TypingMaster Intra Installation Guide

TypingMaster Intra is a cross-platform Client Server Application for teaching typing in intranet and extranet environments. With TypingMaster Intra you can quickly, reliably and easily assess and teach typing skills.

This manual goes through all the steps necessary to successfully install and start using TypingMaster Intra. Chapter 1 concentrates on technical requirements and installation of the software. Chapter 2 takes you through the initial configuration of TypingMaster Intra. Chapter 3 briefly describes the Manager interface used to configure TypingMaster Intra.

Chapter 1 - Installation

TypingMaster Intra installation package features a one-click setup program that is launched directly from our web site. The setup program requires Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008, Solaris, AIX, Linux, Mac OS X or other UNIX operating system with Java VM 1.4 or newer installed.

The installation program will first ask you a few questions about the components you wish to install and where you want to install TypingMaster Intra. After this, the program will copy all necessary files to the chosen folder, then starts the product and creates shortcuts.

It is recommended to read through the instructions before you start. This will give you an idea of the information needed and the options available during installation.

Overview of the installation process

To get TypingMaster Intra up and running on your intranet, you need to complete the following steps:

1. Install TypingMaster Intra on a local computer (Web Server or other Server recommended)
2. Configure the typing course settings (optional)
3. Place the link to the typing tutor on your intranet pages or distribute the information by email

 

1.1 Installation Requirements

Tip: For the evaluation purposes both the server and client can be located on the same machine.

1.1.1 Installation Requirements for Server

Windows Workstation Users please notice: For the evaluation purposes this software can be also installed to Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista Workstation but some Microsoft limitations do apply: no more than 5-10 client workstations can be connected into hosting workstation at a same time. You can read more about this from Microsoft.Com/Support Articles: Q314882 and Q122920

1.1.2 Installation Requirements for Clients (User/Student Workstations)

Other operating systems and browsers are supported, if you are unsure please contact us for further details.

1.2 Installation Process

  1. Make sure you download the latest version of TypingMaster Intra at:
    http://www.typingmaster.com/download/getTMIntra.asp

    Note: If you plan to use an optional Application Server such as Tomcat or IBM WebSphere, please see the Appendix 1

  2. Be sure to select the Operating System you plan to run the installer from. We recommend downloading the installation package that includes the Java Virtual Machine when available for your platform unless you already have Java 1.4 or newer installed.

  3. Once downloaded if the installation does not start automatically, you can follow the operating system specific instructions to run the installer. Instructions can be found on the download page you downloaded setup from. For Windows and Mac OS X Operating Systems just double click on the tmintra file, with Linux, execute the command sh ./tmintra.bin

  4. The installer window will open and start the install process with the following screens:

    Introduction: Click 'Next' once you have looked through the introductory text.

    Choose Java Virtual Machine: If you downloaded TypingMaster Intra with a Java Virtual Machine just press 'Next'. Otherwise you will need to select one, the Java Virtual Machine you select must be Java 1.4 or greater. Once selected, press 'Next'.

    Choose Install Set: For a standard install of TypingMaster Intra choose the Typical Install. When installing into an existing Java web/application server select Application Server Installation. If you wish to customize which parts of TypingMaster Intra will be installed select Custom.

    Custom Install:
    Standard Courses: English course material. Required.
    Study Material Editor: Allows you to edit the content of all course material. Works only on Windows Operating System.
    International Courses: Spanish, French, German, Swedish and Finnish course material.
    Learning Manager: This is the core component of TypingMaster Intra. Required.
    TypingMaster Server: This hosts and handles the TypingMaster Intra service.

    Choose Install Folder: Select the location you wish to install TypingMaster Intra, a default under Windows is C:/Program Files/TMIntra

    Choose Shortcut Folder:The folder where application shortcuts to control TypingMaster Intra will be placed. Usually there will be at least a shortcut to both start and stop the service.

