Banana Accounting Custom, RDS Installation and App Packaging for Windows

This page contains details regarding the Banana Accounting installation on Windows Operating System:

• Technical information and requirements regarding the installation.
• Parameters that can be used with the bananaplus-setup.exe.
• Installation on servers for RDS (Remote Desktop Services) users.
• Packaged installation (automatic Distribution)
• Enterprise offline multi-user subscription

Common settings and requirements

Valid internet connection

Once you have installed BananaPlus the application will need to connect to banana.ch web server:

• A valid internet connection is required:
• Access to the https://www.banana.ch+(port 80) must be granted for:
  • Subscription registration and activation
  • Check for updates
  • Download of templates
  • Download of extensions
  • Download of news

Application data

Customization and settings are saved in the users profile; the following folders and Registry keys should be granted read/write rights to the user:

• Folders:
  • %localappdata%\Banana.ch\BananaPlus
  • %appdata%\Banana.ch
• Registry:
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Banana.ch\BananaPlus

Windows bananaplus-setup.exe installer

The bananaplus-setup.exe program takes care of the installation. 

• It will display the information necessary for completing the installation
• It also install the unistall command that is registered in the Window App Setup.
• No internet connection is necessary.

Subscription activation:

• The first time you install the application the program will operate in Free mode.
• You need to Start the program and connect to your subscription by entering your email.  

Command line installation

The bananaplus-setup.exe is created with the InnoSetup tool. 
You can start the BananaSetup.exe program from a command line and use the command available from InnoSetup:

• List of InnoSetup available commands . 

Here a list of some of the useful parameters:

• /ALLUSERS 
  Instructs Setup to install in adminsitrative install mode. (install under C:\Program Files)
• /CURRENTUSER 
  Instructs Setup to install in non adminsitrative install mode. (install under %localappdata%\Programs)
• /VERYSILENT 
  Setup will run without showing any progress window or dialog. (/ALLUSERS or /CURRENTUSER must be set to silent the initial dialog).
• /NORESTART 
  Prevents from restarting the system following a successful installation (usually not necessary).
• /DIR="x:\bananaPlus"
  Overrides the default installation directory.
• /GROUP="Banana plus"
  Overrides the folder name displayed on the Start Menu Folder

Example: silent install in C:\Program Files\BananaPlus:

.\bananaplus-setup.exe /ALLUSERS /VERYSILENT /DIR="C:\Program Files\BananaPlus"

Default installation

When running the bananaplus-setup.exe without parameters the program will start in default mode. 

The installer will give you the option to install for all users and it will let you choose the directory.

Install for me only

This is the default setting if you run the installer without administrative privileges.

• No password asked
• The uninstall info will be under HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
• The installation directory is %localappdata%\Programs\BananaPlus

Install for all users (Administrator)

• Administrator password will be asked
• The uninstall info will be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
• The installation directory is %ProgramFiles%\BananaPlus

Installing Updates

The BananaSetup.exe is also used for subsequent installation. 
When installing for the second time the installer will overwrite the existing installation 

• Run the installer as administrator.
• The installer will suggest the last directory used for installation. If you have last installed a Dev-Channel and you are installing the Release version, it will suggest to you the Dev-Channel directory.
• You have to manually select the right directory for installation.

Developer versions

With the update of June 10th 2021, Dev Channel is a different software than the normal version:

Application id of the dev-channel: BananaPlusDev
Application id of the normal version: BananaPlus

They are different programs, but share the same settings.
For example at startup you will find the same list of recent files in both programs.

RDS - Remote Desktop Service (centralized)

With an RDS deployment, Windows applications run on a central server (historically called a Terminal Server). Instead of installing the software on every individual's computer, the programs run entirely on the server. Users then connect to that server and interact with the software using a Remote Desktop application.

Banana Accounting+ can be installed on computers registered in a Windows domain with Active Directory and Roaming User Profiles and on computers that offer a Remote Desktop Services.

Banana Accounting+ works on Windows Server 2016 and following, and also with Citrix, TSPlus or other similar technologies.

Banana Accounting+ requires a graphics driver that supports Direct 3D 11, Direct3D 12, Vulkan 1.0, or OpenGL 2.1 or higher is required. As of Qt 6, the default for Qt Quick on Windows is Direct3D 11.

In case of problems, you will find troubleshooting info on this website.

Installation for Remote Desktop Service

You need to install Banana Accounting on your server.

