VI or Visual Integrator is Sage 100's tool for importing and exporting data from the system. Once jobs are created, they can be run from within Sage 100. What if you need to run VI outside of Sage 100 ERP and want to schedule it and run on a nightly basis? Here is how you would create a shortcut to run the VI Job.
First step would be to create a user and set permissions. It is best to create a specific user for your VI Jobs.
Setup Security
- Select Library Master Main menu > Role Maintenance.
- Enter a new Role Name (example VIJobs) and enter a discription.
- Click the Module Options tab and Tasks tab to make sure all check boxes are cleared by clicking the top Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200 check box. If creating an shortcut for something other than VI check the correct permissions required for that program.
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Close the Role Maintenance window.
- Select Library Master Main menu > User Maintenance.
- Create a new user logon and password. If the Use Unified Logon check box is selected in the System Configuration window, you can additionally create another user in the Windows domain specifically for the purpose of accessing the VI tasks.
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Assign the role(s), that were created in the steps above, to the new user.
After the role and new user have been defined, you can create a shortcut to log onto the system. Follow the steps below to create a shortcut.
Shortcuts must be set up for each program that will be run outside the Business Desktop.
Sage 100 Advanced and Premium users need to have a drive mapping or a UNC path available to the server. Share permissions and NTFS permissions need to allow for read and write.
To create a shortcut
- Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select New > Shortcut. The Create Shortcut wizard appears.
- Use the Browse button to browse to the PVXWIN32.EXE program of the server installation you want to connect to. The Browse For Folder dialog box appears.
- Locate the PVXWIN32.EXE file in the Home directory and click OK.
You can also type the path.
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Click Next.
- At the Type a name for this shortcut field, type a description to identify the shortcut.
- Click Finish. The shortcut is created on the desktop.
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Right-click the new shortcut and select Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.
- With your cursor in the Target field, press the END key to move to the end of the path name. The Target should already have a path such as "C:\MAS90\Home\pvxwin32.exe"
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Enter a space after "pvxwin32.exe" and type the following path:
../launcher/sota.ini ../soa/Startup.M4P -ARG DIRECT UION <logon name> <logon password> <company> <program> AUTO
| Command Componet | Description |
|---|---|
| C:\MAS90\Home | This command initiates the ProvideX interpreter that runs Sage 100 ERP programs. Use the drive and folder name where Sage 100 ERP is installed. When running a shortcut from a workstation, use the drive and folder where the Sage 100 Standard ERP programs are located on the server. The VI folder located on the server needs to be used in the path for the import or export file. When running a shortcut from a workstation running on SQL, use the drive and folder where the Sage 100 Premium ERP programs are located on the SQL server. The VI folder located on the SQL server needs to be used in the path for the import or export file. In addition, an ODBC Data Source/User data source name (DSN) needs to be set up in the ODBC Data Source Administrator located in the workstation's Control Panel. |
| ..\LAUNCHER\SOTAPGM.INI or ..\LAUNCHER\SOTA.INI | This specifies the INI file used to start ProvideX. SOTAPGM.INI is used for business framework modules or VI Jobs. SOTA.INI is used for non business framework or VI Jobs. |
| ..\SOA\STARTUP.M4P | This runs the Sage 100 Standard ERP startup program. |
| -ARG | This flag indicates that what follows are arguments to be passed to the Sage 100 ERP program. |
| DIRECT | This is an internal flag that directs Sage 100 ERP to run the specified program without using the Desktop. |
| UION | This specifies that the user will receive notification of errors in a message box. To not receive notification of errors in a message box, type UIOFF instead. |
| <logon name> | This is the user's logon. If security has been set up, a valid user logon is required to execute the job. If security has not been set up, enter "" instead of a user logon. |
| <logon password> | This is the user's password. If the user does not have a password, or if security has not been set up, enter "" instead of a password. |
| <company> | This is the company code that you want to use for the job. If you do not specify a company code, the last company accessed from the workstation will be used. If the company code specified is not valid, the job will not execute. |
| <program> | This is the name of the Visual Integrator job or program to be executed. The program name for a job appears on the title bar of the Import Job Maintenance or Export Job Maintenance window. |
| AUTO |
This is the run mode for the job. You can type AUTO, MANUAL, or DISPLAY here.
AUTO specifies that the job will be run with no user input. No windows display when a job is running in the AUTO mode.
MANUAL specifies that the job will be run with user input. Manual jobs will display the standard job window and allow the user to enter selection fields.
DISPLAY specifies that the job will be run with no user input. DISPLAY mode will, however, display a progress bar as the job is executed.
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- In place of <logon name>, type the name of the user logon that was created when setting up security for the new user. If there is a space in the logon name, enclose the entire name in quotation marks. If the Use Unified Logon check box is selected in the System Configuration window in the Library Master module, replace <logon name> with "".
- In place of <logon password>, type the password that was set up for this user. If there is a space in the password, enclose the entire password in quotation marks. If no password was created, type "". If the Use Unified Logon check box is selected in the System Configuration window in the Library Master module, replace <logon password> with "".
- In place of <company>, type the three-character company code for the company that will be accessed by the VI job (for example, ABC or XYZ).
Only one company code can be specified per shortcut.
- In place of <program>, type the name of the program that will be run from this shortcut (for example, VIWI00, VIWI01). To find the program name go to Visual Integrator > Main > (Import/Export) Job Maintenance. Choose the job you wish to run for the shortcut. In the top right is the compiled file name. This is the program name that you will need to use.
Note Only one program can be specified per shortcut.
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If there is not a path at the Start in field, type the path to the Sage 100 ERP server using a UNC or mapped drive. This path should end in the Home directory as indicated by the following example:
"C:\MAS90\Home" - Click OK to save the shortcut.
- This same procedure can be repeated for each company and/or program name pair. Make sure to name each shortcut differently so that the user can easily identify each one. If the Unified Logon feature is enabled on the Sage 100 ERP system, the user logged onto the PC where the shortcuts were created must be the user that is set up with the role permissions indicated in the Set Up Security.
