Who knows the one of the main steps till the application's publish is the sequencing phase? In simple words, sequencing is the taks of monitoring, capturing and create the project of one app so that the same can be distributed in a virtualized way by Softgrid. What I'm about to post today is how to sequence Office 2007 with some details for the pt-PT version. These are the steps and best practices to do it.

Step 1: Be aware of all the possible problems that you can face distributing virtualized apps to desktops or servers with Operating System with a different language pack.
Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935684/en-us

Step 2: Be aware of the best practices of sequencing. They must be applied for any app, not only for Office 2007.
Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932137/en-us

Step 3: Know how to customize the instalation of Office 2007 so that the sequencing occurs with success.
Article: http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/8faae8a0-a12c-4f7b-839c-24a66a531bb51033.mspx?mfr=true

Passo 4: See how you should procede during the sequencing of Office 2007.
Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939796/en-us

Probably for the US-English version, those steps should be enough.

But for the pt-PT version of Office 2007, we have to do some adjustments on the OSD archives for each product that may present some problems in their publishment. How to do that?

Step A: If some Office 2007 app was not correctly published (the icon didn't appear in the desktop or start menu), check the archive SFTLOG.TXT (Ex. %ProgramFiles%\Softricity\Softgrid).

Step B: Look for flaws in the construction of the OSD (XML Parsing Failure) of the app that was not published with success. The error code is useful to find a solution.

Step C: The flaws caused but invalid characters in the OSD archive or not supporting codification of the archive can be adjusted only by the edition of the OSD archive of the app with problems.
Articles: KB938625, KB930709 e KB931245.

Note: For the error 00E01005-00000016, try the procedure KB931245 before any other.

Please let me know if this was useful for you.

So, many people wonder nowadays, what is the new Microsoft's MDOP pack what does it stand for. To give an incite about what it is, I leave you with this link about the new:

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack

Have no fear! It's not dead, just do a soft reset! Use a pin and hold the soft reset button for 5-10 seconds (the reset is not on the face, but in the hole at back where the unit connects to the base; opposite side of the gold circle, up just a little from the green strip). Apparently the battery shuts down if it's overcharged, so if you charge it for more than a few hours it might not turn back on again.

Reset it and you'll be on the road again!

Recently I had the chance to start working with Softgrid, a Microsoft's application virtualization and I'm really stunned about the potential of virtualization in future. But let's stop the chit-chat and go to the fundamental point.

The goal was to sequence Internet Explorer 7 with JInitiator's plug-in in Windows Vista. It doesn't matter the version of JInitiator but what matters is that has to work. Well it's known that Oracle is not supporting JInitiator on Vista, so Softgrid is coming handy on this. So the steps are quite simple and if you follow them, you should get the job done.

1.Create a folder in "Q:" with the name you want. I've called it "JavaJInitiator". Inside create two folders. I've called them "Java" and "JInitiator".

2.Install Sofgrid's Sequencer on a Windows Vista with Internet Explorer 7.

3.Open the Sequencer and start a sequence task and give the name you want to give to each points. Remember: in the Path textbox you have to enter the same name on which later you will save the package. I've entered as "JavaJInitiator".

4.Start Begin Monitoring. Then install JRE (well I managed to work with the 1.5 version, but I guess any version should work) on "Q:\JavaJInitiator\Java". When it finishes install JInitiator on "Q:\JavaJInitiator\JInitiator".

5.What we're gonna do now is part of what does the trick so we can manage it to work on Vista. It's pretty simple. Only what you have to do is to open the folder: "Q:\JavaJInitiator\Java\bin\client\" and copy the file "jvm.dll" to the folder "Q:\JavaJInitiator\JInitiator\bin\hotspot\" and replace with the one that is there.

6.Now if needed, you should go to Control Panel and click on the JInitiator's icon to increase the cache size in order to guarantee your application doesn't fail. By default is 50mb.

7.So, now we're gonna test the application. Go and link to your Oracle Forms Application site and wait for the application to open. It may ask to register a .dll, do it and the application should open. Now, in order to guarantee that will work as virtualized you should go to Internet Explorer Tools, Internet Options, Programs and click Manage Add-Ons. There, choose Download ActiveX Controls (32 bit) and certify that JInitiator's plugin is Enabled, if not, enable it. Restart your Internet Explorer and test the application again. After, Stop Monitoring.

8.The next step is to choose the path, so select "Q:\JavaJInitiator" . After that, when choosing what goes in the package, remove Java and JInitiator and just leave Internet Explorer on the list. Edit Internet Explorer and give the name "Internet Explorer with JInitiator", the Version "7" and give the OSD file name as "JavaJInitiator.osd".

9.Launch the application in order to test it and now you're ready to save it. Save your package as "JavaJInitiator" in the directory "C:\JavaJInitiator".

10.Copy the package to "Content" folder of your Softgrid server, import it and you're ready to stream it.

Well, I hope it helps you understanding how softgrid can help you with the various versions of JInitiator and how to run multiple applications in Windows Vista with Internet Explorer 7. 

Recently I installed Windows Server 2008 x64 to try things like Hyper-V but I have the need to do such simple things as write in blogs so I had to find a way to solve the problem cause there is no support for the Windows Live Installer.

You can download the package here: http://get.live.com/writer/overview and use the Hex editor hack found at http://www.anti-tgtsoft.com/?p=14

The instructions:

1. Patch WLinstaller.exe
   At offset 0×1B9F0, change 74 to EB
2. Execute WLinstaller.exe
   Attempt to install all products, ignore the installer errors and exit
3. Navigate to %systemroot%\Syswow64\config\systemprofile\AppData\
   Local\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiSources
4. Use the handy dandy chart below to install the products you want to install/update.

   Windows Live Writer
   Install_{1F973A7F-3FE4-4D11-A9A2-E869C2899A7D}.msi

   Windows Live Messenger
   Install_{508CE775-4BA4-4748-82DF-FE28DA9F03B0}.msi

   Windows Live Sign-In Assistant
   Install_{CB5EA99C-8A5B-49F2-9A1A-2EF78BE4DB41}.msi

   Windows Live Mail
   Install_{EDB619FD-4E71-403C-8E99-DFC9CF9DD345}.msi

   Windows Live Toolbar
   Install_{C6876FE6-A314-4628-B0D7-F3EE5E35C4B4}.msi

   Windows Live Photo Gallery
   Install_{AA436FBD-2595-479B-8DDE-E9C36F50D99D}.msi