BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

BusinessObjects XI Release 2
Patents Business Objects owns the following U.S. patents, which may cover products that are offered
and sold by Business Objects: 5,555,403, 6,247,008 B1, 6,578,027 B2, 6,490,593 and
6,289,352.

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Copyright Copyright © 2007 Business Objects. All rights reserved.

Third-party Business Objects products in this release may contain redistributions of software licensed
contributors from third-party contributors. Some of these individual components may also be available
under alternative licenses. A partial listing of third-party contributors that have requested or
permitted acknowledgments, as well as required notices, can be found at:
http://www.businessobjects.com/thirdparty

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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What does the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool do? . . . . . . . . . . 6
How does the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool work? . . . . . . . . . 6
Launching the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Using the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Viewing Format Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The History View Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Search Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Additional Technical Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 Software Inventory Tool 3

Contents

4 BusinessObjects XI Release 2 Software Inventory Tool

 Introduction

Introduction
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is a Java-based maintenance
tool available to administrators of BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Release 2
with Service Pack 2. It creates and maintains an inventory of all changes
made to Business Objects software via Business Objects installers and allows
users to view these changes.

Installation
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is installed as a feature of
Business Objects XI Release 2 products with Service Pack 2. It is available
for all Windows platforms supported by BusinessObjects XI Release 2. See
the platforms.txt document on your installation CD or check the Business
Objects Customer Assurance online support site (http://
technicalsupport.businessobjects.com) for the latest version.
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is packaged with the following
Business Objects products:
• BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Release 2 Service Pack 2
• BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Release 2 with Service Pack 2
• Crystal Reports XI Release 2 Service Pack 2
• Crystal Reports XI Release 2 with Service Pack 2
• OLAP Intelligence XI Release 2 with Service Pack 2
• Sharepoint Services XI Release 2 with Service Pack 2
• BusinessObjects XI Release 2 Productivity Pack
• BusinessObjects Live Office XI Release 2 Productivity Pack
• BusinessObjects Query as a Web Service XI Release 2 Productivity Pack

Since the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is a Java program, it

requires the same Java SDK as BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Release 2. It
is supported on Windows operating system desktop environments.
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is installed by default into
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\common\3.5\java\lib.
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool installation consists of several
Java JAR files, DLL files, and a SoftwareInventory.bat file. Once the
program is launched, the inventory.xml and log.txt files are created in
the same folder.

BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool 5

What does the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool do?

What does the BusinessObjects Software

Inventory Tool do?
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool collects the information from all
Business Objects installations into an XML file, which it parses and displays in
a Graphical User Interface (GUI). You can then access your Business Objects
software inventory in an intuitive, organized manner.
More specifically, the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool does the
following:
• Monitors changes made to a system's Business Objects software via
Business Objects’ installers for original installs and updates, including
Critical Hot Fixes (CHF) and Service Packs (SP).
• Provides the visualization of these changes in chronological order using
various formats and views.
• Allows the inventory list to be queried for specific files, features, patch
names, ADAPT numbers, and updates.

How does the BusinessObjects Software

Inventory Tool work?
Each time a Business Objects installer is run, the BusinessObjects Software
Inventory Tool is invoked and information about what is being installed is
added to the tool's inventory.xml file.
At a high level, the inventory contains the following types of information:
• Records of Business Objects installations on the system including
original product, Service Packs and Critical Hot Fixes.
• Records of the issue fixes that were installed on the system
(e.g. ADAPT00123456).
• Records of the files that are associated with each Business Objects
installation on the system (e.g. WAR files, DLL files).
Note: Manually editing the inventory.xml file is not recommended.

6 BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

 Launching the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

Launching the BusinessObjects Software

Inventory Tool
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is installed by default into the
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\common\3.5\java\lib folder.
To launch the tool, either:
• Double-click the SoftwareInventory.bat file which is located by
default in the C:\Program Files\Business
Objects\common\3.5\java\lib folder.
This launches a Windows Command window and starts the Java
program.
or
1. From the Start\Run command line - type cmd and click OK. This launches
a Windows Command window.
2. Navigate to the folder in which the tool is installed (the default is
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\common\3.5\java\lib).
3. At the prompt type:
"C:\Program Files\Business
Objects\j2sdk1.4.2_08\bin\java" -
Djava.library.path=.\external -Xmx256M -jar "C:\Program
Files\Business
Objects\common\3.5\java\lib\softwareInventory.jar" gui
This command uses the Java implementation installed with
BusinessObjects and provides Java configuration information.
Note: Closing the Windows Command window will terminate the Java
program.