    TypingMaster Server Setup:

  5. If you have selected a Typical Install, a browser window will now open which will take you to the Database setup screen for TypingMaster Intra.

    This allows you to choose where all the user data is kept. By default it is highly recommended to use the integrated database, this has no extra requirements and is built in to TypingMaster Intra. If you wish to use TypingMaster Intra in a very large-scale environment, or just wish to use your own external database, please select Database Type from the options presented. For example, Windows users could use a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for storing all user data.

    Note: TypingMaster Intra ships with JDBC drivers for Microsoft SQL Server, if you wish to use another database type (such as MySQL) you must ensure a driver is placed in the correct folder. Instructions for downloading and installing the driver are presented in the database setup screen. For more information, please contact TypingMaster or your Database Administrator.

  6. Once you have selected the database, the connection to database is verified and the TypingMaster Intra Account Set Up screen is shown. This will guide you through creating the account needed to manage and configure the typing course material and users. Please see chapter 2 for details.

    Tip: Click on the question marks for information on each setting.

 

Chapter 2 - Setting Up TypingMaster Intra

After the installation is successfully completed its time to define some mandatory settings to allow TypingMaster Intra to work properly.

To adjust these settings use a web browser to access TypingMaster Intra. The set up instructions open in a browser window by default after the install is completed. If there was a problem, you can open this settings page later from the Server by opening the Web page: http://localhost:8080 (assuming the selected port during setup was 8080).

 

2.1 Administrator Login Settings

It is required for security purposes to create a User ID and password for the TypingMaster Intra Administrator user. You will use this login information to access TypingMaster Intra Manager where you can manage users and customize settings.

Tip! You can click on any of the (?) icons to get more information about the corresponding setting.

  1. User ID: Select any User ID between 4 - 25 characters long
  2. Password: Select the password that the administrator uses to log in. Please note that the password is case sensitive ('TypingMaster' is different from 'typingmaster'). You need to enter password twice to make sure its spelled correctly. See the section Email Address below.
  3. First name and last name: Enter at least the first name for administrator. In case there are more than one person acting as administrator, you can enter something general here like "HR Department".
  4. Email Address: It is very important to enter the valid email address for administrator, in case administrator forgets his/her password it can be automatically resent to Administrator's email.

2.2 General Settings

  1. Organization name: Select any name that you want to be displayed to users, for example "Our Junior High School"
  2. Mail Server: Enter name for your SMTP mail server (usually it is called something like smtp.myschool.us.edu) . Entering your organization's mail server here will enable advanced email features, e.g. emailing of forgotten passwords and important license notifications. If uncertain, ask your system administrator for information on your SMTP server address. See the section Email Address above
  3. Show Email to Users: If enabled, the administrator's email address will be visible to users. This is useful in case users need to ask questions or require help from the administrator.

Tip! All these settings can easily be changed afterwards as well. Once the setup is complete just go to the Settings page in the TypingMaster Intra Manager

 

2.3 Regional Settings

Please select your regional options to choose what languages the courses will be available in. Also select whether you would like the typing speed results to be displayed in Words Per Minute (WPM) or Characters Per Minute (CPM / KPM) format.

  1. Language: Select both the default language and the list of languages users can choose from.
  2. Typing Speed Measurement Unit: Please select speed measurement unit shown to the user, either Words per Minute (e.g. USA) or Characters/Keystrokes per Minute (e.g. Europe).

Tip: You can adjust how the WPM is counted (By default 1 WPM equals 5 key strokes) from the Manager Settings.

 

2.4 Entering into TypingMaster Intra Manager

After the required settings 2.1 - 2.3 have been entered, you will be automatically forwarded into the Manager Main Section.
TypingMaster Intra has the following two main sections:

As the Administrator you can easily switch between these sections using the tabs on top of the page.

Congratulations, Setup has been successfully completed - TypingMaster Intra is now ready for your users/students to use.

