Rollout

Rollout functionality allows your organization to determine whether or not your users are going to receive automatic updates to their devices. This topic provides rollout information common to all XI series apps plus any app-specific items to consider.

You can elect to ‘pin’ an app to a particular version. Electing to pin a version or use the latest version of an app is an easy process outlined further below.

IMPORTANT: Using the latest version is recommended to ensure your users receive the latest updates and patches, as they won’t be available on any versions other than the latest.

As an example scenario of a typical controlled rollout, the following occurs:

Set your Rollout Version Policy to pin to a specific version (or patch). All of your client machines in your tenant adhere to this pinned version.
If Schneider Electric releases a new version of the application, no updates are applied to any of your client machines in your tenant.
On your chosen date, change your Rollout Version Policy to the newer version (or patch) of the application. This unpins the old version and pins the new version.
Upon the next login on each of your client machines, the update for the new version occurs and:
- Users see a message stating an update is being applied.
- Once finished, users see a message instructing them to re-launch the application to use the new functionality.

Decoding the version string: The 1st number represents the major build, the 2nd number represents the minor build, the 3rd number represents the patch build, and any content after the “-” is the pre-release version number. The version string follows SemVer v1.0 (http://semver.org/spec/v1.0.0.html).

Rollout Version Policy

By default, Rollout is configured to use the latest version. Under the Rollout version policy field is information showing the specific version that matches your current selection for the rollout version policy.

Roll Back to a Previous Version

To roll back with MSIX, change the version in the drop-down to an older version. This automatically downgrades all users the next time they launch the application.

Pin to Major and Minor Version

Click the Rollout version policy drop-down to view a list of available major and minor version choices. Select the desired version to pin. For example, selecting 11.4.* allows patches, but major and minor updates are not applied. Users are locked to that version until such time as the policy is changed. After selecting the desired version, click Save. Click Cancel to disregard changes.

Pin to a Specific Patch

With the exception of Designer XI, you can pin a version to a specific patch. This impacts the Rollout version policy drop-down list. After selecting the desired version, click Save. Click Cancel to disregard changes.

NOTE: When specifying a patch version, users don’t receive updates until the rollout version policy is changed to a later patch, to a different version, or to the latest version.

If you pin to a specific patch version, you still automatically receive any security fixes issued by Schneider Electric. When a security fix is released, the application build number increments and all customers, regardless of what version you have pinned, receive the fix. As stated above, in the drop-down the marketing version comes first, followed by the application build number in parentheses. Regarding the security fix, if you, for example, pin to 11.4.1 (50.0.0.342) and then Schneider Electric issues a security fix, your full version increments to 11.4.1 (50.0.0.343). The marketing version doesn’t change, but the application build number incremented from 342 to 343.

Copy Download Link

This copies a download URL to your clipboard. This is the URL for the appinstaller file. It is not the MSIX package URL. If you run the appinstaller file, it enables the auto-update that respects the controlled rollout settings discussed above. Paste it into a web browser to start the download of the appinstaller file.

IMPORTANT:

If you are deploying on a server machine (or if you want to explicitly manage the application deployment), then you should copy the actual MSIX package URL, which is inside the appinstaller file or part of the deployment script.
Is your Copy Download Link button disabled? The most likely reason is that you have changed the version in the drop-down, but you have not yet clicked Save at the bottom of the interface. If you want to download an older version, first choose it in the drop-down, click Save, then click Copy Download Link.

Release Notes

Click the View Release Notes button to read release information located on myArcFM.

Designer XI Rollout Considerations

In a controlled rollout, administrators should configure new back-end services to leverage new functionality.

Between the client machine upgrades and back-end services upgrades, the client machines are compatible with the version of the service that exists (pre-configuration).
If a new feature requires back-end configuration, it does not display on the client machines until you request your Schneider Electric project team to activate it.
New features that do not require any back-end configuration display on the client machines immediately after the upgrade.

MSIX Installer Notes

As stated in Microsoft’s help document What is MSIX?, MSIX is a Windows app package format that provides a modern packaging experience to all Windows apps. With this new technology, keep the following points in mind:

If using the latest version, there are no longer notifications within the application regarding new builds. You can always check the My Work tab > Settings > About to view your current version.
Designer XI no longer displays in the Control Panel. Instead, it is under Apps & Features.
In the image above, notice the different colors of the icons.
- The lighter shade for ArcFMDesigner indicates an app that auto-updates via MSIX.
- The darker shade for ArcFM Solution Center indicates an app that does not auto-update via MSIX, but instead updates via a different technology.

Open MSIX KB Article Button

For a journey into the interesting world of MSIX deployment, we have a white paper available, entitled ArcFM Mobile MSIX Migration on myArcFM, that discusses the crucial nature of MSIX as a deployment technology.

Create Deployment Script Button

You can use the Create Deployment Script button to create a PowerShell script that silently downloads and installs the application for each user.

Editor XI Rollout Considerations

DHFC Rollout Considerations

In a controlled rollout, from the client machine’s perspective, it ultimately takes two logins for the upgrade to occur:

Upon first login after the upgrade, the client opens to the previous version but recognizes a new version is ready for install.
On the second login, the new version is fully installed and ready for the end user.

