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Donb01
Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 48
Location: Manitowoc, WI
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 Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:20 am Post subject: Scripted Client install + Wish List?? |
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Two questions today - one which will appear cranky :o)
First, is it possible to create an installation script that will allow me to make it possible for the typical "dumb as rocks" user to install the PageGate client themselves?? I would need to install the client, delete the C: from the 2 pathnames and replace it with \\servername, tick the 'clear on send' and 'failure warning popup' boxes set some fixed station ID (unless I could actually make it auto-increment from a file that stores the last ID used), and check 'save settings for all local users'. That would at least let me get it out there to the masses. My normal install also pastes a shortcut on the desktop for all users and in the 'startup' box for all users, but I'm less worried about that right now. We have 600 - 700 PCs spread across maybe 8 sites and it is a burden to touch them all.
The second question is less polite, but is kind of a wish list item. Since you broke a major standard accepted programming practice by making a major database structure change in a minor version revision that requires the client to be scrapped and reinstalled, would it be possible to set things up so the PG client major distributables can be located in the database directory and the client can search for a new version of itself and automatically update. I spent nearly 3 years loading clients on maybe 200 out of 600 PCs and I would like to take advantage of your new dial-in capabilities. If I upgrade the system I will have to go back and redo all of those clients and I just don't have the resources for that. Any suggestions??
Thank you for the great product!! I just want to use it all and this is proving to be an impossible hurdle.
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Tech Support
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 4351
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| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: |
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| Just out of curiosity, what build number were you using and what build did you install that changed the database structure? |
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OzCom
Joined: 22 Oct 2003
Posts: 1121
Location: US
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| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:29 am Post subject: |
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You may want to consider moving from the guiClient to the browser based getWEB module. This has helped many of my clients facing the same issue_________________ Aaron D. Osgood
Streamline Communications, LLC
* Authorized Notepage, Inc. Development Partner and Re-seller
TEL: 207-518-8455
AOsgood@streamline-solutions.net
Creators of AutoPage Spillman CAD interface for PageGate |
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Donb01
Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 48
Location: Manitowoc, WI
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| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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I'm currently running 5.0.2
Basically I tested everything with V4 trial and got permission to buy the software and then you released 5.0 before I implemented it. Once I got 5 I took off and started rolling it out across the organization. I had about 50 stations done when I found out you had the new release of 5 and it wasn't compatible with everything I had already installed. By then I already didn't have the resources to go back and touch all those computers so I was stuck where I was and am making the best of it. I am not complaining about what I have - just that the touch-tone entry upgrade would have rocked for my numeric pagers.
On the subject of numeric pagers, and I realize it's a completely different subject, my primary numeric paging carrier has just implemented an SNPP gateway so I can now use PageGate to page my numeric pagers.
When you send out the pages (to anything) you first send out the DATA command with no content followed by the MESS command with the actual message. This does not affect my cellular acrrier because they reject and ignore the DATA command, but the numeric paging carrier's server accepts it and the combination of DATA + MESS is putting a couple of garbage characters at the beginning of my text. How much of a major PITA would it be to remove the DATA command from what is sent out as an SNPP message?? My cellular provider doesn't need it and it causes problems for my numeric provider.
Thanks!
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Tech Support
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 4351
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| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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Ah... yeah. If you had a build of version 5 that old installed, we did make a database change from 5.0.0.2 to 5.0.0.3 but both of those builds were released almost a year and a half ago.
As for the DATA vs MESS command issue, I'll check into it and let you know. Basically, the way it works now, there are two possible data input commands that a receiving SNPP system might require. We start with DATA because that's the initiatory command that almost all SNPP servers require but there are a few that use a different command, MESS. If we don't get a response with the DATA command, the program assumes that the receiving system doesn't use that command and uses the alternate of MESS. Currently, it doesn't just immediately start with MESS because it's a little used initiatory command. |
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Tech Support
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 4351
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| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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| I was speaking with OzCom a moment ago and he reminded me of something that might make your life easier. The only important part of the client update is the pgc.exe file. If you have an existing current build Client install, you can take the pgc.exe file from that system and copy it over to the c:\program files\pagegate client\ directory of all of the non-updated systems. Just overwrite the existing pgc.exe |
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Donb01
Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 48
Location: Manitowoc, WI
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| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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I believe I've been running PageGate for at least 2 years - it's long since paid for itself. I paid my initial $800 to get set up and have since eliminated over 120 pagers that were costing me $11 a month - the math is rather impressive. The vast majority of these folks were carrying both a cell phone AND a pager and now use just the cell phone. Here is a comment I just received yesterday from one of my Physicians who just jumped on the bandwagon: "I really liked how it worked with the messages from the dispatcher while on call. It made it less likely to miss a call or to call the wrong number."
Now all I have to do is figure out a way not to have to drive to all those sites and displace the nurses or whoever are using those computers, pull all the laptops out of the operating rooms change them and re-sanitize them, patient rooms, delivery rooms, etc without leaving my office. If our MIS department wasn't such a bunch of useless slackers they would probably have implemented the tools for rolling out software installs and upgrades for the last 2 years. If that group of about 10 people wasn't so uncooperative then I wouldn't be trying to roll out the product to all 600 - 700 PCs in our $23 million company by myself - along with my regularly scheduled work already in progress. And now that everyone is waking up to how great it is they're all starting to demand it gets installed on their PCs....
I don't doubt in the slightest that one simple file copy is a heckuva lot easier than having to do a full client install on each PC!!
If the new client was backward compatible to the old database then I would simply begin installing the new client and change the older computers when I visit each site to setup new ones. Then when I had all or most of them converted I could just "flip the switch" and roll out the new server.
Did you guys give any thought to that original "scripted install" question? One of the clinics messaged me saying they wanted a bunch of stations set up and I took a chance and picked someone with a brain and gave her the custom installation document I wrote for the system - I haven't heard a word in over 4 hours so they are either doing well or afraid to tell me what happened :o)
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Donb01
Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 48
Location: Manitowoc, WI
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| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:17 am Post subject: |
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Can we continue this discussion:
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| As for the DATA vs MESS command issue, I'll check into it and let you know. Basically, the way it works now, there are two possible data input commands that a receiving SNPP system might require. We start with DATA because that's the initiatory command that almost all SNPP servers require but there are a few that use a different command, MESS. If we don't get a response with the DATA command, the program assumes that the receiving system doesn't use that command and uses the alternate of MESS. Currently, it doesn't just immediately start with MESS because it's a little used initiatory command. |
From the way I am seeing it in my log, you are sending the DATA command but with no data after it, and then you are sending MESS regardless and that command has the data behind it.
Now you can start out by including the message with the data command because my cell phone provider ignores it so I won't get a duplicate message when that command fails and it reverts to sending the MESS command. If the system is truly working as you say it does I also won't get a duplicate message from my paging provider because you will see a confirmation response instead of an error from DATA and that would stop the client from sending MESS.
The way it is working right now the client sends just "DATA" with no arguments as a way to say "Hey There" and then it goes along and sends the MESS command regardless of what the response was from Data - otherwise all I would ever get from the paging provider is the garbage characters caused by sending DATA with a blank argument and I would never get the message because it would give a positive response to the DATA command so it would never be sent.
I don't think right now it's actually working the way you think it is :o)
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Tech Support
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 4351
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| Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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Well, it's more that the sequence itself responds differently for DATA than it does MESS.
With the MESS command, you get to send MESS <message text>.
The DATA command doesn't work that way, as far as I know. You send the DATA command and then the receiving system has to offer a specific response before the message text can be sent.
So, we send the DATA command first and if we don't receive the response, we go on with MESS. |
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