Installing wikiCalc on a Windows system

wikiCalc is available for download and installation using a .exe file that you run. That file will install the needed components: wikicalcwin.exe and several data files. It will also create a shortcut to wikiCalc in the Windows Start Programs menu. wikiCalc is written in Perl but you don't need to have a Perl runtime installed on your computer. When you run wikicalcwin.exe it temporarily extracts from itself the compiled Perl code along with a Perl runtime and then runs that code. When you exit, the extracted files are deleted.

To uninstall wikiCalc use the normal Windows Control Panel "Add or Remove Programs" function. This will delete the installed files and remove the shortcut on the Programs menu. It will not remove the wkcdata directory (created in the directory where you installed wikiCalc) and all of the data you created when using wikiCalc. You may delete that directory and its contents manually if you want.

If you are upgrading from and earlier version of wikiCalc, you should first uninstall the old version which should leave your data intact (though it is prudent to backup the entire contents of the wkcdata directory just in case...). The new release will use the existing data, updating formats if necessary automatically.

Here is the file to download:
 

wikiCalc version 0.97 of 2006-11-14 11:02AM:

wikicalcwin-setup-0-97.exe [2.1MB]
 
To run the program, just use the shortcut it puts in the Start / Programs menu or double-click on the wikicalcwin.exe file that was installed. It should be run with the working directory the same directory as where the program resides.

When wikiCalc starts running it should show up as a "sprout with roots" icon in the system tray (usually in the bottom right of the screen). To interact with the program, use a web browser to view the URL "http://127.0.0.1:6556". You can get the program to launch a browser viewing that page by double-clicking on the tray icon, or by single-clicking to bring up a menu and then selecting the "Launch UI" menu item. Exit the program by using the "Quit" button in the program's UI shown in the browser. Alternatively, use the "Shutdown" menu item on the tray icon.

If you have a firewall running on your system (such as Windows Firewall), you may see a warning that wikiCalc is attempting to accept Internet connections. Do not block this (e.g., with Windows Firewall click on "Unblock"). The installer tries to add wikicalc.exe to the exceptions list so this won't happen (you can make it more secure by adding a restriction to only accept requests from your LAN, etc. -- see the Windows Firewall documentation). Like ListGarden, the program works by communicating with your browser by running a simple local web server. The UI runs in the browser. wikiCalc should only accept requests from your local machine, not from your LAN or the rest of the Internet. (Checking how secure this system is will be one of the things that will hopefully happen during this testing period, especially once the source code is made available.)

For information about using setting up wikiCalc when first run and then using it, see Starting to use wikiCalc.
 
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