WEB-RAMP-NL, Step 4. Post-Requisite Actions and Other Considerations

Backup and Recovery strategy

You should have a regular backup and recovery strategy in place for your target system.

Maintenance strategy

You should devise a strategy for deploying modifications you make to your VLF applications

Updating changes to newlook configuration files

When you add new 5250 screens to your RAMPed application or modify the newlook features of an existing screen, these changes are reflected in the newlook.sid file which you will need to redeploy.

To do this, recreate the RAMP.cab files using exactly the same steps as described in WEB-RAMP-NL, Step 2c. Create RAMP.cab file and copy it to the RAMP_Newlook Folder.

Note that even if only one of the files in the RAMP.cab file changes, you should include the other files that you had the first time. This is so that the RAMP.cab file always contains all the files required by new and existing users.

Once the RAMP.cab file is recreated you can move it to your RAMP_NewLook directory on your web server for immediate access to your user.

NOTE: Ensure that you implement this update at the same time as you implement your other related Visual LANSA Framework and RAMP updates.

Testing deployment of changes to newlook configuration files

You will very likely want to test your changes a number of times on the same PC - that is, run the re-install several times.

Before you re-install, you need to remove the newlook files that have already been downloaded, and unregister the newlook ActiveX control (nlocx.dll) and ActiveX server (nlsvr.exe).

To do so, perform the following steps:

1. Execute the nlclean.exe utility on the testing PC. This can be obtained from ftp.looksoftware.com/distributor/tools/nlclean.exe. Answer “Y” to each of the questions in the utility.

2. Delete the newlook web download folder from the testing PC. (if you have followed the naming conventions recommended in our notes, this would be the %Program Files%/LANSA Ramp newlook folder.)

After doing this the RAMP application will realise that newlook needs to be installed again.

There are a number of ways to test your changes.

The following is a possible approach that tests an initial installation then a subsequent modification:

Step 1: Working with a RAMPed application, perform the steps described in WEB-RAMP-NL, Step 2e. Test the Automated Web Deployment Package.

Step 2: Using a new PC without newlook already installed, access the application with the appropriate URL. Ensure that you can run your RAMPed application.

Step 3: Make some changes to the newlook.sid file to ensure that changes are downloaded. For example modify the look of one of your RAMPed screens (re-position the fields in newlook for example) and then perform the steps described in Updating changes to newlook configuration files. Access the URL again and check that the new newlook.sid file is downloaded and that the changes you made on the screen are shown.

Step 4: You should probably also do a full test of the procedures involved in adding new functionality to the RAMPed application. Such a process could include creating a new business object that requires you to identify some new screens in newlook plus run through the choreographer to RAMP the new screens. With this test, you can ensure that both the newlook changes and the script are correctly loaded into the end-user's browser.

NOTE: When testing for updates to newlook ensure that what is occurring is not a complete new installation but only the download of modified files.