Before you begin, create a folder on the computer to where the data files and photos will be stored. If data files will be shared with other users, creating the folder on a shared network is recommended. Contact Discovery Support for the PDE file created for SchoolMaster, and place this file in your data folder.

1. In Schoolmaster, go to Utility > Import/Export > Principalm Extract
   The Principalm Extract dialogue window appears
   
2. “Sequence” the extract (default settings recommended)
3. Select the Principalm “Folder” button to choose the folder directory. Data files and photos will be extracted to this directory.
4. Click “Export” to start the data extracts
   When complete, close out of SchoolMaster.

To automate the extract, setup a scheduled task to run dmwin.exe -principalm

Photos will be exported in .bmp format. Principalm is only compatible with .jpg formated images. If you do not know how to convert your images to .jpg, please contact Discovery Support for a JPEG converter.

You are now ready to sync data over to the handheld by running Principalm Connect. Instructions to setup Connect can be found here.

Principalm Connect installation steps:

1. Download and install Principalm Connect Install Principalm Connect on the computer you will use to transfer SIS data to your handheld. This does not have to be the same computer as the one that holds your school’s SIS database or the output SIS data files for Principalm. If you do not install Principalm Connect on the same computer where the files are located, you must have access to a Shared Network to be able to upload them to Principalm.

2. Add School(s) Click “Add my first school now….” The Add School dialog is where you enter your license information for Principalm. Licenses are entered on a per-school basis. Enter the activation key provided to you and click “OK”. For instructions on entering your license see here

3. Configure your SIS Bridge Settings The SIS Bridge configuration tells Principalm Connect where to find data exported from your administration system. Click “Choose” to select the folder you extracted the data to. Click “OK”.
   School Number Is only required for some SIS bridges. Please consult your SIS Bridge documentation for instructions on this number.

4. Configure your Student Photo settings The Student Photos settings tell Principalm Connect where to find your student photo data. Follow these steps:

• Folder – Click “Choose” to select the folder where your photos are stored. Click “OK”.
  
• Identified By – Select the data element that is used to identify your photos. Choose from – Student Number, SSN, State ID and Photo ID.
  
• Index File – If your photos are mapped to the student number using an index file, click “Choose” to select the index file.
  
• Crop photos (optional).
  
• Staff Photos (Optional) follow steps in student photo settings.

You are now ready to update your device. See Update Device instructions specific to your device platform.

We have not been able to confirm that Verizon has removed the Google Android Market from their phones (and the HTC Droid Incredible appears to have the correct market http://www.htc.com/us/support/droid-incredible-verizon/help/applications).

If you cannot find the icon for the Google Market please contact Discovery Support with the model of your phone so we can help you determine how to download Principalm.

If Verizon has removed the Google Android Market from some their newer phones, and replaced it with their own App Store: V Cast Apps, you may need to follow the instructions below:

Principalm is not currently available from V Cast Apps as we chose only to submit our application from the Google approved Android Market. This means that if you do not have access to the Android Market you may not be able to install Principalm on Android.

You can install the Google Android Market onto your phone, but this process has not been tested and we can provide no support for this process: Droid Life new Market Install.

Our support department may be able to help you install the files directly, please contact us if you are having any issues: Discovery Support.

1. Open the Market app
2. Click Search icon
3. Find CatLog (CatLog is a third party application and is not covered by Discovery Support; feel free to use another Log program if you prefer)
4. Click Free, then OK to install
5. Open your App Drawer
6. Run CatLog, click OK on message
7. In Search type Principalm
8. Click Menu button, then Save
9. Click OK to save log.
10. Assuming you have email setup on your device:
    • Click the Menu button, then Send.
    • Click “As Attachment” and then click your email program.
    • Please send the log to support@discoverysoftware.com.
11. If you do not have email:
    • Connect your device to your computer, using its USB cable.
    • Pull down Notifications, then select “USB Connected”, and finally “Turn on USB storage”. (Alternatively, some devices use these steps: A “Connect to PC” screen should be displayed on your device. Select “Disk Drive” from the list. Then click Done.)
    • On your computer, open the drive showing the contents of your card.
    • Open the “catlog_saved_logs” folder.
    • Email the latest log file to support@discoverysoftware.com.

For this to be effective, you will also want to schedule your bridge (ie, Acorn data extractor) to export data automatically. For more information please see the Automatically extract school data section here.

Then follow these steps to schedule Principalm Connect to run automatically:

1. Configure a Scheduled Task to run Principalm Connect (paths will vary based on Windows OS and Windows user account): ConnectCmd.exe -t"iPhone Update Service" -p1234 -o"C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Principalm Connect\" For details on the command line options and/or how to run the command on Mac, please click here.

2. Lastly each iPhone, iPod touch user will need to sync the new data from the computer running Connect to their device. For more information, follow the steps for transferring data here.

These logs do not contain any sensitive information. They provide a linear look at how Acorn is running and may indicate where there was a problem.

These logs can be found on the machine running Discovery’s Acorn, and are only generated after you have run Discovery’s Acorn. The logs keep a continuous record of each time Acorn is run, and will keep up to 7 days worth of logs.

Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\My Documents\Discovery Software\Logs\

• where [user] is the user with which you are logged on to the Windows machine.

Windows Vista and 7:

C:\Users\[user]My Documents\Discovery Software\Logs\

where [user] is the user with which you are logged on to the Windows machine.

