Installing Franken+ on Windows 8

Submitted by mchristy on Fri, 08/01/2014 - 00:56

Franken+ is a pretty simple install on its own but it does have some prerequisite software that, for me at least, posed some challenges.

The main sticking point in installing Franken+ is installing the prerequisite software and setting up Franken+ to use the database. Please read below for more detailed information on those processes.

Prerequisites

As laid out on the Franken+ page, Franken+ requires that .NET Framework 4.5 and MySQL be already installed.

.NET framework comes pre-installed on Windows 8, but can be downloaded and installed on earlier versions of Windows by going here: .NET Framework 4.5

MySQL Community Server 5.6 was used in the development of Franken+ and is an excellent free MySQL choice for Windows. The best way to install MySQL Community Server 5.6 is via the GUI-based installer which will also install other MySQL tools like MySQL Notifier, MySQL Workbench, ODBC drivers, and more. You can download the installer here: MySQL Installer.


Using MySQL Installer

  1. Download the installer's .msi file from: MySQL Installer
  2. Select "Developer Default" install.
    • On my computer the Installer indicated that I had to install Visual Studio in order to get some of the functionality to work, but the Installer took care of that for me
  3. Proceed through the steps accepting licenses and default settings, etc. The Installer will download and install all tools used in the Developer Default installation.
    • As of the last time I attempted to use the MySQL Installer, it failed to download and install the required ODBC Connector tool.
    1. After all other components were downloaded I chose to continue with installation despite the failure to download ODBC Connector
    2. However, before continuing with the configuration, I downloaded and installed the ODBC Connector separately using the .msi ODBC Connector Installer.
    3. After the ODBC Connector was successfully installed, I returned to the MySQL Installer and continued with the configuration without incident.
  4. Remember your root user password. You'll need that later after you've installed Franken+

Installing Franken+

  1. Download the Latest Franken+ Release.
  2. Unzip the file and run the setup.exe file.
  3. Install Franken+ to you Program Files folder. On my computer I put the Franken+ folder in C:/Program Files (x86)/IDHMC/.
  4. Add a shortcut to the Franken+.exe file in your new Program Files folder to your desktop (if you want).

Configuring Franken+

  1. Run the Franken+.exe file.
  2. Click on Menu -> Settings, and choose the Database tab.
  3. Put in the information from your MySQL configuration.
    • Host: localhost
    • Port: 3306
    • Database: frankenplus (or whatever you want to call it)
    • User: root
    • Password: your root password
  4. Click the Test Connection button.
  5. Click the Reset Database button.
  6. Click Save


Franken+ is now installed and setup to use a MySQL DB called frankenplus on the backend.