Deploying the Macrobond application

This document refers to Macrobond 1.12 and later.

Installation

First installation

The installation program provided for Macrobond is based on Windows Installer.

The installation is provided as a base version in the form of an MSI file together with an incremental update to the latest version in the form of an MSP. These are typically installed together.

The main installation requires installation rights on the computer. Typically, only administrators have such rights.

You can find instructions on how to make a manual installation here:

https://www.macrobond.com/go/installation

The information on that page is always updated so that it refers to the latest version.

An example of the command to install Macrobond 1.6.2 is (this happens to be the latest version when this instruction is written and is not what you should use, but is just an example):

msiexec /i https://macrobond.net/appupdates/mainapp/1.6.0.26434-release/MacroBond.msi PATCH=https://macrobond.net/appupdates/mainapp/1.6.0.26434-release/Patch-1.10.8.7467x-release.msp

This command will install Macrobond 1.6.0. The base version, 1.6.0, is upgraded automatically to version 1.6.2 before the installation.

As you can see we refer to the MSI and MSP files stored on our servers. This is the preferred way to perform the installation, but you can download the MSI and MSP files and distribute them yourself. Please note that Windows Installer sometimes needs access to these files when performing future updates or repairs and if you download these files you might want to store them in a directory that you keep as long as that version is used and make the installation by referencing the files in that directory.

The Macrobond application only supports Per Computer installations (this is a concept used by Windows Installer).

Using the command line above will show a basic user interface where the user confirms the installation. The installation does not ask for any settings. If any files are in use during the installation the user might be asked to close some applications. If the applications are not closed or if Windows Installer cannot identify to which application they belong, the user will be asked to restart the computer after the installation.

In order to make a silent installation you can specify /q on the command line. You can find more information about the Windows Installer command line here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367988(v=VS.85).aspx

Most deployment tools have built-in support for Windows Installer. Deployment can also be done through Windows Active Directory.

A shortcut to Macrobond.exe is created in “All Users\Start Menu\Macrobond Financial”.

Upgrading

The Macrobond application is upgraded several times a year. You can choose if and when to upgrade the application, but you must upgrade at least every second year. Versions older than two years will stop working by the end of the second year. You can find a list of current application versions and when they will stop being supported here.

For the best experience, it is recommended to install all upgrades.

Updates are typically distributed as patches. Each patch replaces any previous patch and you never need to install more than one patch in order to get the latest version.

You can make an incremental upgrade by just installing a new patch. This can be done with a command line like this:

msiexec /p https://macrobond.net/appupdates/mainapp/1.6.0.26434-release/Patch-1.10.8.7467x-release.msp

You can also make an upgrade using a full installation with the same command as for a new installation. If there is a previous version installed it will automatically be upgraded.

The application will check every now and then if there is a newer version available. If there is, the user will be notified and offered to upgrade. If the user chooses to upgrade, the Macrobond application will launch a command to install just the patch if that is possible. The user can install patches to even without installation rights. This is possible through a special feature in Windows Installer and is called UAC Patching. Windows allows such patches only if they are signed using the same digital signature as the original installation and if the signature is valid and not revoked. You can find more information here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372388(v=vs.85).aspx

This is a convenient and safe way to ensure that the users quickly get the latest version.

32/64-bit

There are two variations of the installation script: one that installs only the 32-bit version of Macrobond add-ins and one that installs both 32 and 64-bit versions. It is recommended to always install the 64-bit version if you run a 64-bit version of Windows.

Requirements

Operating system

Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8 and Windows 10 are supported.

Macrobond is always tested in an environment where all automatic updates from Windows Update are installed.

Macrobond is designed to be a well behaved Windows application that follows the application guidelines from Microsoft and it is carefully tested using the configurations that match the requirements. It is not guaranteed to work in emulators or virtual environments. Such solutions are not always 100% compatible with Windows and may come with special requirements or limitation. You need to test and validate that Macrobond works well with your environment in those cases.