File Naming

Acorn-YYYY-MM-DD.log

Where:
YYYY is the 4-digit year
MM is the 2-digit month
DD is the 2-digit day

File Format

This file is a text file and can be opened in Notepad.

The format of this file is as follows:

The first portion contains the header, this contains information helpful in determining when the product was built, when it was run, and indicates the start of each run instance of Acorn.

The last run will begin with the last occurrence of this header.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acorn Log File
Discovery Software Inc. (c) 2002-2011

http://www.discoverysoftware.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Built on       : Nov 12 2010 15:03:43
Generated on   : Jan 11 2011 12:20:16 PM
Version        : 1.0.5.0
               : Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 (operating system version 6.0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the header you can see one line for each log entry:

Acorn:12:20:16: Debug         MainWindow::MainWindow: Starting App...

• First we have the Application name: Acorn
• Next the time of this log, this is useful in determining which portions are taking too long to complete.
• Next we have the log level of this log entry: Debug
• Next we have the Method reporting the log, this is internal information useful for our developers to find an issue: MainWindow::MainWindow
• Lastly We have the actual log message, this can occupy multiple lines, and may be scrambled for security purposes: Starting App…

The rest of the log contains information useful in diagnosing problems with running Discovery’s Acorn. Please contact our support department for help in diagnosing problems: Email Support

On first startup of Principalm Connect the program starts and enters either the welcome screen (first time it is run), or the Update Device screen, and the user is unable to click on any buttons switch tabs, close or minimize the program. The user still has mouse control, and can access any of their other active programs, and/or start new ones.

Users affected: Windows XP (possibly Vista and Windows 7 as well, but no confirmed users), running Sophos EndPoint ( http://www.sophos.com/ )

Possible Causes:

1. Sophos users: Sophos appears to block some execution of Principalm once it begins, this causes Principalm to stop responding.

Solution:

We are working with Sophos on a full solution to this issue, in the interim we have a workaround, but this is only for advanced users, please contact our support department for help with this problem ( Discovery Support ):
1. Start Task Manager: hit Cntrl-Shift-ESC or Start Menu->Run (or search in Vista/7)); type “taskmgr” ENTER
2. Click on process tab, sort by name
3. find Connect.exe, click on it, and click End Process
4. Close the Task Manager

WARNING: modifying the windows registry is for advanced users. Please refer to this Microsoft article detailing information and warnings about how to edit the registry: Windows Registry Information

1. Once you have read the above, and are comfortable, please continue
2. Start Regedit: Start->Run/Search; Type “regedit”
3. Find this Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\AppInit_DLLs
4. Remove this text from the key: C:\PROGRA~1\Sophos\SOPHOS~1\SOPHOS~1.DLL
5. You may need to Restart your Windows Machine, but you can try running principalm Connect without doing so
6. Close Regedit.
7. Principalm Connect should now work fine

As mentioned above this is only a workaround, provided to us by Sophos.  If you have contacted our support department we can provide you with a full solution once it is available.

1. You must set up Acorn on a computer that has network access to your Skyward data.
2. Data extraction from Skyward requires an ODBC DSN that has read access to the Skyward database. Typically you will already have an ODBC connection to Skyward for use with other programs such as: Crystal Reports, or COGNOS. If you already have an ODBC DSN set up on your machine, you may continue to the next step. Otherwise you will need to follow the directions for setting up the ODBC connection below:

To check for an existing ODBC DSN:

1. Open the Windows Data Sources (ODBC) control panel:
   1. From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
   2. On Windows 2000/XP/Vista, open the Administrative Tools folder.
   3. Double-click the Data Sources (ODBC) icon.
2. On the User DSN or System DSN tab, in the User Data Sources or System Data Sources list, check for an entry that matches your school, generally this will be called Skyward Student
3. Note the name of the DSN if you found one, this is the same name that you will enter in the DSN field in the Discovery Data Extractor later.

If you have no ODBC DSN entries matching your school, please follow one of the setups below:

For this set up you will need the following information:

1. The name or ip address of the Skyward server.
2. The name of the Skyward database on the server, typically Skyward.
3. Username and Password for an account that has a minimum of read access to the appropriate views in the Skyward database.

Follow the instruction on one of the following pages, if you do not know which suits your school’s setup, try the Skyward data source configuration first.

• ODBC Set-Up: Skyward Data Source Configuration Utility will automatically set up the correct data source, if you have this utility
• ODBC Set-Up: Progress Merant Drivers manual setup of Merant Progress drivers

Your Data Source is now set up and ready to be used by Acorn.
Move on to Skyward: Connections

Once you have selected Skyward as your bridge from the bridge drop-down, you should see a new list of parameters:

Connections

There are three parameters requiring information:

• ODBC DSN: This is the Data Source Name as you set up in the Skyward Data Source Configuration Utility section; This parameter is required.
• Username: The username matching the ODBC DSN; This parameter is required.
• Password: The password matching the ODBC DSN username; This parameter is required.

Once these have been added you can “Test” the connection, by clicking the Test button.
Test results should appear in the “Test Results” section; below is a list of many of the results, and possible hints on troubleshooting them:

• Connection Successful.: This message indicates success. Your connection is now ready to use.


• Connection Failed.: Indicates there was some problem connecting to the Database via ODBC.
  • ODBC DSN may not exist, check for extra spaces, make sure it is spelled correctly. It must match the name listed in the ODBC Data Source Administrator.
  • Username may not be correct
  • Password may not be correct

Move on to Skyward: Schools