 

 

Chapter 3 - TypingMaster Intra Manager in Brief

Once you have logged on as Administrator, you will see on the left side of the page the main menu from which to access the principal pages of the Manager. These are the pages you click:

  1. Main Page: Here a general overview of TypingMaster Intra is placed in one easily accessible area. The page is divided into three basic parts: General Information, License Usage and Quick Actions.
  2. Users: This is where you control and monitor the progress of students and generate printable reports.
  3. Courses: This is where you control the settings for each course. You can change either overall settings, or customize courses independently for each group.
  4. Groups: Here you can view and edit all your groups and see which users are in each group
  5. Settings: Here you can control general settings related to user login, Study Settings, and the general operation of TypingMaster Intra.
  6. Test Texts: Allows to select which typing test texts you wish to be visible to the user and also add and edit your own custom test texts
  7. Licenses: Here you can monitor your license data and order more licenses if necessary

For more details about these options, please use the easy online help: each option is followed by a question mark (?), by clicking on this question mark will provide you with information on what that setting does.

As the Administrator you can easily switch between the two main sections of TypingMaster Intra, the Manager and Study Area. Use the tabs on top of the page to go between the two sides. Ordinary users do not have access to the Manager side and are taken directly to the Study Area when they login.

Appendix 1

Application Server Setup

TypingMaster Intra is an web application that can be installed to any existing standard Application Server (such as Tomcat and IBM WebSphere). For this reason TypingMaster Intra is also available for download as a Web Archive (WAR) file.

If you are familiar with .WAR files you most likely prefer to use Web Archive .WAR file for the installation instead of using the standard Installer:

1. Download the .WAR file from http://www.typingmaster.com/index.asp?go=tmintra

2. Next, upload the .WAR file into Application Server.

Note: If you have Tomcat, you can complete steps 2-4 by copying tmintra.war into /tomcat/webapps/ and then restarting Tomcat to make it reload a new application.

3. The context root can be /tmintra/ or similar

4. Choose to start up the TypingMaster Intra Application from Application Server

5. Open TypingMaster Intra application through web browser: http://YourServer:9090/tmintra/

6. Continue reading this manual's step-by-step instructions from Chapter 1 section 5.

 

Appendix 2

Windows 2000/XP Restricted Users and ACTIVEX Security

TypingMaster Intra requires the Web Browser on Client Workstations to support either Java Applets or Microsoft's ACTIVEX. By default, the ActiveX Client is used on all Windows machines with Internet Explorer. You can set it so that all users have the same typing tutor, we recommend setting the Tutor Type to Java Only on the Settings page of the TypingMaster Intra Manager.

By design in Windows 2000 the members of the Users group cannot install ActiveX controls without Admin first modifying the rights of the group. When you perform a "clean" installation of Windows 2000 (that is, you have not upgraded from Microsoft Windows NT 4 or Microsoft Windows 98), the members of the Users default group cannot download ActiveX controls because they are not permitted to write files to the Downloaded Program Files folder.

There are three different options for Administrator to allow use of the ActiveX component on these Restricted workstations:

  1. Install TMIntra ACTIVEX component by hand to the client workstations:

    The Setup package is available here after TypingMaster Intra Setup:

    \Program files\TMIntra\webapps\tmintra\itutor\TMIntra.msi
    Also available via download: http://your-servername:port/tmintra/itutor/TMIntra.msi

  2. Adjust the security settings for the restricted users (not recommended).

  3. Publish TMIntra ActiveX component via Active Directory to all network users:


    Some administrators may want to allow the Users group to install only some ActiveX controls. Its possible to publish TMIntra ActiveX control in the Active Directory by using the IntelliMirror technology in Windows 2000.

    Active Directory must be made aware of the control. The control must be added as a published control in the user portion of a policy for the appropriate Organizational Unit (OU). After the control has been published properly, you should see it in Add/Remove programs for any of the users in the OU.

Copyright TypingMaster Inc. 2008