require assistance for first time installation

mohammedkhan

hi,

my university is currently in the process of setting up a Archives section. we are looking at some open source software's for the management of the archives records. CollectiveAccess was  recommended, however we would just like to install it on a windows PC first to try it out and its features, see how it operates. It states on "http://docs.collectiveaccess.org/wiki/Getting_Started" that 

"If you wish to experiment with CollectiveAccess on your Mac or Windows PC without setting up a server try the QuickStart package. The package includes all of the basic prerequisites and a pre-configured DublinCore-based installation of CollectiveAccess. It includes both the Providence cataloguing application and Pawtucket publishing interface. Just download to your computer, unpack and click on the start button. However, be aware that this option isn’t ideal for long-term institutional work, so you should use it primarily for exploratory purposes."

i have followed their link and downloaded the Providence version 1.5.2 but how do i install this zip file or what are the requirements for installing it on a windows PC. Also if some instructions can be provided on how to install CA on stand alone windows PC for testing and experimenting first.

thanks

stefan

Hi,

yeah, the copy on the getting started page is a little outdated. As far as I know we don't have a QuickStart package for the latest release v1.5.2 yet. We have a bunch of Windows users on the forum who can probably help you set everything up using a package like XAMPP. Our documentation for Windows users is really old and out of date, unfortunately.

If you ask me, the quickest and easiest way to bring up a working system in a contained environment is Vagrant: http://docs.collectiveaccess.org/wiki/Vagrant ... but I'm a developer and Mac user so take that with a grain of salt :-). Most of this tutorial should carry over to Windows but you're going to have to wing a couple of steps (like cd-ing into a directory on a terminal).

mohammedkhan

hi Stefan,

thanks for your feedback. could you please advise me of the any window users who can help me out with this,it will be greatly appreciated. please what other way can i use to just setup and install CA on our windows PC for testing and experimenting purpose as i am not an advanced PC user meaning not very knowledgeable about programming and other stuff.  

i downloaded yesterday from one of the threads CA quickstart windows 1.4 will this work. what specific software's do i need before installing CA and where can i get them.

your assistance will be highly appreciated. 

thanks

stefan

There are @brucek and @jdelarosa for instance. @gautier is probably running some Windows stuff too.

The v1.4 QuickStart should still work, you can use that to give it a try. But keep in mind that the CollectiveAccess version packaged there is about 1.5 years old. A lot has changed (arguably improved) since then.

gord.barker

The quickstart package is best installed on a separate partition (my windows version uses device E:).  It will create a subdirectory called xampp with  subdirectoies below that like apache, phpMyAdmin, php, and htdocs.You will need to update the php installation to the latest version (follow the direction on the php distribution site for this - it is straightforward).CA runs under apache and is found under the htdocs directory.The quickstart will give you a Start Collectiveaccess.exe file that will start up the services you need (mySQL and Apache are fine).If you copy your providence download files to a subdirectory (call it providence) under htdocs, apache will find it when you go to http://localhost/providence The vast majority of CA works the same under windows as unix with the exception of the setup.php file and the external_application.conf file.For example, if you have installed ghostscript under E: in the "prog" subdirectory, the conf entry for it would be ghostscript_app = E:/prog/gs/gswin32c.exeYou need to do this for ghostscript, ffmpeg, qt-fastpart, dcdraw, pdftotext, abiword to get most of the unix processors working in your windows implementation.Those installations are all standard and have windows msi packages (mostly) from the websites listed in the external_application.conf file.If you have an existing installation xml file you can create a mysql database (from sql admin button in the xampp display), point to it in CA setup.php file and providence will automatically prompt you for the installation xml file. (that goes in e:\xampp\providence\install\profiles\xml directory)If you have an existing database on a unix server already, you can export it and import into you windows server and it works perfectly.  Likewise you can build a database on windows and export it to unix with the same success.  I do it all the time.Create a sybolic link to where you want to keep your media files (don't put it under the providence subdirectory, it makes upgrads more difficult) by using the windows utility MKLNK /D media,targetsubdirectorycommand.That should get you to the administrators login prompt.