2023:Install and Setup

WIP	This article is a work-in-progress or created as a placeholder for testing purposes. This article is subject to change and/or expansion. It may be incomplete, inaccurate, or stop abruptly. This tag will be removed upon draft completion.

Welcome to Grooper 2023!

This guide will instruct you how to get up and running in Grooper. 

This article also provides guidance for Upgrading an Older Version of Grooper.

About

Thank you for purchasing/upgrading to Grooper 2023!

Before we go over the installation and setup of Grooper 2023, let us explain some of the new features 2023 has to offer.

In previous versions of Grooper, you had to install the software on each computer you wanted to have access to any part of Grooper. So, no matter if they were designing your Grooper environment or reviewing documents, Grooper had to be fully installed on their computers. Everyone would then have to access a server where the Grooper repositories are stored or create a local repository on their machine. This could cause some difficulties in customizing permissions and managing the software on multiple computers.

With Grooper 2023, the software only has to be fully installed on one computer! Instead, everyone else can access the Grooper environment and repositories via web browser. This makes everything a lot easier to manage.

Installing the Grooper Product Suite

To get up and running with Grooper 2023, there are several applications that need to be installed and configured.

• Grooper: This primary application installs the Grooper thick client and Grooper Config.
• Internet Information Services (IIS): This program is necessary to use the Grooper Web Client.
• Web Client: With this application properly installed and configured, multiple users can access Grooper remotely via web browser.
• Grooper Desktop: This application can be installed on any computer. Grooper Desktop integrates with scanners

Download the InstallerInstalling GrooperInstalling IISInstalling the Web ClientInstalling Grooper Desktop

Download the Installer

If you have not registered at Grooper xChange, do so by clicking the link below. https://xchange.grooper.com/entry/register Once you've registered, you will have access to the user forum, including the "Downloads and Resources" section. Follow the link below to the "Download and Resources" section. The top level topic will have download links to the most recent version of Grooper. Links to older versions are available lower in the list of topics. https://xchange.grooper.com/categories/downloads-and-resources
Click on the link for Grooper 2023. Here you will see four links to downloads: The 64-bit installer, the 32-bit installer, Grooper Desktop Installer, and Grooper Web Server Installer. You will need to choose between the 64-bit installer and the 32-bit installer. The 64-bit installer is appropriate for most environments. However, if you are using ISIS or TWAIN drivers to operate a scanner, you will need to install the 32-bit version. Download the version appropriate to your needs, then also download both the Grooper Desktop and Grooper Web Server installers.
The installer files will download as zipped folders. You will need to extract each zipped folder. Right-click a folder and select "Extract All..."
Choose the folder location you wish to extract the files to. Press the "Extract" button.
Now you should have all your files extracted and are ready to install the software. Click on the next tab for installation instructions.

Installing Grooper

Open up File Explorer and navigate to your extracted folders. Open the extracted folder "GrooperInstall_23.00.xxxx" to reveal the installation files.
Double-click "setup.exe" to start the Grooper Installer. ⚠ If this is your first time installing Grooper, you may have some prerequisites to install (Microsoft Visual C++, Access Database Engine, and the Microsoft .NET Framework). If you already have these installed from a previous Grooper installation, please skip to step #8.
When the InstallShield Wizard for Grooper pops up, click "Install" to start installing the prerequisite applications. FYI You may already have the Microsoft .NET Framework installed, but this prerequisite installation will check to make sure that all components necessary for Grooper to run are present.
Once Microsoft Visual C++ is installed, your server may require a restart. When prompted, please restart.
After restarting, open File Explorer and navigate back to the setup.exe file and double-click again to restart the InstallShield Wizard. Click "Install" to continue installing the prerequisite applications.
Once complete, the Grooper installer will pop up. Click "Next" to move to the next screen.
After reviewing the Welcome page to the InstallShield Wizard, click "Next" to continue.
Read through the End User License Agreement and click the radial button next to "I accept the terms in the license agreement". Click "Next" to continue.
Now you can choose the location where you want the Grooper Application to be installed. It is recommended to use the default file path, but based on your business needs, you may choose a different area for the installation on your server. Once you are satisfied with the installation location, click "Next".
Select the radial button next to your preferred setup type. Generally we recommend performing a Complete setup of Grooper onto your server, but there are some cases where you might want to customize your installation depending on your business needs. Click "Next".
You are now ready to install the program. Click "Install" to begin installation.
Installation should only take a few minutes. When complete a window should pop up saying that the installation is complete. Click "Finish" to finalize your installation.

