Difference between revisions of "User contributed software"

Revision as of 07:55, 15 July 2008

InfoMessage

Info: Displays a simple, configurable, centered message box on the screen using HTML (IE5-IE7). See .js source header for more information.
Author: Brian White
URL: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RQUSZPFS
Screenshots: Screenshot #1 | Screenshot #2
Mailing list discussion:

• http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-June/003513.html

wpkgmessage

Info: Shows little window which can be used to tell the user what WPKG does at the moment.
Author: grubi
URL: ftp://ftp.gig-mbh.de/software/wpkgMessage.zip
Mailing list discussion:

• http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-February/thread.html#2628 ("wpkg via Group Policies" thread)

"Ugly perl script to check if packages are installed on a set of workstations"

Info: When you run the script, it will evaluate the list of packages that should be installed with the packages that are installed on each computer in the status directory. It then prints the differences. If the program gives no output, then everything is up to date. I use this program to send a list to our desktop techs about which computer are out of compliance.

Author: Chris Crow
Script source: http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-March/002820.html
Mailing list discussion:

• http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-March/thread.html#2823 ("Ugly perl script to check if packages are installed on a set of workstations." thread)
• http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-April/002863.html
• http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-April/002876.html
• http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2008-June/003514.html

Scripts for generating hosts.xml from Active Directory

Info: Scripts written in different languages (Perl, bash, vbScript) which pull hosts.xml from Active Directory OUs automatically
URL: http://wpkg.org/WPKG_with_Active_Directory

Script for checking if a process is already running

Info: Sometimes, you don't want to make an upgrade or installation if a user has already started a given process, because:

• upgrade could fail, as the files are in use,
• if the installer is "smart", it could kill the running process, without asking the user to save (precious) work,
• some software (like certain browser plugins) won't install if some other software is running (i.e., a browser).

URL: http://wpkg.org/Script_for_checking_if_a_process_is_already_running

Generic Library for scripted checks

Author: Keith Jones
Mailing list discussion:

• Coming soon

Info: Tired of writing scripts to support custom 'checks' in WPKG and then writing parameter parsers or 'bespoke' tests? This is a prototype script library based in a .WSC (Windows Scripting Component) file that can be included into your script files that provides a skeletal framework to consolidate and collect useful functions for administrators. You can trim down the code you have to write and write your tests to a simple standard. The WSC file contains a rough-and-ready command-line parser and semi-automated parameter checks with options to debug code, trap errors 'in-the-field' and build up a unified library of WPKG tests. It's a work in progress, but features include;

• Simple parsing of command-lines to validate custom parameters.
• A growing collection of inbuilt routines. (I'm adding things slowly!)
• A simplified approach for less experienced admins.
• All code is written in JScript to allow you to customise WPKG if you wish.
• Examples of 'less used' techniques.
• ... being optimised as we write :-)

URL: [Instructions] http://dev.bus.brighton.ac.uk/kej/WPKG/Utilities/readme.txt
URL: [Utility.WSC] http://dev.bus.brighton.ac.uk/kej//WPKG/Utilities/utility.wsc
URL: [Example, Diskpace Checker] http://dev.bus.brighton.ac.uk/kej//WPKG/Utilities/diskspace.js