RESOURCE Software: the Administrator’s Guide
Teacher files
Pupil files
Installing on a netbook
Resource software is designed to work window with a minimum height of 600 pixels and can be set to fill the screen on any computer with a screen height of 600 pixels or larger.
As netbooks don't have a CD drive, you will need to set a CD drive on another computer on your network to be shared. Put the CD in this drive: hold down the SHIFT key while the drive starts up.
On the netbook, open the shared CD.
Find the folder with the full name of the program you are installing and open it.
Double-click the second of the Install files (Install.exe).
There will be a few seconds before the computer security asks you if you wish to run Install.exe. Choose Run on both screens, then follow the instructions in Installing Resource Software below.
Installing Resource Software
Generally, Resource software is supplied on the Early Years and Primary CD or the Secondary CD. Languages for Talk·2·Talk software are on the Languages CD and are installed using a similar process (see below). Software is not compressed or packaged in any way and can be run from the CD in Evaluation mode.
In most instances, installing without a serial number will give the user a full licence that will last for at least 14 days. After that time the software will still run in the limited Evaluation mode.
Older titles that have yet to be updated will need a temporary licence number – available on request.
Installing the software is a four-step process:
Licence Agreement: You must agree to the terms of the licence before installing.
Registration: If you have a licence for a title, enter the serial number printed on the Registration card in the box on the screen, then type in the name of the purchaser – in most cases, this will be the name of a school.
You may make as many licensed installations as your licence permits; our licence is very flexible – please read your Agreement for full details.
Destination: By default, the installation will put your software in Program Files, but you can choose another place. It will also produce a new group on the Start > All Programs menu called RESOURCE and in this you will find the shortcuts for the software you have installed and the on-line manual.
Install: This will complete the process.
If you have a Licence card, the Registration part of the should be completed and returned to Resource Education. This establishes a simple proof of purchase for updating purposes and also becomes a record of the serial number should your copy be lost.
If you've downloaded a program and purchased without a full pack, your serial number will have been registered before the licence was sent to you.
Serial number
The serial number holds information on the licence; this information is shown in the Splash screen and in the About box. It is validated each time the software is run.
When licences are updated or a licence is purchased for a program that has been installed for evaluation, a new serial number is issued. The program’s licence should be updated:
Run the program.
When the Title screen is showing, press CONTROL + F1.
Type the new number into the Serial number box on the About screen.
On XP and Vista, data in the Serial number box will be greyed if the logged-on user is not an Administrator. Click the Update button to enter an Administrator password before changing the number.
The number is validated immediately and can be copied and pasted. The serial number is stored in the BOOT.DAT file (see below). All instances of the program should be updated.
Networking
All software from Resource Education can be installed on Windows 98, Me, 2000 or XP workstations and some on Vista.
By default, all data used by the programs is stored next to the application in Program Files. Resource software frequently uses multiple editable configurations, teacher data files and pupil data files. The locations of these files must be set if:
the Program Files folder is locked down
the software is to be run on various network configurations rather than on stand-alone workstations.
All Resource software refers to a single source file – the BOOT.DAT – for the location of all editable data. If the program is to be run over a network, this file should be edited before the software is made available. On systems where the software is to be distributed by MSI to workstations, the serial number should be entered on installing the program so that the BOOT.DAT file can be updated first.
The BOOT.DAT file can be opened in any word processing application from Notepad up. A typical BOOT.DAT file looks like this:
[Folders]
TeacherData=%EXEDIR%\
PupilData=%PERSONAL%\
[Licence]
RegName=Resource Education
SerialNo=99HR-GG4U-YL47-FYC7-GFWF-363E
The key elements to change are the locations of the Teacher data and the Pupil data files (if present).
Teacher files
Teacher data files usually consist of Configuration data: Resource software allows teachers to modify up to six Configurations for use by different groups or individuals. The default TeacherData location – %EXEDIR%\ – is next to the application. If this causes problems with your local security policies (as it could on Vista and future editions of the Windows operating system), this reference could be changed to:
TeacherData=%COMMONAPPDATA%\Resource Education\
This is automatically translated by the operating system to a location on the machine that the software is being run on, which may not be the machine on which the software is located. You should replace %COMMONAPPDATA%\ with the address of your own common public location if this is different.
While you should always include Resource Education in the path, you don’t need to make the folder at your specified location: when the software is first run it will create the Resource Education folder with all necessary permissions if it can’t be found. All Teacher data files will then be copied to this location and all Resource software installed subsequently will also use it.
It is essential that the Resource Education folder has full read/write access to prevent Vista virtualising Teacher data files.
If the software is run from a central location on a number of workstations, there will be unique copies of the Teacher data on each workstation if the path is not specified correctly before the software is distributed with an updated BOOT.DAT file. This ensures that all pupils use the same Configurations and data files whether using a centrally served version of the software or a copy of the software distributed to workstations using MSI or other method.
Pupil files
The default location – %PERSONAL%\ – is read by the operating system as the logged-on user’s My Documents folder on the machine the software is being run on, not necessarily the machine the software is on. For network use, the location should be replaced with the common location of your students’ workspace.
Talk·2·Talk languages
Talk·2·Talk languages can be installed at any time and can only be installed from within the target program. When the program is displaying the Title screen, press CONTROL + F3. If the Languages CD is not in the drive you will be prompted to insert it. The target program will launch the Languages Installer. The Languages Installer will prompt for a number key.
When the number key is decoded, one or more languages will be unlocked and installed to the correct location. The install log will be updated.
Language folders are unlocked in the install process and cannot be simply copied from the CD. Once installed, language folders can be:
packaged into an MSP file and distributed as an update patch.
copied and pasted into other instances of the target program (without updating the install log).
Language files are always installed in the same relative location:
(program name folder)\Resources\Language\(language name)