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Creating a "Self-Contained" Installation

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This Technical Note is on how to create a "self-contained" installation of HyperRESEARCH.

 

Some researchers work in organizations that, for purposes of computer maintainability and/or security, apply restrictions on the researcher's access to the computer they use. This can take many forms. The most basic is that the researcher does not have Administrative access or privileges to their computer they use. Further controls can include making certain folders on the computer READ-ONLY so the researcher can access applications or documents in such folders but can never alter or overwrite them. Another model, more common in the Microsoft Windows world than for macOS, is that the researcher's "home" account or directory or folder is hosted remotely on a server. This affords the organization a number of benefits, such as ease of backing up the researcher's work, but does require that the computer be connected to the server, typically either on a local network or remotely by a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection.

 

This impacts HyperRESEARCH in several ways:

  1. Administrative privileges are required to install HyperRESEARCH in it's default locations (/Applications/ on macOS and C:\Program Files (x86)\ on Windows.
  2. HyperRESEARCH attempts to follow Operating System manufacturers' (Microsoft and Apple) guidelines on where it should store files it creates for things like the user's preferences, study backups, temporary files, its license file and more. In many cases, these locations are some of the very folders that organizations restrict access to, or are located remotely and require an active network connection to the organization for HyperRESEARCH to access.

It is possible to create an installation of HyperRESEARCH that is "self-contained," i.e. HyperRESEARCH looks for its preferences, license, backups, and other files within its own installation folder. By creating HyperRESEARCH as a "self-contained" installation, this can eliminate error with remotely hosted home directories where there may be intermittent connection issues or the researcher simply needs to work disconnected (remote field research, for example).

 

The one absolute requirement is that the researcher must have full access (read, write, and execute) to this installation folder.

 

The following are the steps to create a self-contained installation of HyperRESEARCH. Again, the installation folder can be anywhere on the local computer's disk drive, but the researcher must have full access to this installation folder.

 

For the purposes of these instructions, we'll assume that a folder outside of the default application folder (i.e. C:\Program Folder (x86)\ on Windows) will be set up such that the researcher has full access. This presumes that the researcher does not have Administrative privileges and hence can not modify or write to the default applications folder. For these instructions, we'll assume a installation of, for example, C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\ that the user has read, write, and execute access to. These steps use examples for Microsoft Windows, but are equally applicable for Apple macOS by just changing the names of the installer and sample folders to the corresponding names for HyperRESEARCH under macOS.

  1. Uninstall any current copy of HyperRESEARCH
  2. Run the HyperRESEARCH451_Installer.exe, and, if Windows ask if it is okay to run it, tell Windows it is okay to run.
  3. On the installer Welcome Screen, click "Next"
  4. On the License Screen, agree to the terms (Click the check box to accept the terms) and click "Next"
  5. On the "Install HyperRESEARCH to:" screen, leave it as "Your Computer's Hard Drive" and click "Next"
  6. On the Installer Path screen, click the "Change..." button and navigate to the LOCAL folder with read/write access where you want to install HyperRESEARCH.

Using C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\ for this example, the Application (HyperRESEARCH.exe) and its peer folders will be installed in the folder you select, so we would end up with:

C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\HyperRESEARCH.exe
C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\Components\
C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\Documentation\
etc.

 

After selecting the folder, Click "Next"

  1. On the Installation screen, click "Install"
  2. On the Finish screen, Uncheck "Launch HyperRESEARCH" and click "Finish"
  3. Download the file called "USBenabler.rev" by clicking here (the direct link is: http://www.researchware.com/hr/downloads/USBenabler.zip). This downloads a file called USBenabler.zip, a ZIP archive with the USBenabler.rev file inside. Unzip the USBenabler.zip archive and copy USBenabler.rev file to the Components folder where HyperRESEARCH was installed, so, in my example: C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\Components\USBenabler.rev
  4. Now launch HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1, from the Desktop Shortcut. When prompted for registration and license key, enter the license information. Click "Proceed" to associating the Study files with HyperRESEARCH. And on the Welcome screen, Quit HyperRESEARCH.

In C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\Components\ you should now see the files "pref.ini" and "HRruntime.dat, which are the preferences and license file respectively. Every time HyperRESEARCH starts, it will read and write to these two files in the C:\HyperRESEARCH 4.5.1\Components\

 

These two important files (and others) will be created in, read from, and written to the Components folder in the HyperRESEARCH Installation folder. HyperRESEARCH is thus self-contained. As with any HyperRESEARCH installation, the researcher can save their the Source documents and Study files for their research where they like. We recommend creating a folder, in the researcher's Documents folder (macOS or Windows) for each research project and storing your research files there.

 

If you have any questions about this technical note, please contact Researchware Technical Support.

 

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Do You Know...

... that in HyperRESEARCH you can use keyboard shortcuts to code audio and video? Just play your source file while listening and/or watching. When you come to the starting point of a segment you want to code, press Control-[ (if you use Windows) or Command-[ (if you use Mac OS X). Continue playing the segment, and when you reach the end of the part you want to code, press Control-] or Command-]. Your chosen segment is now selected, ready to have a code applied!

(This tip can be particularly helpful when you have a long source file and it's difficult to place the play head precisely enough at the spot you want to code. Using the keyboard shortcuts lets you code interactively, without fiddling with the controls on the screen.)
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