The DataFlex Windows Client Engine is provided in a configurable installation program. The program will automatically install the DataFlex Client Components.
The Client Engine installs all files and makes all necessary Windows Registry settings to allow DataFlex Windows applications to run on the destination computer.
You can download the most current DataFlex Client Installation for the version of DataFlex you are using from the DataFlex Download Center: https://downloads.dataaccess.com/.
You may choose to develop an installation program for your DataFlex application(s) using any available software installation tool, such as Wise Installer or InstallShield. For licensing reasons, you must install the DataFlex Client Engine using the Client installation program provided. You can implement this by calling the Client installation program from your installation program.
The Client Engine installation supports two installation types; Local and Network (Local is the default). Use a Local installation to install the Client Engine onto a standalone PC. Use a Network installation to install the Client Engine on a network server and then set up one or more workstations to share the client engine (and user count) from the server.
Simply install the Client Engine on the standalone PC (this is the default). A local Installation will use Program Files as the default location.
Install the Client Engine on the Network Server. As long as your network login has administrative rights on the server, you can install from any workstation, or login at the server itself. Simply install the Client Engine on the server and select the Network Accessible Installation type when prompted.
If installing to the server from a workstation, you will naturally select a shared location on the server when prompted for the location. If you are installing on the server itself, you may be tempted to accept the default Program Files location - we strongly recommend against this practice. We advise you to create a specific shared location on your server.
Note that if installing to the server from a workstation, you will not be able to run DataFlex applications on the server at a later time because the registry settings will not be present and the OCXs will not be registered. If you think you will need to run DataFlex applications on the network server, login directly to the server and install.
In order to access the Client Engine from any workstation attached to a server, the workstations need to know the location of the Client Engine and the Codejock ActiveX controls must be properly registered on the workstation. This is accomplished with the Workstation Setup program (WorkstationSetup.exe) located in the Bin64 folder of the Client Engine. Note that a 32-bit version is in the Bin folder, but is only necessary if installing on a 32-bit operating system. The 64-bit version creates all registry settings (64 and 32-bit) and registers all OCXs (64 and 32-bit).
Each workstation expected to run your Windows application will have access to the shared location of the Client Engine, through a UNC path. Simply run the Workstation Setup (either manually or as part of an application installation script) from each workstation, through that UNC path.
The Workstation Setup will create all the appropriate registry entries and automatically register the Codejock ActiveX controls.
If you want to run the Workstation Setup as part of your application installation script and hide the interface from the user, simply redirect it's output by adding > nul to the command line.
When running the Workstation Setup program, make sure that:
The workstation installation is run by a user with enough rights to create registry entries on the local machine
After the installation finished, you can verify that the registry entries were successfully created under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Data Access Worldwide\DataFlex\[revision] and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Data Access Worldwide\DataFlex\[revision]
The folder where Termlist.cfg and <serial_number>.dfr are located (\Bin64) is read/write to all users who will be running the application
Termlist.cfg and <serial_number>.dfr match (same date/timestamp), are writable files, and are only in one folder (no multiple copies found by the workstations)
Deploying Windows Applications