Installation

System Requirements

The SCEX is developed with the most minimal computer requirements in mind. As mentioned earlier, it originated as a 32-bit Windows product, but our list of supported platforms has expanded to include 64-bit Windows and Linux on the Intel/AMD 64-bit architecture. The SCEX may be installed on computer hardware as lean as an old Pentium 3 laptop with 64 megabytes of RAM, and at least 7.5 megabytes of hard drive space running Windows 98.

The SCEX Loan Server must be installed on a more recent version of the Windows platform - Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista, as Windows 98 and earlier do not support services.

Summary of System Requirements

Processor: Pentium IV class processor is recommended, although the SCEX can function on a 486 CPU.

RAM: As needed by your choice of operating system.

Disk Space: 7.5 megabytes.

OS: 32/64-bit Windows, or Linux on Intel/AMD 64-bit architecture (specifically, the latest stable release of Ubuntu Linux). To use the SCEX Loan Server, Windows 2000 or later is required to host the service. Any operating system capable of communicating over TCP/IP may access the SCEX Loan Server. Once you have received the SCEX installation package (via download from Sherman and Associates’ web site), you are ready to install the SCEX.

Version Information

The SCEX is distributed as a Windows self-extracting executable. The name of the installation file will be in the form of scex_installer-x.y.z.exe for the full version SCEX, or scex_demo_installer-x.y.z.exe for the demonstration version of the SCEX.

The x.y.z portion of the installer file name refers to the version of the SCEX contained within. Sherman and Associates has chosen to standardize versioning information based upon dates and releases, instead of arbitrary version numbers. Specifically, the first part of the version number (x) refers to the year of the release. The second part of the version number (y) refers to the month of the quarterly release. As it currently stands, the quarterly releases will be made in January, April, July, and October. Thus, the value of y will always be in {1, 4, 7, 10}. Finally, the last part of the version number (z) signifies the release number for the given quarter, with zero (0) signifying the first release of the quarter.

Hence, a version number of 2005-07-0 refers to the first release of the SCEX for the July, 2005 quarter. Similarly, a version number of 2006-01-02 refers to the third release of the SCEX in the January, 2006 quarter.

Note that the version number of the installer corresponds with the version number of all applications and dynamic link library (DLL) which make up the SCEX. In this manner, it is very easy to verify that you are using the correct version of the DLL and applications, instead of having different (and arbitrary) version numbers for each, separate part of the library.

Installing the SCEX

To install the SCEX, simply run the scex_installer-x.y.z.exe application. Note that you should install the SCEX from a user account with Administrator privileges. The installer is a standard windows installation application, which will provide you with a few installation options as it executes.

Components to Install

The first installation page will prompt you for optional packages which may be installed with the SCEX, but are not required. If you choose to not install any of the optional components, then the following minimum install of system files and directories will be installed on your computer:

InstallDir\scex.dll
InstallDir\data\*.*
InstallDir\samples\*.*
InstallDir\xml\*.dtd
InstallDir\xml\output\*.dtd

It is important to note that the above set of files are the minimal installation set which will allow for the full use of the SCEX. When integrating your software with the SCEX, these files and subdirectories are the only files which need to be deployed along with your application (with the exception of the samples directory). Also, please note that the subdirectory names and relative locations to the SCEX DLL are critically important, and should not be altered.

Note that the .xml files found in the subdirectories of InstallDir\samples are sample input requests and output responses. Using the SCEX Test Application (see below), you can quickly load one of these sample XML requests and see the results generated by the SCEX.

The following optional SCEX components are also available for installation, and will be installed unless you specify otherwise:

  • SCEX Test Application: This executable lets the user enter, load, and save XML queries to send to the SCEX, and then view the result. It is very useful for trying out new XML queries and debugging existing queries.

    The following file(s) are installed if this component is selected:

    ..\InstallDir\sce_tester.exe

  • SCEX Account Tester Application: This application was originally created by the developers at Sherman and Associates, Inc. to ease regression testing of the SCEX releases. Instead of manually going through a set of samples for each release (which would be slow, error-prone, and hence very difficult), Sherman and Associates created an application to automate the re-testing process. Please see the help available from within this application for further detail.

    The following file(s) are installed if this component is selected:

    ..\InstallDir\AccountTest\*.*

  • SCEX Manual: What you are currently reading.

    The following file(s) are installed if this component is selected:

    InstallDir\scex_manual.pdf

  • Sample Source Code: We have provided sample source code which illustrates how to access the SCEX directly, in a variety of programming languages (currently C#, java, vb.net, and Visual C++).

    The following file(s) are installed if this component is selected:

    InstallDir\source\*.*

Along with the SCEX, Sherman and Associates includes the SCEX Loan Server. The SCEX Loan Server is only required if your application needs to connect to the SCEX through a TCP/IP interface. By default, the SCEX Loan Server is not installed. The following components may be installed for the SCEX Loan Server, if selected by the user:

  • System Files: In order to run the SCEX Loan Server Service, these system files must be installed. The service is not only installed in the installation directory, but also registered and started. Please see Appendix A and the LoanServerService-README.txt files for more information on the SCEX Loan Server.

    The following file(s) are installed if this component is selected:

    InstallDir\LoanServerService.exe
InstallDir\LoanServerService-README.txt

  • Sample Source Code: We have provided sample source code illustrating how to access the SCEX Loan Server, using a variety of programming languages (currently C, C#, Delphi, Java, PHP, and python).

    The following file(s) are installed if this component is selected:

    InstallDir\source\loanserver\*.*

Installation Folder

As in most Windows installation applications, you are free to select a folder in which the SCEX and its associated files will be installed. NOTE: If you are also installing the SCEX Loan Server Service, make sure that you install the files on a local drive. Please see Appendix A for more information.

Created Shortcuts

One or more shortcuts will be created in the Windows Start Menu, and will be accessible for all users. You will find these newly created shortcuts in Start ▸ All Programs ▸ Sherman and Associates ▸ SCEX.

  • Uninstall SCEX: This shortcut links to the SCEX uninstaller. Executing it will remove the SCEX and all associated components from your computer. If the SCEX Loan Server Service is installed, it will stop the service, unregister it with Windows, and then delete it as well. This shortcut is always created.

  • SCEX Test Application: A shortcut to run the SCEX test application. As would be expected, it is only created if the SCEX Test Application component is installed.

  • SCEX Account Tester: A shortcut to run the SCEX account tester application. This is only created if the SCEX Account Tester Application component is installed.

  • SCEX Manual: A link to the pdf manual for the SCEX. Only created if the SCEX Manual component is installed.

Uninstalling the SCEX

To uninstall the SCEX and all of its associated components, you have 2 options:

  1. Click on Start ▸ All Programs ▸ Sherman and Associates ▸ SCEX ▸ Uninstall SCEX.
  2. Go to Control Panel ▸ Add/Remove Programs ▸ Sherman and Associates ▸ SCEX.

The uninstaller will stop the SCEX Loan Server Service (if running), and remove files and folders as appropriate.

Upgrading the SCEX

If you have already installed a version of the SCEX and wish to upgrade the installation to a newer release, it is recommended that you first uninstall the already installed version first, and then install the newer release. This procedure will ensure that older, out-of-date files are removed and not left behind, which may happen if you simply install the new version in the same location as the older release.