MSIX Installer Notes

As stated above, MSIX is a Windows app package format that provides a modern packaging experience to all Windows apps. For more information about how MSIX directly applies to DHFC, refer to the Designer HFC MSIX Migration article on myArcFM.

Keep the following points in mind:

You need to download and install Microsoft’s App Installer prior to installing the DHFC client.
The first time you upgrade to an MSIX version (for example, moving to DHFC version 11.4.1 and beyond), there are a few changes made to the system:
- You are notified that the DHFC icon has moved from the Desktop to the Start Menu.
- The log and log4net.config are now located in C:\ProgramData\Schneider Electric\SE.Coax.NetworkDesigner.
If using the latest version, there are no longer notifications within the application regarding new builds. You can always check the Backstage > About to view your current version.
- If using the latest version, the application checks for updates every 12 hours. If you need an update sooner, you can use the steps as described in the topic Install the DHFC Client Application harp://68b9aab49cf6fe2dd49c4c67/pr/ORIGINAL/ArcFM%20Solution%20Center/English/The%20DHFC%20Client%20Application%20(CPT)_0000315947.xml. Likely, you need to restart your machine after installing the new version.
DHFC no longer displays in the Control Panel. Instead, it is under Apps & Features.

In the image above, notice the different colors of the icons.
- The lighter shade for ArcFM Designer HFC indicates an app that auto-updates via MSIX.
- The darker shade for ArcFM Solution Center indicates an app that does not auto-update via MSIX, but instead updates via a different technology.

Roll Back to a Previous Version

To roll back with MSIX, change the version in the drop-down to an older version. This automatically downgrades all users the next time they launch the application.

IMPORTANT:

Different versions have different functionality, and some functions require different configurations. Thus, rolling back to a previous version should be taken with care. If your company has made configuration changes to support a recent release, earlier versions might not support those configurations because they do not have the same functionality.
Further, if you are currently on an MSIX version of 11.4.1 or after, it is not possible to roll back to a prior version in the manner stated above. In that case, you need to set the rollout version policy to a version prior to 11.4.1, uninstall the MSIX, then re-install the previous version of the client (which used a different installer technology).
Rolling back to a previous version using the Rollout plugin only works if you have installed DHFC using the appinstaller file. Rolling back does not work if you deployed DHFC using the MSIX package URL (for example, if you installed on a server machine).

Upgrade Locally to a New Version

Pinning to the most recent version allows the application to upgrade without your involvement. However, sometimes you need to run an upgrade yourself, especially if the application upgrade is part of a packaged upgrade at your company. To accomplish this, first choose the version from the drop-down, then click the Create Deployment Script button. This generates a PowerShell script, and the last line of the script contains the link to the MSIX for the version in the drop-down.

Open MSIX KB Article Button

Create Deployment Script Button

You can use the Create Deployment Script button to create a PowerShell script that silently downloads and installs the application for each user.

ArcFM Mobile Rollout Considerations

Rollout applies only to ArcFM Mobile for Windows Classic (versions prior to 5.0) and ArcFM Mobile 5.0 and later running on Windows devices. For Android or iOS apps, we recommend that you use Mobile Device Management to control the deployment of ArcFM Mobile on devices, separate from the Rollout capability documented here.

NOTE: Rollout functionality specifically for ArcFM Mobile became available with version 3.3. You can’t pin to any earlier releases.

MSIX Deployment

MSIX helps ensure that your organization stays current and provides reassurance that your applications are always up to date. MSIX installers are used to package and deliver each version of ArcFM Mobile to your users. After updating to MSIX installers, updates happen automatically, however, your users are not notified when this occurs. Essentially, every eight hours OR the first time your users launch the app within a 12 hour period, the app checks to see if there is a new version. If a new version is available, it downloads in the background. The very next time that your users close and re-launch the app, it will be updated.

ArcFM Mobile for Windows Classic releases prior to 4.0.0 rollout use Squirrel deployment. Releases versioned 4.0.0 and later rely on MSIX deployment - this includes Windows Classic and standard editions of ArcFM Mobile.

IMPORTANT: If you wish to revert back to ArcFM Mobile for Windows Classic (versions earlier than 5.0) from ArcFM Mobile 5.0 and later running on Windows, do not uninstall the latest version of the software before downgrading. Instead, download the MSIX file for the version of ArcFM Mobile for Windows Classic you wish to install and run it. Accept the prompt to “upgrade” and the installer will install the older version of the software.

Squirrel Deployment

With Squirrel rollout, the following happens:

Set your Rollout version policy to pin to a specific version (or patch). All of your client machines on your tenant adhere to this pinned version.
If Schneider Electric releases a new version of the application, no updates are applied to any of your client machines on your tenant.
On your chosen date, change your Rollout version policy to the newer version (or patch) of the application. This unpins the old version and pins the new version.
Upon the next login on each of your client machines, the update for the new version occurs, and
- Users see a message stating an update is being applied.
- Once finished, users see a message instructing them to re-launch the application to use the new functionality.

Open MSIX KB Article Button

Create Deployment Script Button

You can use the Create Deployment Script button to create a PowerShell script that silently downloads and installs the application for each user.