Deploying Lawson Applications

There are two possible deployment methods for Lawson Applications. The method you use depends on the audience for the Lawson Application.

Private deployment in Infor Smart Office

Private deployment is intended for users who develop mashup applications for their own use, or for a small number of users.

In a private deployment, the application is available only to the user who deployed it. The user can choose to share the application with other users.

For instructions on how to deploy a mashup privately, see the Infor Mashup Designer User Guide.

Public deployment using LifeCycle Manager

Applications which are deployed to large groups of users must be deployed using LifeCycle Manager. This is referred to as a public deployment. A public deploy will deploy all Mashups and Features to the Infor Smart Office server.

Note: During deployment, the Smart Office Server and Installation Point binding in the Grid must be running, but may be offline.

See About the Grid Management Pages and the administration guide for Grid.

The .lawsonapp package is uploaded to LifeCycle Manager and installed. During the deployment, LifeCycle Manager will detect the components of the application.

  • If the application contains a Grid component, LifeCycle Manager will prompt you to specify an available Grid. You can choose the same Grid where Infor Smart Office is installed, or a different Grid.

    Note: If you choose a different Grid, you will need to add this Grid to the list of available Grids in the SmartClient profile configuration.

    See Basic SmartClient system profile configuration.

  • If the application contains Infor Smart Office features, LifeCycle Manager will prompt you to choose an available Infor Smart Office server. The features will then be automatically loaded into the feature repository, where you can deploy them using the Installation Point Manager. See Using the Installation Point Manager.

When deploying .lawsonapps using LifeCycle Manager, be aware of the following behavior:

  • Mashups with the same name will be replaced. No backups are created on the Infor Smart Office server.

  • When you deploy a .lawsonapp which includes Infor Smart Office features, the features automatically be added to the default feature folder and deployed to the feature repository.

  • If the feature folder already includes older versions of features, they will be updated automatically. If there are multiple feature folders, the feature will be replaced in all folders where it exists.

  • Settings file and system profile information delivered with .lawsonapps will be merged into existing files.

  • When a .lawsonapp is removed, a check is performed to determine if mashups or features are included in other installed .lawsonapps. If they are, the mashup and/or feature will not be removed.

  • When upgrading a .lawsonapp, LifeCycle Manager will first un-install the old files and the install the new files. If a feature has been deployed to any other feature folder, you must repeat the deployment after the upgrade is performed.

Example

If you deploy Lawsonapp A with Feature A_1.0.0.0, and then deploy LawsonappB with Feature A_1.0.0.1 (a newer version of the same feature), the newer version of the feature will be used for both LawsonappA and LawsonappB. The earlier version, Feature A_1.0.0.0, will remain in the feature repository.

If you remove Lawsonapp B, Feature A_1.0.0.1 will be removed. Feature A_1.0.0.0 is no longer deployed to the feature folders but remains in the feature repository.

Therefore, you must add re-add Feature A_1.0.0.0 to the feature folders in the Installation Point Manager.