ASITHAPPENS INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS

Prerequisites (Unix and Windows)

A Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.5 or higher must be installed
[OPTIONAL] MySQL version 3.0 or higher - necessary only if storing collected data

Installation options

Four installation options are available: - Unix with installer (".sh" file)
- Windows with installer (".exe" file)
- Unix without installer (".tgz" or ".zip" file) - Windows without installer (".tgz" or ".zip" file)

If you are upgrading from a previous version, you can install over the top of the previous installation directory. If you have made your own additions to the "asithappens.properties" file, You may want to back this up before the install, and restore it afterwards.

The next section details how to install each of the four options.

Unix with installer (".sh" file)

If it is not already there, add the Java 1.5 executable directory to your PATH environment variable e.g. PATH=$PATH:/opt/jdk1.5.0_06/bin
Run the installer and follow instructions e.g. with the command sh asithappens-0.31.sh

Windows with installer (".exe" file)

Double-click on the installer file and follow instructions

Unix without installer (".tgz" or ".zip" file)

Unpack the install file into any destination directory e.g. unpacking in /opt will create the application directory /opt/asithappens
Change the JAVA_EXE variable to the path to your JRE 1.5 executable (e.g. /opt/jdk1.5.0_01/jre/bin/java) in the script "bin/asithappens.sh"
Change the ASITHAPPENS_HOME variable to the install directory (e.g. /opt/asithappens) in the script "bin/asithappens.sh"

Use the "bin/asithappens.sh" script to start the application.

Windows without installer (".tgz" or ".zip" file)

Unpack the install file into any destination directory e.g. unpacking in "C:\Program Files" will create the application directory "C:\Program Files\asithappens"
Change the "javaExe" variable to the path to your JRE 1.5 executable (e.g. C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_04\bin\java") in the script "bin\asithappens.vbs"
Change the "asithappensHome" variable to the install directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\asithappens) in the script "bin\asithappens.vbs"

Use the "bin\asithappens.vbs" script to start the application.

NB - a problem has been reported with the VBS file not working under some Windows environments, so a batch file is included as an alternative. To use this, apply steps 2 and 3 above to the script file "bin\asithappens.bat" instead, and use this script to start the application.

Database notes

If the MySQL database server is not running, you will be informed that you can not use the database storing functionality. If you are sick of this warning, turn it off by adding this line to the "asithappens.properties" file:

database.create.prompt = 0

If the MySQL database server is running, but the AsItHappens database has not yet been created (e.g. the first time you run AsItHappens), you will be prompted to create the database when AsItHappens starts up.

MySQL authentication relies on the name resolved from the IP address according to the server's name service. Since the local address is generally 127.0.0.1, you may need to make this resolve to the name "localhost" e.g. by ensuring that it is the first entry in the "127.0.0.1" line in the /etc/hosts file:

127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain my-server-name

If for some reason you need to create the database manually, it can be done with the following command (the "-p" option can be left out if there is no database root password set):

"mysql -u root -p < sql\db-create.sql"

(you will need to supply the database root password - this is different to the OS root password)

Configuration

There are three properties files in the "config" directory: 1. defaults.properties
2. asithappens.properties
3. log4j.properties

The "defaults.properties" are system defaults and is generally best left as is. It does give you an idea of various configuration settings available.

The "asithappens.properties" settings override the defaults file, so any configuration changes you wish to make should be made in this file.

The "log4j.properties" is used for application logging/debugging, and need not concern most users.