24.2 Packaging Multiple Files as OPX

FileShare-Pack-OPX

If you want to share your Origin work files with another user then we recommend you to use Origin's Package Manager. Similar to Zip, Package Manager packs all your files into a single file for sending to other users. But Package Manager offers other advantages. The main advantage with Package Manager is allowing other users to install the files within the package by simply dragging and dropping the package on to Origin's workspace. Packages can also be setup to create Apps, button groups and toolbars and execute LabTalk scripts before and after installation. Packages can be easily uninstalled from the Package Manager dialog.

Open Package Manager by choosing Package Manager on the Tools menu.

Dialog box

Menu

The Package Manger dialog has a File menu and a Tools menu.

The File menu contains the following items:

The Tools menu contains the following items:

Tree View

The tree view is where the package settings are edited.

Buttons

Below the tree view are six buttons.

The right-most button is used to show and hide the File List.

File List

The file list shows all the files that are currently in the package. The total number of files in the list is shown to the left of the above six button. The number of files in the list and the number of selected files will change the state of the buttons as described above.

Creating A New Package

Create a new package by adding files:

1. Enter the information about your module under the Package branch.
2. Click the Add Files button to open the Add Files To Package dialog.
3. Choose your files and then click the Open button or press the Enter key.
4. Choose Save or Save As on the File menu to write the package to an OPX file.

Create a new package by adding a folder:

If all of the files you want to put into a package are the same folder, it is more convenient to use the Add Folder button. This will add the folder and everything inside the folder, including subfolders their contents, into the package. The folder structure will be remembered in the package and will be recreated when the package is installed by another user.

1. Enter the information about your module under the Package branch.
2. Click the Add Folder button to open the Select Folder dialog.
3. Choose your folder and then click the Open button.
4. Choose Save or Save As on the File menu to write the package to an OPX file.

Creating a New App

To create a new package for an App, you can follow the steps in this tutorial.

Extracting Files From A Package

You can extract the files from an existing package using the Package Manager.

1. Choose Extract a Package... on the Tools menu.
2. In the Open dialog choose your OPX file and click the Open button.
3. In the Select Target Folder dialog choose your target folder and click the OK button.

All the files will be extracted to the target folder. If the package contains subfolder information then all the subfolders will be created and files will be extracted into the subfolders just as they were when they were added to the package.

Installing A Package

Installing A Package Using Package Manager

1. Choose Install a Package... on the Tools menu.
2. In the Open dialog choose your OPX file and click the Open button or press the Enter key.

The package will be installed.

Installing A Package Using Drag & Drop

1. Drag your OPX file and drop it on to the Origin workspace.

The package will be installed.

Installing A Package Using Group Folder

If you are using a concurrent network then you can have your package installed on all clients by putting it into your Group Folder.

Please see Group Folder Manager for how to do this.

Silent Install

A silent installation means performing installing automatically with the least user intervention. It is very useful when the installing procedure contains so many rollout messages that it would cost user many time to respond to every message and make the installation much slower.

To make an OPX that can be silently installed you need to have the following settings:

• Set the LabTalk Script > Before Installation setting to blank or any script that does not provoke a user prompt.
• Set the LabTalk Script > After Installation setting to any script that does not provoke a user prompt followed by the following two additional commands:

doc -s; 
exit;

After making the necessary changes to the OPX it is now possible to launch Origin, install the OPX, and exit Origin without any human interaction. The following command line demonstrates how to perform the silent install of the OPX.

Origin64.exe -h -R "instOPX OPXFileName.opx"

The above command line will need to be edited to use the file name of your OPX.

Uninstall a package

You can uninstall a package already installed using Package Manager.

1. Select Uninstall a package… or browse installed packages… on the Tools menu.
2. In the Installed Packages dialog, choose a package listed and click the Uninstall button.

The package will be uninstalled from your computer.

OriginC

The Package Manager is handled by OriginC code in OriginC\OriginLab\XMLPackage.c

The XMLPackage.c file calls a collection of Origin exported functions for working with packages. The following functions are declared in oUtils.h and exported from Origin's okUtil80.dll:

• okutil_create_package_tree
• okutil_create_package_file
• okutil_install_package_file
• okutil_uninstall_package_file
• okutil_get_installed_package_names
• okutil_add_folder_to_package
• okutil_add_files_to_package
• okutil_remove_files_from_package
• okutil_get_packed_file_names
• okutil_repack_files

See OriginC's oUtils.h for the function's return type and the argument accepted by each function.

Updating Origin C Files

Every Origin C file, when compiled, will generate a corresponding .OCB file in your User Files Folder. The .OCB file prevents having to recompile your Origin C source code every time it is executed. If you distribute Origin C files using an Origin package then you want to be sure your changed Origin C file gets recompiled when a user installs your updated package. In other words you want to delete the .OCB file that was created on the user's computer when they installed an older version of your package. You can delete the .OCB files using LabTalk's Delete command with the OCB option in your package's After Installation script.

For a detailed description of doing this please see Updating an Existing Origin C File

Command to create OPX file

Make an OPX file from ini settings without opening package manager dialog. This will be useful if user execute origin from command line or a windows BAT files.

Origin C

#include <Origin.h>
#include <../OriginLab/OPXFile.h>
int test_ini_to_opx()
{
	OPXFile opx;
	int err = opx.InitFromIni("opx_IEVer.ini");
	if( err == 0 )
	{
		if( !opx.Save() )
			printf("Failed saving.\n");
	}
	else
		printf("InitFromIni error %d\n", err);
	return 0;
}

LabTalk

mkOPX ini:="C:\Users\jacqueline\Documents\OriginLab\User Files\opx_IEVer.ini" app:=Custom_IEVer opx:=H:\CustomIEVer.opx;

[Package]
Name=IEVer
Description=Show IE version detected by Origin
Version=1.0
Author=OriginLab

[Origin]
Version=9.4
Pro=0

[App]
Icon=AppIcon.png
ToolbarIcon=
LaunchScript=run.section("%@AIEVer\IEVer.ogs",main);

[AppEnable]
Always=1
Graph=1
Workbook=1
Matrixbook=1
Image=1
Excel=1
Layout=1
LabTalkExp=

[Toolbar]
ButtonGroupFile=
Create=0

[LabTalk]
BeforeInstall=
AfterInstall=
BeforeUninstall=

[Files]
EncryptC=0
SourcePath=C:\Users\eparent\AppData\Local\OriginLab\Apps\IEVer\
OPXFile=IEVer1.opx