Device Applications
Introduction
In CapaInstaller Device Applications are handled in the same way regardless of the target platform.
Using the Application Editor one or more Apps can be configured, and saved in a Device Application with a specified name and description
. When the application is assigned to a device, it and its payloads will be installed on it, if any are applicable to the device. This could be either an app from one of the stores or an enterprise app.
Creating Device Applications
In order to open the editor and create a new application, you must expand a root Configuration Management Point (CMP), and then expand Applications and Packages. Right-click on the Device Applications node in the navigation pane and select ‘Create Application. Similar to packages and power schemes, applications can only be created and edited in root CMPs, and from there be promoted to child CMPs.
- Right-click Device Applications and Select Create Application
- Specify an Application name for the application and description. The priority determines the order in which applications are installed. The version is automatically incremented each time the application is saved.
- Click on one of the platform-specific payloads on the left, this is now added to the device application being configured
- Click the "Search" button in the top of that empty payload to open a form where you can search for an App in the selected marketplace
- Click the OK button to add the selected app to the payload and return you to the Application Editor
- When the desired payloads have been added to the Device Application and their settings configured, the application can be saved by clicking Ok. If any mandatory fields have been skipped, or the input is invalid, they will be marked by an exclamation mark.
An application is limited to hold only one payload of each category/platform, so you won’t be able to create an application that contains two iOS apps.
It can however be a good idea to add two payloads to the same application, if it is an app that has been released on both iOS, Android and Windows Phone. An example could be an OneNote application that contains a Google Play payload, an App Store payload, and a Windows Phone payload that points to the OneNote app in their respective stores. When the application is linked to devices, the system will determine which payload to assign based on the device. If an application does not contain a payload that is compatible with the device, the device-application status will be marked as ‘Not Applicable’
A payload can be removed from the Device Application by clicking the red X in its upper-right corner.
Creating Enterprise Apps
With the Application Editor, you can configure enterprise apps that are not publicly available in the App stores.
Enterprise Apps can be uploaded and added to an Enterprise Application, and distributed to the devices in your organization.
- Right-click Device Applications and Select Create Application
- Select Enterprise payload on the left side of the application editor, an empty payload will be added to the application on the right.
- Click the browse button and choose an Enterprise Application file from your hard drive.
- The system will retrieve basic information from the Enterprise App file, such as name, version, identifier, and an icon, and populate those settings in the payload.
- Click Choose to change the default icon or to add an icon if the Enterprise App file contained no icon.
.
Example: Creating an iOS Enterprise App
- Additionally, for iOS you can configure whether or not the user should be able to remove the app manually from the device, and if the backup of the app data should be prevented. These options are only available for iOS.
- The file extension for iOS apps is .ipa, .apk for Android. .xap, appx or .appxbundle for Windows and .pkg for macOS
- A unique filename will be generated, which will be used when it is uploaded to your management servers for distribution.
Updating a Device Application
Updating is done in a similar way for both normal Device Applications and Enterprise Device Applications
- Right-click the Application to update and select Edit.
- Select a new version of the App, either a new Enterprise Application file version or a newer version from the relevant App Marketplace
- Optionally Update the application name with the latest info
- Click OK to apply the changes and update the App
Example: Updating an Enterprise Device Application to a newer version
- Applications can only be edited in root CMPs, and the changes should then be promoted to child CMPs after sufficient testing. If you have already promoted the Application a warning will remind you that the App is already linked to devices and installed on devices.
- Any changes to the App might render the information shown in the console incoherent with what versions or apps are actually installed on the devices
- Right-clicking an Application in a child point, you can select 'View' in order to open it in the Application editor. All the settings can be seen but in a view-only mode