PACextract - Installation instructions

What is PACextract

PACextract is a user friendly application to generate daily reports from ArcHouse into Microsoft Excel form. More details can be found here.

Where to get PACextract

Each customer has a specially customised version of PACextract which is tailored to the way they use ArcHouse and the types of information that they require on a regular basis. You will have been provided with instructions on how to download the latest version. Please contact support for more details.

Each version of PACextract installer is formed in the following way:

PACextractInstaller__.exe

where

• = The customer name
• = The version number

For example:

PACextractInstaller_PickSoft_1_0_0_137.exe

Where to install PACextract

PACextract should be installed on the ArcHouse server if you are running a windows version of ArcHouse. If you are running a UNIX version of ArcHouse then PACextract should be installed on a windows server that is on the same network as the ArcHouse server. The server running PACextract will need to transfer a lot of data from the ArcHouse server and should ideally be connected to the same switch/hub in the same location.

Performing the install

Once you have the installation kit on the machine you are going to install on execute it by double-clicking it. This will present a screen similar to the following:

Please then choose an installation directory:

The installation should complete without error

The installation should complete without error. Please click the close button and move onto the post-installation steps.

Post installation steps - Windows ArcHouse server

Configuring for first use

PACextract needs a full dump of the ArcHouse database that is going to be used. This is normally the LIVE database. If there is no current dump available, please run the following for a Windows ArcHouse implementation:

call pppcfg live
call pppdumpall  

You will need to specify the username and password to use. This can be the Orchard user and password or any other account with sufficient privileges. If this runs successfully you can then proceed to run PACextract. This is achieved by selecting 'PACextract' from the programs menu. You should be presented with a screen like this:

The installation options should be correct, however it is a good idea to check that the settings are appropriate. To access the settings, click on File->Properties.

After setting all the properties, please try a test run by clicking the 'Perform Run' button. This should produce output in the PACextract console screen similar to the following:

If you have not already installed the PickSoft Root Certificate Authority you may be presented with a screen like this. If you do, please click the 'Yes' button. This certificate helps guarantee that instructions in PACextract have been given by PickSoft only.  If you do not install the certificate, PACextract will not continue to function.

Once completed, there should be several .PAcsheets in the master data directory. If there are any red lines in the output, these should be reported to PickSoft support.

Setting up overnight batch script

To set PACextract to run each night it is recommended that a command script be produced to first dump the database, then process it. The following commands should be placed in a new file such as c:\program files\picksoft\pacextract\DumpLiveandProcess.cmd

call pppcfg live
call pppdumpall  
start "pe" /wait "c:\program files\picksoft\pacextract\PACextract.exe" RUN

The new command file then needs to be set up to run overnight on a scheduled queue.

Post installation steps - UNIX ArcHouse server

Configuring for first use

TBD