Using the BusinessObjects Software

Inventory Tool
Once the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool is launched, the Graphical
User Interface (GUI) displays a screen view with three areas:
• The Viewing Format Area
• The History View Area
• The Search Area

BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool 7

Using the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

The Viewing Format Area

The Viewing Format Area provides three radio buttons that set the
parameters for what is displayed in the History View area.

Install/Patch name
Selecting this button sets the History View History Tree to show all of the
information available in the inventory in chronological order.
ADAPT number
Selecting this button sets the History View History Tree to show only the
ADAPT records that have been installed and recorded in the inventory.
Note: ADAPT records will only be displayed if Critical Hot Fixes are
installed.

8 BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

 Using the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

File
Selecting this button sets the History View History Tree to show only the
files that have been installed and recorded in the inventory.

The History View Area

There are two components to the History View Area: the History Tree and the
Node Details.

History Tree
The History Tree is the main window used to navigate the inventory. The
history of installations and changes is listed in chronological order, and
each entry can be expanded to expose more detail in the Node Details
window.
When the tool is launched the History Tree defaults to the Install/Patch
name view, providing the complete, top level of information. To view more
specific information you can use the Search function. See “The Search
Area” on page 11 for more information.
The selection of a specific node in this view, triggers more information
about this node to be displayed in the Node Details pane.

BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool 9

Using the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

Node Details
The information displayed in the Node Details will vary depending on the
type of object highlighted in the History Tree. There is some common
information which may include:
• Name of the product
• Version or Build number
• Date and Time of install
• Path locations

The following table summarizes the detail displayed in the History View area
depending on which Viewing Format is selected:

Viewing Format History View Detail

Install/Patch Name Name of the product
Build number
Installation or Removal timestamp
List of all features installed
List of all files installed
Installed or Removed
List of all ADAPT records (not for Service Packs)

10 BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

 Using the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

Viewing Format History View Detail

ADAPT Number ADAPT number /ID
Problem Summary
Fix description
List of updated files
File Name of the file
Full path location of the file
Version (if available)
Build
History of changes to the file

The Search Area

The Search area of the BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool allows you
to refine the information that is displayed in the History View area. There are
three components to the Search area:
Enter search string
• When a search string is entered, a new tree is generated based on
the search result and the current view being used.
• The search utility supports the wildcards "*" and "?".
• The default search setting is “all” which displays the complete, top
level of information in the History Tree view.
Search History
• The parameters of the search are stored in the Search History list
and can be accessed at any point after the search.
Clear search history
• The Search History list can be cleared using the Clear search history
button. This will leave only the all-inclusive view of the inventory.

BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool 11

Additional Technical Information

Additional Technical Information

The Log file
The BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool creates a log file which is a
cumulative record for each time the tool is launched. New records are
appended to the last saved record.
The log file (log.txt) is saved into the default installation folder, as is the
inventory.xml file.
Note: If the inventory listing is large, the BusinessObjects Software Inventory
Tool may take longer to launch, because it processes the inventory.xml file
before displaying the interface.

12 BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool

Index
A Log file 12
ADAPT 6, 8 log.txt 5, 12

C N
Clear search history 11 Node Details 9, 10
Critical Hot Fixes 6, 8
P
D platforms.txt 5
default 9, 11, 12
S
E Search 7, 9, 11
Enter search string 11 Search History 11
Service Packs 6
SoftwareInventory.bat 5
F
File 9
V
Viewing Format 7, 8, 10
G
Graphical User Interface 6, 7
W
Windows Command window 7
H
History Tree 8, 9, 10, 11
History View 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

I
Install/Patch name 8, 9
Installation 5
Introduction 5
inventory.xml 5, 6, 12

J
Java SDK 5

L
launch 7

BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool 13

Index

14 BusinessObjects Software Inventory Tool