Components

The Macrobond application uses Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2-4.8. This must be installed on the computer before the installation.

NB! Macrobond 1.21 and older require at least .NET Framework version 4.5.0, but as of Macrobond 1.22, .NET Framework 4.5.2 is the minimum version. However, we recommend version 4.6.2 or later since this will give slightly better performance.

Hardware

Required screen resolution: 1280x768 pixels or higher at 96 DPI. For higher DPI, the required resolution is correspondingly higher.

Recommended processor: 1 GHz or faster. Dual core or more for 64-bit installations.

Microsoft Office

Macrobond integrates with Microsoft Office if it installed on the computer.

The following versions are supported: Office 2010, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 2019. The 64-bit version of Office requires the 64-bit installation of Macrobond. The 64-bit version of Macrobond supports both 32 and 64-bit Office, so it is recommended to always install the 64-bit version of Macrobond on 64-bit versions of Windows.

Internet resources

The Macrobond application communicates with the following resources on the internet:

Server Protocol Description
app1.macrobondfinancial.com https, http* Main application server
app2.macrobondfinancial.com https, http* Secondary application server
app3.macrobondfinancial.com https, http* Tertiary application server
macrobond.net https Application update files in the msi/msp format
help.macrobond.com https For help files and documentation
www.macrobond.com https, http For help files, documentation, latest news etc.
r.macrobond.com http For redirects from http to links that point to data in the Macrobond application
*.vimeo.com, *.vimeocdn.com, *.akamaihd.net http, https For streaming video tutorials
crl.globalsign.net http Server with certificate revocations list for the GlobalSign certificate authority. This server is contacted by Windows to verify the digital certificate of the installation.
api.twitter.com, upload.twitter.com https This is needed only if you want to use the functionality to send charts to Twitter from within the application.

* By default, the application always uses encrypted https communication, but it can be configured by the client to use http instead if desired.

Notes

The Macrobond application makes good use of multiple processor cores if available. Graphics performance can be enhanced by hardware acceleration on Windows Vista and later.

Verifying an installation

Here are some basic steps you can perform when testing your deployment of Macrobond.

  1. Check that the version of Macrobond.exe in the installation folder (“%PROGRAMFILES
    %\Macrobond Financial\Macrobond”    ) has the expected file version. You can see the file
    version on the Details or Version tab or the file Properties dialog in Explorer. The file
    version should be exactly the same as the installed version of Macrobond.
  2. Start the application from the Start menu. If this is a new installation you should now be
    prompted for a user name and password. If the application can start and show this
    dialog it indicates that all the program files have been installed correctly.
  3. If you have Microsoft Office installed, start Excel and verify that there is a Macrobond
    menu at the top. Select “Settings…” in that menu. You should then see the dialog where
    you can enter the user name and password. If this works, the Macrobond Excel add-in is
    most likely installed correctly.

If you have access to Macrobond user name and password, you can do the more comprehensive test that the application works as expected as outlined in the “Brief testing instruction for Macrobond”.

Please note that if you enter a user name and password and successfully log in, that user account will be associated with the current Windows user profile on the computer. You then need to contact Macrobond support in order to use that user account with another user profile or on another computer.

Directories

The following directories are used by the Macrobond application by default.

%PROGRAMFILES%\Macrobond Financial\Macrobond All the program files. Created and populated by the installation program. Only read access is required when running.
%WINDIR%\System32

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\MacroBond Financial

 The Microsoft C++ Runtime, is installed here by the installation program if they are not already installed. Only read access is required when running.

Application data that are not documents. The directory is created the first time the application is started.On Windows XP the path is dependent on the language of the Windows installation, but for English versions it is “%USERPROFILE %\Local Settings\Application Data\Macrobond Financial”.
%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Macrobond Documents stored by the user in the My Computer
location. The directory is created the first time it is needed by the application.
The name of the “My Documents” directory is dependent on the language of the Windows installation