How to Set Up the ABM Toolbar Launchers

The ABM Service Desktop machine setup installs seven small launcher programs. Six are for ABM's (Advanced Business Manager) toolbar buttons, so a click in ABM opens the matching ABM Service screen; the seventh is what the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry runs. This page is for whoever sets up the buttons in ABM.

Which ABM Service launcher does each ABM toolbar button use?

Each ABM toolbar button runs one ABM Service launcher from the Desktop folder the machine setup installed into, and each launcher opens one screen. The finished page of the setup has Copy launcher paths, which copies all seven full paths.

This table lists the launchers, the screen each opens, and what ABM must pass after the user number and company.

Launcher	Opens	Extra item ABM passes
ABMHome.exe	Home	none
ABMCallsManager.exe	the Calls list	none
ABMCall.exe	a call	the call's unique ID in ABM, not its displayed call number; with none, a new call
ABMCustomersManager.exe	the Customers list	none
ABMCustomer.exe	a customer	the customer's unique ID in ABM, not its customer code; with none, a new customer
ABMScheduler.exe	the Scheduler	none
ABMServiceLogin.exe	the sign-in window	nothing at all

To make an ABM toolbar button open a blank new call rather than an existing one, point it at ABMCall.exe and have ABM pass only the user number and the company, with no call after them. ABMCustomer.exe works the same way: with no customer after the company, it opens a new customer.

Every toolbar launcher is started the way ABM starts its other add-on programs: the ABM user number first, then the company, then the call or customer where one applies. ABM supplies these itself, so the person pressing the button is never asked to sign in to ABM Service.

How do I point an ABM toolbar button at an ABM Service launcher?

Set the ABM toolbar button's program to the full path of the ABM Service launcher for the screen you want, copied from the machine setup's Copy launcher paths. The launchers live in the Desktop folder under ABM Service, which is inside ABM's recorded system folder when ABM is installed on the PC, or C:\Program Files\ABM Service\Desktop otherwise. The ABM Service Desktop machine setup does not add or change any button on ABM's toolbar itself: each button is set up in ABM.

1. Run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup on the PC, and on its finished page press Copy launcher paths.
2. Paste the paths somewhere you can read them, such as Notepad.
3. Set each ABM toolbar button to the launcher path for its screen: ABMHome.exe for Home, ABMCallsManager.exe for the Calls list, ABMCall.exe for a call, ABMCustomersManager.exe for the Customers list, ABMCustomer.exe for a customer and ABMScheduler.exe for the Scheduler. The seventh, ABMServiceLogin.exe, opens the ABM Service sign-in window and is not for a toolbar button.
4. Press each button once in ABM to check that the right ABM Service screen opens.

The first press on a PC installs the ABM Service desktop app for that Windows user, with a small window headed Setting up ABM Service, and then opens the screen. After that, presses open almost at once.

Keep the paths the setup gave you. The launchers are never moved by an update, and a newer machine setup always reuses the same folder, so the buttons keep working across releases. If a release ever drops or renames a launcher, the setup removes the old one and its Details says ABM toolbar buttons pointing at those names will stop working. Repoint them at the paths printed below.

How do people open ABM Service if they do not use ABM's toolbar?

They open ABM Service Desktop from the Windows Start menu. The machine setup creates that entry for every user of the PC; it runs ABMServiceLogin.exe, which opens the ABM Service sign-in window where the person chooses who they are, types their ABM password and chooses which company to open. It does not use their Windows or Microsoft account.

• Type "ABM Service" in the Start menu search to find it quickly.
• The first time a Windows user opens it, it installs the desktop app for them with the Setting up ABM Service window, then shows the sign-in window.
• The entry is named ABM Service Desktop, not just "ABM Service", so it cannot be confused with the older ABM suite's own programs, which also have names starting with ABM Service.

Pin the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry to the taskbar if people prefer that. Every ABM Service window then gathers under the pinned button, including windows opened from ABM's toolbar. If the machine setup's Details warned that the Start menu entry could not be stamped with the taskbar id, the pinned entry still opens ABM Service, but its windows sit on a taskbar button of their own instead of joining the pinned one. Running the machine setup again writes the entry again and tries once more.

What happens if a launcher is double-clicked or a button is set up wrongly?

