Most commercial applications, including GroupWise and Novell OpenOffice, require complex combinations of file system and registry entries to function properly. To facilitate virtualization of these applications, ZENworks Application Virtualization creates snapshot application installations and automatically configures itself based on modifications made to the host system during application setup.
The process of creating a snapshot uses images of the host machine that are taken at different points in time to determine the virtual application configuration.
Prior to installing the application to be virtualized, a snapshot is taken that captures the state of the host device without the target application installed. After installing the application, a second snapshot is taken that captures all changes to the host device. ZENworks Application Virtualization then computes the changes, or delta, between the snapshots, and inserts these changes into the configuration.
You can use the configuration information to create executable files that behave differently, depending on the application you are preparing to use:
A Single Executable File to Launch an Application: To prepare GroupWise Messenger, you can create a single executable file to launch the program. For more information, see Section 2.0, Preparing GroupWise Messenger for Virtualization.
To prepare Novell OpenOffice or LibreOffice, you have the option to create a single executable file to launch the OpenOffice.org Quickstarter, which lets users choose the program to launch (Writer, Calculator, Draw, Impress, or Math). For more information, see Section 4.0, Preparing Novell OpenOffice or LibreOffice for Virtualization.
A Single Executable File to Simultaneously Launch Multiple Applications: To prepare GroupWise and Notify, you can create a single executable file to launch both programs simultaneously. For more information, see Section 3.0, Preparing GroupWise and GroupWise Notify for Virtualization.
A Single Executable File to Expose Multiple Executable Startup Files: To prepare Novell OpenOffice or LibreOffice, you can create a single executable file to expose multiple executable startup files (Writer, Calculator, Draw, Impress, or Math). ZENworks Application Virtualization allows multiple entry points into the virtual application to be triggered based on a command line argument to the virtual application executable. If you use Novell ZENworks Desktop Management or ZENworks Configuration Management to distribute applications, command line arguments let you use the same application object for all OpenOffice.org programs. For more information, see Section 4.0, Preparing Novell OpenOffice or LibreOffice for Virtualization.