The Project Manager application's main function back up NaviPac configuration. The idea is to present the user with a "framework" to define which files, folders and Registry settings to backup and to compile into one archive. The archive could just be another folder where everything is copied to. The Project Manager works on three different folder-levels, namely the Archive, Package and Project level.
Archive
The user may either store all backups (projects) from one or more packages (software applications) in one main archive, e.g. C:\Eiva\Archives, or sort them hierarchical having one package script per archive folder, e.g. C:\Eiva\NaviPac\Archives and C:\Eiva\NaviScan\Archives. The Project Manager can handle both situations having one main archive folder in the first case and multiple (two) main archive folders in the second case.
Package
The next folder level below the Archive is the Package (or script) level. A package folder always has the extension .pm, e.g. navipac.pm, and this means that all compiled projects listed below this package has been compiled with the same script file, e.g. navipac.nsi.
Project
The lowest level is the Project level which is the actual archive itself - a time-stamped snapshot of a software package, e.g. NaviPac. The compiled .exe file (the resulting installer) and one or two log files are found in this folder.
Due to a possible sharing violation it is required that no files being backed up is currently opened/accessed by any other module. If NaviPac is running during backup then this situation might very well occur! Note: with the enclosed NullSoft script compiler v 2.46 there is a limit of 2GB file size of the resulting archive. Therefore, keep the backed-up data below 3GB, assuming a compression ratio of approx. 50%.
Below are the steps on how to perform a back up of the NaviPac configuration:
When the user is ready to backup NaviPac folder, the ProjectManager.exe from C:\EIVA\NaviPac\Bin must be opened. Prior to this, it is a must not to have any NaviPac module running. Pressing the "New" button will open a window to choose a folder path (inside NaviPac folder) to create the backup.
Eg., you have created a folder called "NP backup"
Right-click on the newly created folder and select "Backup to Archive"
Select "NaviPacFull" or other option at your choice, as seen in the below image, and click "Next"
If optional folders must be included they can be selected in this step. Click "Next" if no optional folders need to be archived:
You can define the title of the back up and relevant notes for the backed up project. Press Finish and the back up process will start:
Once the backup is done, a window with the results and warnings (if any) will appear on the screen. Here the testing of the installer can be performed by pressing the "Test Installer" button:
Once "Test Installer" button is pressed a new window will appear and the selection of the components to be restored can be done. The NaviPac directories or Optional folders can be selected. Once the selection is done press "Restore":
At the end of the restoration process, a confirmation of NaviPac being restored will appear on the screen as shown below:
Restoring the files from an archive
In Project Manager main window, locate the existing backups, right-click on the desired one and select "Restore from Archive".
The alternative is to locate the archive file (usually NaviPacFullxxxxxxxxx.exe) and execute it.
In both cases the files will be restored in the same way as explained on the Test installer above.
Please note: for NaviPac 4 you must save your .npp NaviPac configuration file separate or as optional folder if the project is not saved at the default location (C:\EIVA\NaviPac\Db)