Installing IIS

For the Grooper 2023 web server to operate properly, there are extra components that need to be installed first. Here we will go through the required Internet Information Services (IIS) installation for your host server.

Open Server Manager.
In the top right corner, click on "Manage" to bring up the drop down menu. Click "Add Roles and Features".
In the window that pops up, feel free to read through the information associated with the installation wizard and then click "Next".
Make sure "Role-based or feature-based installation" is selected. Click "Next".
Select the desired server from the server pool list. Click "Next".
Click the check box next to Web Server (IIS) under "Roles" to add the option (When the dialogue box pops up, click the "Add Features" button at the bottom). Click "Next".
On this screen you don't need any additional features, so just click "Next".
Feel free to read through the description of what a web server is, and click "Next".
We need to make sure that the appropriate role services are installed for Grooper to function. Scroll through the list and select the following components (If a window appears asking you to add features, click the "Add Features" button): Web Server Common HTTP Features Default Document Static Content Security Request Filtering Basic Authentication Windows Authentication Application Development .NET Extensibility 4.5 (or above) ASP.NET 4.5 (or above) ISAPI Extensions ISAPI Filters WebSocket Protocol Management Tools IIS Management Console IIS 6 Management Compatibility IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility IIS Management Scripts and Tools Management Service Click "Next" after all components are selected.
If desired, click the checkbox next to "Restart the destination server automatically if required". Click the "Install" button and allow the installation to run.
Once installation is complete, click "Close" to close the wizard.

Installing the Web Client

Open up File Explorer and navigate to your extracted folders. Open the extracted folder "GrooperWebServer_23.00.xxxx" to reveal the installation files.
Double-click "setup.exe" to start the Grooper Installer.
After reviewing the Welcome page to the InstallShield Wizard, click "Next" to continue.
Read through the End User License Agreement and click the radial button next to "I accept the terms in the license agreement". Click "Next" to continue.
Enter in the user name and password to be associated with this installation of Grooper. This needs to be the user name and password associated with the server Grooper is being installed on. This will allow you to configure permissions for other users later on. ⚠ Make sure your user name starts with the domain name using the format: "DOMAIN\username". Click "Next".
Click the "Install" button to begin installation.
Installation should only take a few minutes. When complete a window should pop up saying that the installation is complete. Click "Finish" to finalize your installation.

Installing Grooper Desktop

Grooper Desktop can be installed on any desktop computer used to scan documentation. The Grooper thick client does not have to be installed on the computer for Grooper Desktop to operate.

Open up File Explorer and navigate to your extracted folders. Open the extracted folder "GrooperDesktop_23.00.xxxx" to reveal the installation files.
Double-click "setup.exe" to start the Grooper Installer.
After reviewing the Welcome page to the InstallShield Wizard, click "Next" to continue.
Read through the End User License Agreement and click the radial button next to "I accept the terms in the license agreement". Click "Next" to continue.
Now you can choose the location where you want the Grooper Application to be installed. It is recommended to use the default file path. FYI Notice that this application is being installed in Program Files (x86). We are installing a 32-bit application because it interfaces with scanners. Click "Next".
Click the "Install" button to begin installation.
Installation should only take a few minutes. When finished, a window should pop up saying that the installation is complete. Click "Finish" to finalize your installation.

Click here to return to the top of the section

Connecting to a Grooper Repository

A Grooper Repository is the environment used to create, configure and execute objects in Grooper. It provides the framework to "do work" in Grooper.

This environment consists of two things:

1. A database connection
2. A file store connection

The database stores Grooper nodes and their property settings (such as a Content Model or a Data Type or any other Grooper object). The file store location houses content associated with these nodes (such as the image file for a Batch Page object). Grooper is the application layer that sits on top of this two parts of the environment. It allows readable and writable access and the UI to create, configure, test, and process the information stored there.

Connecting to a Grooper Repository is one of the first things you will do after installing Grooper to start designing (or implementing already architected) document processing solutions. This is done with the Grooper Config application.

⚠	Grooper Config must be run as an administrator. It performs functions that require elevated access in Windows.

Creating a New Grooper Repository

Initialize Grooper Config

Initialize Grooper Config

If this is your first time opening Grooper Config after installation, you will need to initialize the System Configuration. You will see the following dialog box appear. Press "Yes" to initialize.
Upon initializing the system for the first time, you will see this screen. This is a totally unconfigured Grooper Config! From here, we can create new Grooper Repositories and connect to existing Grooper Repositories accessible on your network. If starting totally from scratch, you will need to create at least one Grooper Repository.