The installation process, described in topic Installing on a Single Computer, copied eSchool files to the c:\es folder and various subfolders. Figure 4-20 shows the Windows Explorer with the es folder expanded. Most of eSchool is stored in the Ship folder and its subfolders. The es folder does contain two important files. The file es.dot is a Microsoft Word macro file which contains part of eSchool's report writer; the eschool.ini file is the eSchool configuration file for this station. The file eschool.ini can be examined and edited with Notepad by double-clicking on the file's name. Notepad displays it, as shown in Figure 4-20. The file contains miscellaneous bookkeeping information, such as update dates and the stations's location. Most importantly, the file contains an encrypted list of servers and their paths which the users from this station can access. In the example in Figure 4-20, only server1 is listed. Server1 is always the local drive. The server's path c:\es is listed as the encrypted data, starting with "*bnakofjb...".
Figure 4-20: The c:\es folder, its subfolder, files, and the eschool.ini file
The Ship folder contains most of eSchool. Figure 4-22, below, shows the ship folder when it is expanded. The first two folders, named Demof and Demohs, contain the demo data files. Demof contains the original demo data file that was constructed by EADS. Demohs is a copy of Demof that is used for training and testing purposes. The data in Demohs can be replaced with data from Demof at any time by using the File\Restore Data menu item, as shown in Figure 4-21. This menu item is present only when accessing the demo data; it is not present when accessing your school's data.
Figure 4-21: The File Menu showing the Restore Data... Menu item
When you install eSchool PDA Edition for the first time, the only two data files that exist are the ones in the demof and demohs folders. You can work through all the examples in this manual using demohs. You can also, if you want, substitute your own school's data at any time. If you use your own school's data in the demohs folder, the school name remains Learnerville High School when downloaded to the handhelds, rather your own school's name. You can create a data folder for your school's data that is also tied to your school's name. The procedure for creating this folder is illustrated and described below after the discussion of the ship folder and the eschool.ini system file.
The Ship Folder
Figure 4-22: The expanded c:\es\ship folder
The eSchool program is stored in two files: eschool.exe and eads.exe. The eSchool smiley icon you see on the desktop actually references eschool.exe. So, when you double-click on the eSchool smiley icon, eschool.exe is called to run. The program file eschool.exe is a very small program which calls eads.exe to run. The program file eads.exe, as you can see from the folder in Figure 4-22, is a very large program file. It contains all of eSchool and eSchool PDA Edition! The major reason for splitting up eSchool into two programs like this is to facilitate automatic updating of each station in a networked setup. In a networked setup, if you receive a new version of the eads.exe file from EADS' ftp server, you only have to replace the old eads.exe in the \es\ship folder on your server. Whenever a user launches eSchool from any station, the eschool.exe program detects the newer version of eads.exe on the server and copies the newer version down to the user's c:\es\ship folder, replacing the older version. The eschool.exe program then transfers control to the new version of eads.exe on the user's station. In this way, each station always updates itself whenever a new version of eads.exe is available.
The System Information form, available from the "Help\System Information" menu, gives a quick summary of the eSchool update and file statuses.
Figure 4-23: Accessing the "Help\System Information" menu
Figure 4-24: The eSchool System Status form, showing update and file statuses; the encrypted contents of the eschool.ini file
The System Status form lists all the eSchool modules and their subscription status. The eSchool program file, eads.exe, always has the program code for all modules; however, a given data file may not have all subscriptions enabled. The "Build Date/Time" shows when the code file was constructed by EADS. The "Update Applied Date/Time" shows when the code file was used to update the present data file. The last two lines list the data path for the current data; there are dates and times for the two eSchool files, ES.DOT (the Word macro file containing part of eSchool's report writer) and EADS.EXE (the eSchool code file).
Also included in the System Status display is a decrypted copy of the eschool.ini file for this station. Notice that its contents are essentially the same as shown in Figure 4-20, with the exception that the data path for 'server1' is being displayed in plain text as 'c:\es', rather than the encrypted version of Figure 4-20.
If you ever have to edit the contents of the eschool.ini file, you can do this from the 'System\Edit eschool.ini' menu items, as shown in Figure 4-25.
Figure 4-25: Viewing and editing the plain text version of the eschool.ini file
Creating your school's data folder
You must create your school's own data folder any time before you are ready to do production downloads to your users' handhelds. This is required in order for you to have your school's name be listed on Pocket eSchool's main menu. If you use the files in the demohs folder, the name Learnerville High School will be shown on Pocket eSchool's main menu. Any changes you may have made in the demohs folder can get copied to your school's own data folder during the creation process.
In order to create your school's data folder, select the Form Launcher from the Forms menu item. When the Form Launcher is displayed, select System and double click on System Creation/Setup form in the Forms list box, as shown in Figure 4-26.
Figure 4-26: The Form Launcher with the System Creation/Setup form selected and launched
Access the System Info page, as shown in Figure 4-26. Notice that there are two school names listed in the School Names list box. The first is for Learnerville High School and the second is for Pleasantville High School. In your case, the second entry should contain your school's name. If it does not, please contact EADS right immediately. Select your school's entry, as was done for Pleasantville High School, in Figure 4-26, and enter a data folder name in the text box, labeled Data Directory Name. A good choice of name is "DATA" followed by the school's initials. Other names that are acceptable Windows folder names will also work. However, it is best to restrict folder names to ones containing letters, numbers, and the "_" symbol. Once the folder name has been added, click on the Create button.
Figure 4-27: Selecting the source for creating your school's data folder
If you have made changes to the demo data file and would like to copy these changes to your school's data file, choose the first option in Figure 4-27. Otherwise, pick the second option to copy the original unedited data file. After the folder and its files have been copied, you can examine the result of the copy in the ship folder using the Windows Explorer, as shown in Figure 4-28. You must use the copy procedure, described above, to create your data folder. Using the Windows Explorer alone will not work correctly because some internal changes made to certain files, during the copy, would not be made.
Figure 4-28: The Ship folder, after the new data folder, dataphs, has been added
After your school's data folder has been created, it will be listed in the c:\es\ship folder, as shown in Figure 4-28. Your school's folder will be listed where dataphs is now listed in Figure 4-28.
Now that your school's data folder has been created, you will now have a data selection form, as shown in Figure 4-29; it lists both the demo data and your school's data folders. You can access either one by first selecting the data folder and then clicking the Access button.
Figure 4-29: The Data Selection form is shown when two or more data folders are available
After you access your school's data folder and enter your username and password (they are ADMIN and 1234, respectively, until you change them), eSchool PDA Edition's title bar is displayed with your school's name, as shown in Figure 4-30.
Figure 4-30: The Title bar, showing the new school's name, Pleasantville High School
You may want to have access to both the demo data and your own school's data while testing and configuring your school's import script file. Once your tests are completed and your script file is ready for production, you can hide the demo data file. This is done by disabling access to the demo data file in the Security form. To do this, please access this form from the System\Security menu. Figure 4-33 shows the Servers page for a non-networked setup. To hide the demo data for this station, uncheck the checkbox, labeled Access to Demo Data File. If you have a need for the demo data sometime in the future, you can access the Security/Servers page and check the Access to Demo Data File checkbox to enable demo data access.
Pocket eSchool User Manual Topics Map
Overview
Pocket eSchool
Installing Pocket eSchool
Installing eSchool PDA Edition
Downloading eSchool PDA Edition
Installing on a Single Computer
eSchool File Locations and Your Data <----- You are here
Installing on a Network
Installing on a New Station
Downloading your School's Data
Update Notes