A toolbar launcher double-clicked on its own, with nothing passed to it at all, shows This program is started by Advanced Business Manager, not directly. in a message box titled ABM Service, and does nothing else. Only ABMServiceLogin.exe is meant to be double-clicked.

When an ABM toolbar button passes something the ABM Service desktop app cannot use, a message box titled ABM says what was wrong:

• The launch names no user and company — ABM passed fewer than two items. The button must pass the ABM user number and the company.
• The user number must be a positive whole number — the first item ABM passes is not an ABM user number. Check the button passes the user number first.
• The company id looks wrong (got '...') — the second item ABM passes, shown between the quotes, is blank or holds a character other than letters, digits, an underscore or a hyphen: a dot, a space, a slash, or the brackets or percent signs of a placeholder ABM did not fill in. The launcher checks only those characters and does not look the company up. Swapping the user number and the company does not cause it, so look at what the button actually passes rather than reordering it.
• Unknown surface — the launcher asked for a screen this version does not have. This happens only with a launcher from a much older or newer release; re-run the current machine setup and use the paths it gives.

If pressing a button shows ABM Service isn't installed on this computer., the launcher could not find the ABM Service desktop app on this PC: run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup on it. If a button shows Unable to start ABM Service: followed by a reason, the launcher found the app or the first-run installer but Windows would not start it; the reason after the colon is the one Windows gave.

What does "ABM Service isn't installed on this computer" mean?

It means the ABM Service launcher that an ABM toolbar button runs (or ABMServiceLogin.exe, which the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry runs) could not find the ABM Service desktop app on this PC. The message box is titled ABM Service and reads ABM Service isn't installed on this computer. followed by Please ask your administrator to install it. The launcher looked for this Windows user's own copy of the desktop app, and for the first-run installer beside itself and where the machine setup recorded it, and found neither.

That usually means the machine half of ABM Service is not installed on this PC, was uninstalled, or the launcher was copied from another PC. Run the ABM Service machine setup on this PC and point the button at the path it gives.

Do not confuse it with ABM is not installed on this computer, which looks almost the same but means the opposite thing is missing:

• ABM Service isn't installed on this computer. — the word "Service" is in it, it comes in a message box titled ABM Service with Please ask your administrator to install it., and it appears before any ABM Service window opens. ABM Service is what is missing; install it with the machine setup.
• ABM is not installed on this computer — no "Service", and it ends by naming the ControlPath value and ABM's registry key it looked under. It comes from the ABM Service desktop app itself, which did start, and means ABM (Advanced Business Manager) is missing or its settings cannot be read on this PC. Install or repair ABM; Why Won't the ABM Service Desktop App Install, Start or Update? explains it.

Can one person have two ABM companies open in ABM Service at the same time?

Yes. The ABM Service desktop app runs each company as a copy of its own for that Windows user, with its own windows and its own tray icon beside the clock showing that company's initials; hovering over the icon names the company. A person who works in two ABM companies can press ABM Service buttons in both, or open both from the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry, and have both open side by side.

• A button press for a company that is already open is handed to that company's running copy rather than starting a second one. A call or a customer that is already open in a window is brought to the front; Home, a list, the Scheduler, a new call or a new customer opens another window.
• Exit on one company's tray icon closes only that company's copy and its windows; the other company carries on.
• An update of the desktop app waits until the windows of both companies are closed, and Close my windows on the update offer closes both, as How Does the ABM Service Desktop App Update Itself? explains.
• On a terminal server, each Windows user has their own copies inside their own session, so two people in the same company never share one.

Nothing has to be set up for this: the same launchers serve every company, because ABM passes the company to the launcher with each press.

Can one PC have both the production and development launchers?

Yes. A PC with both the production and the development ABM Service desktop app installed has two sets of launchers, in two folders: ABM Service\Desktop and ABM Service Development\Desktop. Each ABM toolbar button opens the channel whose folder its path names.

Typing "ABM Service" in the Start menu on such a PC shows two entries, ABM Service Desktop and ABM Service Development Desktop, one for each channel. Uninstalling one channel removes only its own launchers, so buttons pointing at the other channel's folder keep working.

This is for the software supplier's test machines. Customer PCs use production only, unless your software supplier asks you to put a development build on one PC to test a fix.

Related

• How to Install the ABM Service Desktop App on a PC
• What Happens the First Time Each User Opens the Desktop App?
• What Are the Production and Development Channels?
• Why Won't the ABM Service Desktop App Install, Start or Update?