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Automatic Installation

Where to get the installer

There are several places to get the OfficeWriterDesinger-Installer-9.#.#.msi:

Running the installer

  1. Copy the OfficeWriter Designer install files to the client machine.
  2. Check that your system meets System Requirements for the OfficeWriter Designer. This includes a 32-bit version of Office 2007 or later with appropriate service packs and security patches, MS Query, and VBA.
  3. Close all Microsoft Office applications.
  4. If there are previous versions of the Designer installed, make sure to uninstall the OfficeWriter Designer through Add/Remove programs or Programs and Features.
  5. Double-click OfficeWriterDesigner-Installer.msi to begin the OfficeWriter Designer installation.

  6. Read the End-User license agreement.

  7. Select the Destination Folder. This installer will unpack some samples of pre-designed reports and the Designer installation source files.

    The OfficeWriter Designer can be run on 64-bit or 32-bit systems, but will unpack the samples and install files under the 32-bit version of Program Files: C:\Program Files x86\SoftArtisans\OfficeWriter\Designer on 64-bit systems or C:\Program Files\SoftArtisans\OfficeWriter\Designer for 32-bit systems.

  8. Select whether to install the OfficeWriter Designer Add-In for Excel, Word or both. If the installer detects that either Excel or Word is not installed on the machine, you will not have the option to install the Add-In for the missing application.

  9. The OfficeWriter Designer installer requires administrative privileges to register a few components used by the Add-In. You will be prompted for administrative credentials before the installation can complete.

Manual Installation

  1. Run the automatic installation on one machine in order to unpack the OfficeWriter Designer files. After these files have been unpacked, you can install the OfficeWriter Designer manually on other machines
  2. Close all Microsoft Office applications.
  3. Open a command prompt window and move to the directory OfficeWriter\Designer. For example, enter cd C:\Program Files\SoftArtisans\OfficeWriter\Designer.
  4. Enter regsvr32 SARS8CLT.dll. A dialog box will inform you that SARS8CLT.dll registered successfully; click Ok.
  5. Enter regsvr32 OWAssist.dll. A dialog box will inform you that OWAssist.dll registered successfully; click Ok.
  6. Enter regsvr32 XFClient.dll. A dialog box will inform you that XFClient.dll registered successfully; click Ok.

    The Application Data folder is hidden by default. In order to show hidden folders, open a Windows Explorer window and go to Tools. Select Folder Options, then select the View tab. Under Hidden files and folders, check the radio button beside Show hidden files and folders.

  7. Copy OWDesigner_Ribbon.dotm from OfficeWriter\Designer to
    %appdata%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP.
  8. Copy OWDesigner_Ribbon.xlam from OfficeWriter\Designer to
    %appdata%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART.
  9. Create the Registry Key settings as described below.

To change an OfficeWriter Designer registry key value:

OfficeWriter Designer Registry Keys

Key

Type

Value Description

Toolbar Caption Style

REG_DWORD

1 - Icon only
2 - Caption only
3 - Icon and caption (default)

Enable MSQuery

REG_DWORD

0 - Disable 'Add Query', 'Edit Query' and 'Delete Query' buttons. (default)
1 - Enable 'Add Query', 'Edit Query' and 'Delete Query' buttons.

Always Ask Param Values

REG_DWORD

0 - Don't ask for parameter values in reports with parameters if valid default values are specified in the RDL file.
1 - Always ask for parameter values in reports with parameters, even if valid default values are specified in the RDL file. (default)

Excel AddIn Default Renderer

REG_SZ

Rendering extension used for viewing report without template in Excel Add-In. "EXCEL" is default.

Word AddIn Default Renderer

REG_SZ

Rendering extension used for viewing report without template in Word Add-In. "HTML4.0" is default.

Debug

REG_SZ

"True" - Enables SOAP request and response dump to c:\temp\PayloadDump.xml and c:\temp\ResponseDump.xml correspondingly.
"False" - Disables SOAP request and response dump. (default)

No Overwrite Prompt

REG_DWORD

1 - Don't prompt to overwrite RDL file in Save As dialog.
0 - Prompt to overwrite RDL file in Save As dialog. (default)

Validate Fields

REG_DWORD

1 - Validate that each template data field has a field in the data source that binds to it. Generates error on "Save" on the client instead of error on "View" on the server.
0 - Don't validate that each template data field has a field in the data source that binds to it. (default)

Hide Enterprise Features

REG_DWORD

1 - Hides Insert Formula drop-down.
0 - Shows Insert Formula drop-down (default)

No Enterprise Features Warning

REG_DWORD

1 - Disables Enterprise Feature warning.
0 - Enables Enterprise Feature warning. (default)

Help File Path

REG_SZ

Path to chm file. Default value is C:\WINDOWS\Help\OfficeWriterRS.chm

SamplesDir

REG_SZ

Path to the root or samples (RDL) directory. Default value is C:\Program Files\SoftArtisans\OfficeWriter\Designer\samples

InstallDir

REG_SZ

Path to install directory. C:\Program Files\SoftArtisans\OfficeWriter\Designer

WordUseOpenFileMRU

REG_DWORD

0 - Use SampleDir once, then switch to 1
1 - Use last opened dir (default)
2 - Always use SampleDir

ExcelUseOpenFileMRU

REG_DWORD

0 - Use SampleDir once, then switch to 1
1 - Use last opened dir (default)
2 - Always use SampleDir

ServerMRU

Subkey

Keeps a list of most recently used (MRU) servers.

How to change an OfficeWriter ServerMRU (most recently used servers) registry key value:
  1. Open the Start menu and select Run.
  2. Enter regedit and click Ok.
  3. Open the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SoftArtisans\OfficeWriter\Designer\ServerMRU.
  4. Double click the key you want to update. An dialog will open.
  5. In the Value Data field, enter a new value for the key.

Key

Type

Value

Value Description

Maximum Entries

REG_DWORD

optional,
default - 10

Maximum entries in MRU list. Entries at the bottom of the list are removed to accommodate new server URLs.

MRU#

REG_SZ

Server URL (full)

http://<servername>/ReportServer