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9 Replies Last post: Nov 6, 2009 5:37 AM by lschwingler

Thinapp + local installed program posted: Nov 3, 2009 1:38 PM

lschwingler

6 posts since
Nov 3, 2009

New to ThinApp but heres what I got so far:

We have a rather large program installed on numerous PC's that needs to be updated every week or so. Within this program, it sends parameters to a locally installed scanning program which in turns uses a locally installed scanner driver. I've got our large program thinapped to run off a network share, lauch the scanning program, and work fine; but when you try lauching the scanning utility for the 2nd time (never closing the thinapp) the locally installed scanning program errors citing it can't load the scanner driver. I did a merged isolation with sandbox on the local user PC. In the sandbox, thinapp brings files for both the scanning program and scanner driver in.

It seems that once thinapp brings the files into the sandbox and uses them once, they no longer work again unless I close the thinapp, delete the sandbox, and re-launch the thinapp. I truly believe thinapp is where we need go as far as application support but won't get it in the budget till this one works.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Tags: thinapp, scanner, multiple, programs

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

1. Nov 3, 2009 1:50 PM

in response to: lschwingler

ggeldorp

435 posts since
Feb 29, 2008

By default, when a ThinApp application launches a child process, that child process will run in the virtual environment too. Since you have the scanning program installed locally, I'd set it up to run outside the virtual environment. You can do that using the Package.ini ChildProcessEnvironmentExceptions option, see the docs

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

2. Nov 3, 2009 2:52 PM

in response to: ggeldorp

lschwingler

6 posts since
Nov 3, 2009

I added ChildProcessEnvironmentDefault=External to Package.ini under BuildOptions but was unsuccessful. I also added tried:

ChildProcessEnvironmentExceptions=VDScan.exe;fjtwain.exe (both exe's I found in the sandbox)
ChildProcessEnvironmentDefault=Virtual

with the same results. After I edit Package.ini, do I just save it and run Build.bat? I have an appointment to make tonight but will back at this first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks!

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

3. Nov 3, 2009 3:42 PM

in response to: lschwingler

ggeldorp

435 posts since
Feb 29, 2008

Yes, just save Package.ini and rebuild. After a rebuild it's a good idea to remove the sandbox too.
Sounds like this is not going to work though.

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

4. Nov 4, 2009 12:58 PM

in response to: ggeldorp

lschwingler

6 posts since
Nov 3, 2009

As expected it didn't work. I have the sandbox going to the user profile / appdata / thinstall (default). It appears to bust when it re-uses the scanner related files so could it be that there is read only access or a locked file issue?

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

5. Nov 4, 2009 1:45 PM

in response to: lschwingler

pbjork

105 posts since
Mar 7, 2008

The user should have full access to all the files in the sandbox..

What I am thinking about is if it is the case where the scanner software cannot find the files. This is quite common; the ThinApped application creates a file and sends the path to the locally installed application. The problem is that if the isolation modes are set to sandbox that file/files it is not in the path that the ThinApped application think it is. It is in the sandbox on the physical machine.

Sometimes I managed to get around these kinds of problems by simply change the folders isolation mode to Merged and now the path is the same for both the ThinApped and locally installed application.

I might be on the completely wrong path here but it doesn’t hurt sharing I thought..

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

6. Nov 4, 2009 2:08 PM

in response to: pbjork

lschwingler

6 posts since
Nov 3, 2009

So once I run the program successfully the first time and the files get pulled into the sandbox, change the ##Attribute file to merged? Again, new to this so I just want to make sure I try it properly.

Side question: My understanding of merged isolation is that whenever the thinapp has the communicate with the OS, files are left alone and ran from the OS. How come Thinapp pulls them into the sandbox in the first place?

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

7. Nov 4, 2009 2:23 PM

in response to: lschwingler

pbjork

105 posts since
Mar 7, 2008

Yes, you should change the ##Attributes.ini file to Merged in that location.

The files present on your system will be pulled into the sandbox if your isolation mode is WriteCopy. WriteCopy allows physical files to be seen and used by the virtual application. But if the application modifies the files we protect the system and make the actual modification into the sandbox.

Please bear in mind that the logic behind when the files will be sandboxed or not is quite important. There is two ways a file can be accessed from within an application. Either with read access or with write access. With read access the application cannot modify the file and therefore we will not copy it to the sandbox. If the application opens the file with write access we first copy the file to the sandbox and then hand it over to the application. So your application might not modify the files in a normal sense. It may only open the files with write access but not modifying the content.

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

8. Nov 4, 2009 5:16 PM

in response to: pbjork

lschwingler

6 posts since
Nov 3, 2009

Looking good! I modified the Attributes file in the past but never ran the rebuild.bat file on the PC I had ThinApp installed on. Ran the rebuild and it appears to be working now. I'm going to spend tomorrow testing the thinapp + network usage ect...
Thanks for everyones help on this! I'll post back final results after testing.

Re: Thinapp + local installed program

9. Nov 6, 2009 5:37 AM

in response to: lschwingler

lschwingler

6 posts since
Nov 3, 2009

Everything seems to be working and I couldn't be more excited. Thanks for everyones help! Now to figure out how to update it will be interesting but thats a whole new topic. Thanks!

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