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How Does the ABM Service Desktop App Update Itself?

The ABM Service desktop app keeps itself up to date for each Windows user, with no administrator rights and nothing for IT to push. It checks the ABM Service update address, downloads a new version in the background, offers it to the user, and installs it by itself as soon as none of that user's ABM Service windows are open.

How does the ABM Service desktop app get updates?​

Each user's copy of the ABM Service desktop app checks the ABM Service update address for a newer version, downloads it quietly in the background, and installs it when nothing is open or when the user agrees. It needs no administrator rights, because each copy lives in the user's own profile.

It checks for a new version at four moments:

  • Every ten minutes while it is running, starting as soon as it starts, including when all its windows are closed and only its tray icon is left.
  • When the sign-in window opens, before it asks who you are. The starting panel says Checking for updates…, then Downloading the latest ABM Service… if one is on its way, and Installing ABM Service with the version if it can install it there and then. If ABM Service is already open with windows elsewhere for that Windows user, the sign-in window asks instead, with a small window saying the new version is ready to install; its Close my windows closes that other ABM Service, which does not come back afterwards.
  • When an ABM (Advanced Business Manager) toolbar button is pressed with no ABM Service window open. It waits up to about three seconds for the answer, and up to about half a minute once a new version has started downloading. If the new version is ready in that time, it installs it first and then opens the screen that was asked for; if not, the screen opens and the new version is offered beside it.
  • Every time a window opens, unless a new version is already downloaded and waiting.

What users of the ABM Service desktop app see: while a new version downloads, hovering over the ABM Service tray icon beside the clock shows the company's name, downloading, the version and how far it has got as a percentage. If they have ABM Service windows open, a small window titled ABM Service update in the corner of the screen shows the download's progress, then says the new version is ready to install and offers Close my windows, I have closed them and In an hour. Once the new version is ready, the tray icon also gets a dot and an Install update item. With no windows open it installs without asking.

If a check cannot reach the update address, nothing happens and nothing is shown; the next check simply tries again. A dead or blocked update address never stops anybody working.

When does a new version of the ABM Service desktop app actually install?​

A new version of the ABM Service desktop app installs as soon as the user has no ABM Service window open, by itself. While windows are open, it is offered instead, and it never closes a window somebody is working in without asking.

  • Nothing open — it installs straight away and restarts in the background on the new version, with only its tray icon and no window over whatever the user is doing. A small note then says ABM Service was updated and You are now running the new version, with an OK button.
  • Windows open — a small window titled ABM Service update appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen, first Downloading ABM Service with the version and a bar, then ABM Service and the version is ready to install, saying how many windows have to close first. It never takes the keyboard from the window being typed in. Its buttons are I have closed them (installs now if the windows really are closed, and otherwise says how many are still open), Close my windows (which closes the windows without asking to save, updates, and reopens the screens that were open for the company named on the offer; if the same Windows user also has another company open in ABM Service, that company's windows are closed too and have to be opened again) and In an hour. The tray icon, which shows the company's initials, also gets a dot and an Install update item.
  • Offer dismissed — choosing In an hour, or the offer's own close button, puts it away. It comes back about an hour after it last appeared, not an hour after it was dismissed, so an offer left on screen for a while can come back sooner. The update still installs by itself the moment the user closes their last ABM Service window.
  • Computer shut down first — a downloaded version that was never installed is tried the next time the app starts, before its first window opens, as long as no other copy of ABM Service is already running for that Windows user. If that attempt fails, the app opens on the version it already had and writes the reason to the user's desktop.log.

If the same Windows user has ABM Service open in two companies, both copies wait until every window in both is closed, then update together.

Can I turn off automatic updates for the ABM Service desktop app?​

No. There is no setting, registry value or setup option to turn automatic updates of the ABM Service desktop app off, for one PC or for a whole office, and none to skip a version or hold a PC back. That is on purpose: nobody stays on an old version of the ABM Service desktop app by ignoring the offer. Running an older ABM Service Desktop machine setup does not move anybody's copy back either, because each Windows user's copy updates itself in that user's own profile.

What a user can do is put the new version off for a while. Choosing In an hour on the small ABM Service update window puts the offer away until about an hour after it last appeared, and they can simply carry on working, since an update never closes an ABM Service window without asking. The new version still installs by itself the moment that user closes their last ABM Service window, or when they choose Install update on the ABM Service tray icon beside the clock.

What does the ABM Service desktop app need from the network to update?​

To update, each PC needs HTTPS access to the ABM Service update address, updates.abm-portal.com. The machine setup writes the full address into a file called FEED_URL.txt in the ABM Service Desktop program folder: for the production channel it is https://updates.abm-portal.com/production/windows/. Each copy of the app reads that file every time it checks, so a re-run machine setup that changes it takes effect at the next check.

  • Allow HTTPS from the PCs to updates.abm-portal.com through your firewall and web filter. The check itself is a very small file; only a new version is a larger download. A user's first start downloads the app from the same address.
  • Leave FEED_URL.txt as the machine setup wrote it. It can hold more than one address, one per line: the running app tries them in order, while a user's first start uses only the first.

A PC that can never reach the update address keeps the version it has, and nothing on screen says it is behind: even Check for Updates… says ABM Service is up to date. A copy of the ABM Service desktop app that is already installed updates itself only from the update address, and there is no file or folder it can update from. The one way to move such a PC forward without the update address is to run the newest ABM Service Desktop machine setup on it, which refreshes the bundled copy of the app, and then have each Windows user uninstall ABM Service Desktop from their own Apps & Features. That user's next start of ABM Service installs the bundled copy again, so they are on the version the machine setup carried. Allowing HTTPS to the update address is simpler, and keeps the PC current without anybody doing anything.

How do I make a PC install the latest ABM Service desktop app now?​

Close every ABM Service window on the PC, then open ABM Service again from the Start menu or an ABM toolbar button. With no windows open, it checks for a new version first and installs it before opening anything, as long as the download finishes within about half a minute; a longer download is offered once the screen has opened.

If you would rather not close anything yet, use the checks the app already has:

  1. Choose Check for Updates… on the File menu of any ABM Service window. It either offers the new version straight away or says ABM Service is up to date. with the version number. That message also appears when the update address could not be reached, so if you expected a new version, check the user's desktop.log for a failed check.
  2. Right-click the ABM Service tray icon beside the clock (it shows the company's initials) and choose Install update followed by the version, when it is there.
  3. Choose About on the File menu to see the version the window is running.

Warning: Save the work in every ABM Service window before pressing Close my windows on the ABM Service update window or Install update on the tray icon. The ABM Service desktop app reopens the screens that were open, but not unsaved changes such as a half-written call or an edited customer, and it does not ask anybody to save them first. The same goes for windows of another company that the update closes.

The version is also shown in the caption bar at the top of every ABM Service window, just before the window buttons, and at the foot of the ABM Service sign-in window, after the control database's name and ABM's own version.

How do I update the ABM Service machine half?​

The machine half of the ABM Service desktop app, meaning the launchers, the Start menu entry, the first-run installer and the bundled copy, does not update itself. To update it, run a newer ABM Service Desktop machine setup on the PC; it replaces those files in place, and you rarely need to, because the app that people use updates itself either way. When to do it and what it changes are in How to Install the ABM Service Desktop App on a PC.