master computer

Double click the shortcut for the TraCS Configuration Manager, located on your desktop.

 

  1. Sign in with account 00001.

  2. Export user files so that they may be distributed to field units. (Note: this step is not needed for Web Services units)

    1. Click Users tab.

    2. Click the User button to open the User Editor.

    3. Clear the Inactive User field

    4. Click the Search button.

    5. Select users to include in the distribution.

      1. If you use TraCS to manage user accounts, click the Select All button to select all users.

      2. If you use Active Directory to manage user accounts, select the #AD_AU_USER# and #AD_TEMPLATE_USER# accounts.

    6. Click the User File(s) button.

    7. A “Browse For Folder” box will open and will be defaulted to the TraCS network User folder. Click OK button .

    8. Click Ok button.

Note: If you have any users that are marked inactive, you will need to change the search criteria and export those as well. This is necessary if after using TraCS for a while, you need to deactivate certain user accounts on the mobile version of TraCS as a result of employee leaving or changing job duties.

i. Click the Close button.

3. Close the TraCS Configuration Manager.

4. Create baseline distribution files.

a. Start TraCS

b. Sign in with account 00001.

c. Click the Configuration and Distribution button on the Tools ribbon menu.

 

d. Click Create Distribution.

e. Enter the 3-digit TraCS Agency Number (TAS Number) for your agency.

f. Click OK to open the configuration wizard for this computer (master computer.)

g. Complete the distribution section of the form.

Note: The first time you create a distribution you will need to complete the whole distribution section. For future distributions, it is typically only necessary to update the version number.

Version Number Field: Use the New button to enter a new distribution button.

Note: Each successive distribution that runs on a computer must have a higher version number than the previous distribution. Distribution files that have a lower version number than the previously installed distribution files will not install on the target computer.

Note: The version number that is created when you press the new button is based on the current date. If for some reason you wind up needing to create two different distributions on the same day, for example, because you made an error in the first distribution, press the new button again to increment the last digit of the version number.

Distribution Type Field: Place checkmarks on both Mobile and Office to create distribution files for both types TraCS clients. (See notes at the end of this task for information on special situations.

Automatic Download Field:

  • If your mobile computers have access to your network with a reasonably good connection speed at log in time, place a checkmark next to mobile to force automatic download of the distribution files at login time. If you leave mobile option unchecked, mobile computers will still be able to run the distributions by clicking the distribution button.

  • Place a checkmark next to office to force automatic download of the distribution files at log in time. If you leave office option unchecked, office computers will still be able to run the distributions by clicking the distribution button.

Enabled field:

  • Choose Yes to enable distributions as soon as distribution files are deployed.

  • Choose No to disable distributions after the new files are created so that they can be tested first.

Test Machine IDs Field: If you entered No, in the Enabled field, enter a list of TraCS machine IDs of machines on which to test the distribution, example: 123,456. This field may also be left blank.

  • If your agency hosts multiple agencies in your TraCS database:

    • TraCS Agency Number field: enter the agency number for the agency for which you are creating the distribution.

    • If you only want to include the code tables for the agency listed in the TraCS Agency Number field, choose Select Records For This TraCS Agency Number Only in the Code Table Export Filter field. Otherwise choose Select All Records.

    • Create TraCS Agency Sub-Folder for Distribution field: you have the option of placing the distribution files in a sub-folder based on the agency number.

Mobile Distribution Folder field: Click the Get Folder button to get the default location to which to deploy the distribution files.

Office Distribution Folder field: Click the Get Folder button to get the default location to which to deploy the distribution files.

Review the remaining settings on the form. The settings in blue will be part of the distribution. The settings in white are specific to each computer and not part of the distribution. Make sure these are the settings you want to deploy. An explanation of the settings can be found in task 3.1.


If there are some standard settings that you want to remove from the distribution, place checkmark(s) on the appropriate items in the Exclude These Settings From Distribution field. (This is rare.)

Press the validate button. If the form validates without error you receive a message requesting to create the distribution files. Click Yes to generate the distribution files and place them in the distribution folders for deployment.

 

It may take a few minutes for the distribution to generate. Be patient. Click OK when the deployment message appears.

 

 

If your agency has in-vehicle computers that are not easily connectable to the Internet at least once a month to receive Badger TraCS patches, you may manually download the most recent from the Badger TraCS Extranet site and copy it to the Distribution\Mobile folder. The patch will then be installed as part of a distribution.

 

Note: We strongly encourage you to use the TraCS Update server on your TraCS Mobile computer if at all possible since it is automatic and much faster and easier than the manual download method. The update files are smaller and take less time to install compared to the full WIPack.

  1. Go to https://trust.dot.state.wi.us/tracs/extranet.htm, click on the software link, and scroll to the WI Pack section.

  2. Download WIPack.zip.

  3. Unzip (extract the files) WIPack.zip to the Distribution\Mobile folder.

  4. You should now have the newest pkg file in the Distribution\Mobile folder: WIPack YYMMDD -WIPackYYMMDD.tracspack.pkg (where YYMMDD is the most recent patch number).

  5. Delete any older pack numbers in the Distribution\Mobile folder that are present from the last time you did this task.

Distribution creation and deployment is now complete. See below for notes on special situations.

Note: You may disable running distributions from TraCS by editing the distribution.ini file in the distribution/mobile and/or distribution/office folders. Use notepad.exe to edit distribution.ini file with the following contents:

[Distribution]

Enabled=False

This will disable running the distribution when the user logs off or when they click the Run Distribution button. However, running the bat file or using Run Distribution button will continue to work.

To re-enable distribution, edit distribution.ini to set Enabled=True to enable distribution for all computers.

You may also provide a comma delimited list of TraCS machine numbers to enable running the distribution when the user logs off or when they click the Run Distribution button to a limited number of machines. This is useful if you want to test a distribution on a small number of machines before you roll it out agency-wide.

Example: Enabled=110,111,112

 

 

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