Section 2 - Installation

PALLETMANAGER uses a standard Windows Installer / InstallShield installation procedure that will be familiar to most PC users.

The software requires a PC running Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8 and Windows 10. A display mode of at least 1024*768 is required. In other higher resolutions additional report information is available to screen. In order to use one of the latest features - the DO BETTER Chart option - your computer monitor MUST be set up to display True Colour pictures - this is standard on most modern machines. Whilst the procedure to change this will vary according to operating system the typical action is to: Display Screen Resolution, select Advanced Settings / Monitor and set the mode to True Colour (32 bit) - rather than 16 bit.

Around 15Mb of disk space is required for installation. Over time an additional 15Mb of user files may be produced. Where the Webbase (Web database of specifications) is used additional space will be required as discussed in Section 14 of the manual.

PALLETMANAGER can be installed on a local or networked drive but is basically a single user product. Miralis Data (and our website) can provide suitable advice for multi-copy installations. The default installation folder suggested during the installation process is C:\PMNT (as with all previous releases), but any valid location can be used. The installation registers the application in the Windows registry (so it can be de-installed) but all application files are copied to the specified installation folder. Any PALLETMANAGER user datafiles found in the installation folder will be retained. All files created during a PALLETMANAGER session will normally be found either in the installation folder or in sub-folder JPGFILES found below the installation folder.

The CD supplied normally contains a copy of PALLETMANAGER together with trial copies of other software products (e.g. CARGOMANAGER / SLIPSHEET MANAGER). The CD will normally autostart when placed in the CD drive and the Install Software option can then be selected.

The CD allows TRIAL installations of any product to be carried out. These TRIAL installations (only) MUST always be installed on a local (not network) drive of your computer. The trial period is up to 21 days from installation.

If you are a licensed user of the software then, with the Licensed CD, will be a set of license codes (specific to the software product) which are needed when installing a fully licensed copy. A licensed user is able to successfully install the software on both local and network drives.

The CD can be used either as a complete new installation or (if you have a current license / support agreement) to update a previous installation. If you update an installation (in the same folder) then user configuration and database files from that release will be retained.

(1) With Windows running insert the installation CD. The CD will normally autostart and you are then able to to select the 'Install Application' option to install PALLETMANAGER.

(2) If you are installing in TRIAL mode (you do not have a set of license codes for PALLETMANAGER) then you must install the software on a local drive of your computer.

If the computer on which you are installing already has a copy of the same version of the application installed then you may be prompted to Modify / Repair / Remove the application. Unless otherwise advised you should select Repair to update files accordingly. [The above dialogue is standard with Microsoft Installer and cannot be changed by us]

You will be invited to install into folder C:\PMNT (as with the previous release). When the software is installed in the same directory / folder as a previous release, user created configuration and data files will be retained. If an alternate location is selected then, if required, user files from the earlier release can be manually copied to the new folder for use with this release. Full details of the files concerned are given at the end of this section.

A standard part of the Microsoft Installer routines is the deletion of any previous version of the application (just the executable files, not any user files), prior to the installation of the new release.

(3) The final installation step requires you to run the software. Select PALLETMANAGER using the appropriate Start / Programs entry which will have been added during installation.

When you run the software for the first time you may be invited to enter License Codes (this will depend on the CD version). TRIAL users are instructed on screen to just select 'Continue' and not attempt to enter details into the license screens.

If License Codes for the software product have been provided then these must be entered exactly as given and then 'Continue' selected.

Very Important!!!

When this is done correctly then you are immediately informed that the software is 'Fully Licensed'. Otherwise you will be informed that the software is in 'Trial mode'.

Licensed users must ensure that the 'fully licensed' message is displayed as described above - otherwise the software may fail on first use with a 'time expired' message, or at the very least will fail during the first few days of operation.

(4) Having completed the above, and if appropriate received a 'fully licensed' message, installation is complete.

After completing this process you are faced with the Main PALLETMANAGER Entry menu. Buttons provide access to the full on-disk manual as well as to the Miralis Data website at Technical Support .

You may now select to Exit from the software unless you are ready to try the software for the first time. In first use the New Run button leads to the main calculation modes of PALLETMANAGER (See Section 3 - The Guided Tour). An entry PALLETMANAGER will have been added to your Start / Programs entries. This executes the PALLETMANAGER startup program runpm.exe.

If you are using a wide screen display then PALLETMANAGER will by default use the full screen. If you wish the software to display part-screen then please refer to Appendix 1.18.

During your use of PALLETMANAGER a number of files in the installation folder (C:\PMNT by default) will be updated / created to reflect your own company standards and to hold your own palletisation data. It is important that security copies of these files be taken regularly.

The complete list of files which will change is given below and overleaf, (together with their functions), though not all of these files will exist on every installation.

In addition, those using the Webbase module (Specifications held in a format suitable for web / CD display using a browser), will create (often a substantial) numbers of files in the sub-folder JPGFILES found (normally) beneath the installation folder (It can be configured to be elsewhere - see Appendix 1.2). ALL the above files should be backed up up to a secure location..

When installed a PALLETMANAGER entry is provided to Windows so that it can be deleted from a machine by selecting Start / Settings / Control Panel / Add or Remove programs. If this is done then some user configuration / database files in the installation folder may not be automatically removed and would need to be deleted using Windows Explorer.

In some rare situations you may find that an entry for any previously installed version of PALLETMANAGER remains on the start menu. This can be removed by using the right mouse button to highlight the unwanted entry and then selecting Delete. (Do not remove it using add/remove in Control Panel - this would remove some user data files and some of the latest application files)

If moving the software between machines then you could obviously re-install the application on the new machine from CD and then copy over the files detailed in 2.3 above. Alternatively copying the whole PALLETMANAGER folder (and any sub-folders) over to the new machine will create a suitable working system. The startup file for PALLETMANAGER is runpm.exe.

As standard PALLETMANAGER operates in metric mode with dimensions being entered in mm. / Kg etc. It is possible to configure PALLETMANAGER so that all data input is in inches (e.g. 12.7 inches) / lb and appropriate calculations / display in these units is then used throughout the application. If configuring in this mode you should note the following points.