About the Object Repository

The Object Repository stores all of the files required by an Aptify system. Computers that have the Aptify Desktop client installed automatically download the necessary Object Repository files the first time the application is run. The server also automatically distributes new and updated repository files to clients as necessary.

Clients use the Aptify Object Repository Service to manage downloads from the Object Repository to a client computer's Aptify program files folder. The Aptify Object Repository Service is a Windows service that starts automatically after the Aptify Client application is installed and each time the client computer restarts.

The Aptify Object Repository Service runs under the Local System so users do not need elevated permissions to download Aptify objects. When using the Object Repository service, administrators can configure a user as a Windows Restricted user (that is, a member of Windows's Users Group) while maintaining the ability to automatically push updated files to the client's computer.

Note that this service requires the following default Windows permissions to function correctly:

• The Local System must have the necessary default registry permissions to update ODBC information and to register components:

      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI (Read, Create, Edit permissions)

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI (Read, Create, Edit permissions)

      HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (Query Value, Set Value, Create Subkey, Enumerate -Subkeys, Notify, Write Dac, Read Control)

• The user needs the default permissions to the Windows Temp directory (typically C:\WINNT\TEMP or C:\WINDOWS\TEMP), namely Traverse Folder / Execute File, Create Files / Write Data, and Create Folders / Append Data.

About the Object Repository Structure

Aptify designed the Object Repository so that an organization can control which objects are downloaded to a specific user's computer, depending on the user's access requirements. To implement this approach, the Object Repository uses the following structure to provide users with a specific set of system objects:

• An administrator associates each user with one of the available Object Contexts.
• Each Object Context contains one or more Object Packages.
• Each Object Package contains one or more Object Repository Objects.
• Each Object Repository Object is assigned one of the available Object Types.
  • Standard Object Types include .NET Assemblies, ActiveX Controls, COM-based DLLs, Text files, and Image files.
  • To implement new functionality within Aptify, an organization adds objects -created by a developer to the Object Repository for distribution. 
• The system automatically detects class information for .NET assemblies and COM objects that are added to the repository.
  • Object Repository Classes track information about .NET and COM classes that belong to Object Repository Objects, including licensing information associated with the class. When an object is created that is a COM object or .NET assembly, an Object Repository Classes record is created for each class included within the object.

When a user logs in to Aptify, the Object Repository service retrieves all of the startup objects associated with the user's assigned Object Context (and any related parent Object Context(s)). Additional objects are downloaded automatically as needed. Note that the standard Aptify installation includes one Object Context, named Production.