• Use the "Install for all users" at the beginning of the installation process. 
• Once the installation is completed you can copy the content of the installation to any other suitable directory.  

An update is the same as a new installation. 

To automate the update process you can create a script that use a Command Line .

Subscription License requirements

For each users using the application you need a valid license of Banana Accounting.

Packaged Installation (Distributed)

With a "packaged installation" (often called software distribution or local installation) the installer resided on the server and the application is automatically installed on the user device.   

• The software runs directly on the user's laptop. 
• A "package" (like an .msi or .exe file), that contains the application is created and then sent out to be installed on every single user's device.
• The system allow to define the users that will be able to use a specific application

There are many technologies to distribute and install software on the users computer. Microsoft Intune and others. 
They usually all provide their own tool to create a package. 

Subscription license requirements

For each users using the application you need a valid license of Banana Accounting.

Create a package using the BananaPlus-Setup.exe

The InnoSetup installer is compatible with most packaging tools. You can therefore include the BananaSetup.exe that should be run with the appropriate parameters to ensure a "silent" install:

• /VERYSILENT
  This is the most important switch. It tells the installer to run completely in the background with no windows shown at all.
• /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES 
  Prevents any small warning or info pop-ups that might halt the installation.
• /NORESTART
  Tells the installer not to automatically reboot the computer if it finishes—allowing the distribution tool to handle the reboot schedule instead.
• /SP-
  Skips the "This will install... Do you wish to continue?" prompt that usually appears at the start. 

Create a package using the installed directory

Your packaging tool probably let you also create package using the installed files:

• Install BananaAccounting on you local computer, specifying the desired directory.
• Create a package using the file on your directory.

Subscription license activation

For each users using the application you need a valid subscription of Banana Accounting. It can be a:

• Single user subscription. 
  Each user will purchase and manage their subscription.
• Multi-user subscription
  The administrator buy and assign subscriptions to users, using their email.
• Enterprise offline-subscription.
  For large organization we provide a possibility to purchase Enterprise offline-subscriptions.

Multi-user subscription

• The administrator can purchase and mange a multi-user subscription within the Banana Online Account.
• Each user will need to activate their subscription by connecting their email, with the 
  • Menu > Help > Manage subscription
• In order to activate the subscription, the user must be able to connect to the banana.ch website via the https protocol.
• The activation is stored in the user profile (see Common settings and requirements above).

Enterprise offline-subscription (Windows only)

This is a special subscription that does not require the user to connect and activate the license. 
It is intended for large organizations that use Banana Accounting on a central server RDS or use a prepackaged installation. 
Banana.ch provide a possibility to purchase Enterprise offline-subscriptions.

• The organization must qualify for this subscription model.
  It should have in place a system to manage and distribute application and report the users that have the ability to use the application and have effectively used it.
• The subscription is purchased with a manual process.
• The subscription is assigned to the organization email.
• The administrator will receive a special key.

Installation 

When installing the application, or using the package, you need to provide the email and the key.

• Start the Bananaplus-setup.exe installation with a Command Line 
• Provide the appropriate parameters, see above:
  • /VERYSILENT 
  • /<user option> 
    • /ALLUSERS
      Instruct Setup to install in administrative mode. (Installation under C:\Program files).
    • /CURRENTUSER
      Instruct Setup to install in normal user mode. (Installation under %localappdata%\Programs)
  • /MAIL=your@mail.address
    The administrative address for witch you have requested the superscription. 
  • /KEY=<the activation code without line break>
    The code you have received from Banana.ch that is connected to your email and subscription.
     

Bananaplus-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /ALLUSERS /MAIL=info@school.example.org /KEY=U0QxM8o77zlMg16K7HohVa8Ex1njLn+o8

Starting BananaPlus with the Subscription information

You can start BananaPlus.exe with the su 
The parameters are different.

• Start BananaPlus.exe with the following parameters
  It is better to put the parameters in quotes,
  • -cmd=activate_sub 
    Instruct BananaPlus that this is a subscription activation
  • -cmd_p1=your@mail.address
  • -cmd_p2=<the activation code without line break>
• The installation process will update the information regarding your license.

Example:

BananaPlus.exe "-cmd=activate_sub" "-cmd_p1=info@school.example.org" "-cmd_p2=U0QxM8o77zlMg16K7HohVa8Ex1njLn+o8

Subscription dialog

When you use the offline activation method the Manage Subscription (from the Help menu) will show the subscription information. 
Users will not be able to modify their subscription information.