Some of our larger sites want to roll out FlowJo via a MSI installer, which we don't yet have (putting it off till FlowJo X.) As a workaround to this we recommend that one user installs the software and then distributes the contents of FlowJo's installed location to other users via a login script. There are registry modifications which associate the program's icons and double-click behavior, these would not be propagated in this mechanism.
The second part of FlowJo installation deals with licensing - First time opening of FlowJo brings up the license dialog asking for a serial number license. If you enter a serial number here, it will be saved to your disk to a file "flowjo75.prefs" in your "my documents" folder. If your institution is on a site license, the serial number will be identical for all regisrered users, therefore, the initial prefs file can also be distributed (with the serial number in place) via a login script.
FlowJo supports multiple layers of Preferences files locations, some more global than others. Here's the algorithm for how that's currently handled. These alternate locations of prefs files may also be used to aid authentication on machines where multiple people have their own os-level accounts.
- First look in the user's 'My Documents' folder (or user's home folder on mac). If found, use it for all prefs.
- If not found, look in the flowjo installation folder (if running out of eclipse, look in the project folder). If found, use it for all prefs.
- If not found, create a new prefs file in the user's 'My Documents' folder (or user's home folder), and use it for all prefs. Serial number will be blank.
- To get a serial number for authorization, get it from whatever prefs file was found or created beforehand.
- If the serial number is blank, look for the prefs file in the 'All Users' folder (which is not found on mac). Use this serial number for authorization, or bring up license dialog if absent.