Updating JCS
Current JCS Version
You can check which version of JCS a user is running in the Log On page:
Or by clicking on File > About JCS:
JCS Version Numbers
JCS Version numbers consist of 3 segments in this format: XX.YYY.ZZ
- The first 2 segments (XX.YYY) is the major version number and determine the compatible backend database schema version.
- The 3rd segment (ZZ) is the minor version number.
Every user sharing a dataset should use a version of JCS with matching major version numbers.
Updating JCS to a higher major version number will attempt to update the database schema. (See below).
It is safe to have users with the same major version numbers, but different minor version numbers.
For example a user on JCS version 35.005.03 and another user on JCS version 35.005.07 will not cause any problems. Therefore if the first two segments of the JCS version are the same it is safe to have users at your company on different versions of JCS, and updating can be done without getting everyone out of the software.
Updating/Installing JCS
Details of new features are listed here.
Other minor updates and fixes are here.
An installer for the latest version of the software can be downloaded here.
Note - The installer requires Windows Administrator privileges in order to run.
You can double-check which version of JCS you are about to install by right clicking on the JCSInstall.exe file and going to Properties > Details. The version of JCS is shown as the Product version.
If you are updating to a version of the software with a different major version number (as explained above) a schema update will be required. After installing the update, when the user starts JCS, a schema update will be performed automatically, provided that no other user is connected to the database (i.e. it must be able to obtain an exclusive file lock on the database). If this is not possible, the user will be warned that they have an incompatible version and that errors can occur:
Similarly, if one user has already installed the JCS update and the schema update has been completed, a user opening an older version of JCS will be warned:
You can check which other users are in the software by going to Utilities > Current Users (you must be logged in with a user that has permission to view User Preferences to open the Current Users page). Once all other users have exited the software you can close and open JCS to perform the schema update.
Updating in Practice
Client/Server environment
One user, knowing that no one else is logged in, updates their version of JCS. Once completed they log into JCS and a schema update will be done.
As subsequent users log in they will be prompted to update to the latest version as well.
Remote Desktop Services environment
Our advice is to ensure all users are logged out, then perform the JCS update using the installer which will update each user’s copy of the JCS application (JCS16.accde) in %LOCALAPPDATA%\JCS.