Locus Detailed Installation & First Launch Procedure for Windows 7 and Vista

This topic describes the steps of the Locus installation procedure in detail. It also describes the first launch of the program in detail. It is important that you not attempt to run the installer over the internet. The installer should be saved to your computer first and then run from there. This is illustrated in the first step below. It is also important that you not install the full version of Locus on top of a previous installation. If you need to re-install the program, you should first remove the old or previous version. The procedure is explained in our "Locus Removal from Windows 7 and Vista" topic.
 

Installation Procedure

1. Click on the "DOWNLOAD" link at the top right column above. A "File Download" dialog will open similar to the one shown below. Click on the "Save" button. Do NOT click on the "Run" button or the installer will try to launch over the internet.
    
   

 
2. A "Save As" dialog will appear as shown below. Select a location on your computer's hard drive where you would like to save the installer file. One common location is the "Desktop". This will place the installer on the Windows desktop where it will be easy to launch after the download is complete. The "Desktop" may be listed under your User Account name and you can use the "Browse Folders" button to navigate to it. Or you may want to save the installer in a folder for future use. After a location is selected, click on the "Save" button.
    
   

 
3. A window should now appear with a progress indicator so you can monitor the download. Notice the "Estimated time left" below the indicator. This estimate is seldom accurate at the beginning. But as the download progresses, it becomes more and more accurate. It also shows how much of the file has been copied to your computer. The percent of completion is displayed in the window's title bar.
    
   

 
4. When the download is complete, the title bar will display "Download complete" and the size of the final file along with the total time for the download will be listed. Check the "Downloaded" file size to make sure that it matches the original size. If it does not, then some packets were lost in communication and you should delete the file and attempt to download it again.
    
   

 
The "Locus1.0.5.exe" file should have the following size: 19.9 MB or 20,386 KB or 20,874,851 bytes. Note: The reason the value changes depending on whether it is expressed in MB (megabytes or millions of bytes) versus KB (kilobytes or thousands of bytes) versus bytes is because computer file sizes are calculated with binary math using multiples of 1024 rather than 1000. The most accurate value is the "bytes" value.
 
5. Now that the installer has been downloaded, it is finally time to run it. You can click the "Run" button on the "Download complete" window shown above. If you want to wait until later, you can click on the "Close" button and launch the installer later by double-clicking on the installer icon shown below (the version is now "Locus1.0.5.exe"):
   

 
6. The security system of Windows 7/Vista will step in next and warn you that an "unidentified program" is trying to access your computer as shown below. This is just the installer trying to launch and as long as you see "Locus1.0.5.exe" listed then click on the "Allow" button to continue.
   

 
7. Next, the dialog shown below will momentarily appear while the installer is extracted from the download file. You don't need to respond to this dialog—it should disappear quickly.
    
   

 
8. Once the installer has been extracted from the download file, it will automatically start. The message shown below will appear briefly while the installer launches.
    
   

 
9. The first dialog of the Locus 1.0 installer will now appear. It explains that you should shut down other programs while the Locus installer is running. If other programs are running, they may interfere with installation of system components. It also explains that Locus is a copyrighted program and all users are required to read and accept the terms of the Locus License Agreement. The only way to proceed is to select the "I have read and accept ALL of the terms of the License Agreement" button at the bottom of the dialog. After you do, a "Continue" button will appear so you can proceed with the installation. You must click the "Exit the Installer" button if you do not accept the License Agreement.
    
   

 
10. Once Locus has been installed, you'll launch it from the "All Programs" submenu of the Windows Start menu. This next dialog (shown below) lists the Group name that will be created for Locus and its User Manual in the "All Programs" submenu. We recommend that you accept the default setting and click the "Continue" button. Otherwise, you can enter a new Group name in the top input box or you can select an existing Group from the list below.
     
    

 
11. The installer now has enough information to install Locus and it will display the dialog shown below to show the progress as the required files are copied to their destinations.
     
    


Files installed with Locus 1.0
The following files are installed inside the Windows Program Files folder (c:\Program Files\Harris Tech\Locus 1\). They include the Locus program and User Manual.
 
. . . Locus1.exe
. . . Locus1.chm
 
The camera database file is installed inside the Windows Program Data folder (c:\ProgramData\Harris Tech\Locus 1\).

. . . cameras.cam

The following system files are installed into the Windows system folder (c:\Windows\system32\):
 
. . . asycfilt.dll
. . . comcat.dll
. . . comctl32.ocx
. . . comdlg32.ocx
. . . msvbvm60.dll
. . . oleaut32.dll
. . . olepro32.dll
. . . riched32.dll
. . . richtx32.ocx
. . . stdole2.tlb
. . . tabctl32.ocx
. . . vbprndlg.dll
 
Note: The installer will check to see if any of these files are already present on your computer. If one or more are, the installer will automatically replace them if the copies on your computer are older. However, if your computer contains a newer version of one or more of these files, the installer will display a warning message and give you the chance to keep the newer copy that is already on your computer. Normally, you should not replace a system file with an older copy.
 
12. After the files have been successfully copied to their destinations in your computer and the system files have been successfully registered with the operating system, the following message window will appear. This is the last message of the installer. It lists the location in the Windows Start menu where you can go to launch the program. Click the "OK" button to close the installer.
     
    

 
The next procedure continues the installation process with a "walk through" of the steps used to launch Locus for the first time.
 

 

First Launch Procedure

1. Launch Locus from the Windows Start menu by clicking on the Windows icon at the left end of the taskbar and selecting the "All Programs" submenu as shown in the left illustration below. Then click on the program Group where Locus is listed (the default Group is "Harris Tech"). You'll see two listings in the group: "Locus 1.0" (the program) and "Locus 1.0 User Manual". Select "Locus 1.0" as shown in the right illustration below to launch the program.
    
   


Another way to launch Locus or its User Manual is to navigate to their installation folder with the Windows Explorer. Then double click on the desired icon as shown below. Note: Depending on your Windows configuration, the file name extensions may not be visible. For example, instead of "Locus1.exe" you may see only "Locus1". Yet it is easy to tell the program from the User Manual by their icons.
 

2. The first part of Locus that you'll see is its title window shown below. Since this is the first launch of the program, it will be in evaluation mode so "Evaluation Period" will be displayed along with "Launch 1 of 12" and "Day 1 of 30". You'll have 30 days to launch the program up to 12 times. After that, the program will be locked until you purchase a license and enter the Registration Code provided by Harris Tech. The License Agreement requires that you remove Locus after the Evaluation Period if you decide that you don't want to purchase a license.
   


Click on the "Continue" button to proceed.
 
3. Normally, the main window would appear at this point. But since this is the first launch of the program, the "Welcome" window shown below will appear on top. The Welcome window serves three purposes. First, it explains that users who have purchased a license can use the "Register Locus" command in the Help menu to enter their Registration Code after they continue past the Welcome. Second, it provides a brief explanation of the Evaluation Period. Third, it displays the License Agreement and requires that the user accept its terms. Why repeat the License Agreement here? Wasn't this already handled during the installation? The reason we repeat it here is to make sure that the user of Locus sees and agrees to comply with it. If someone else installed the program for you, you wouldn't have seen the license during the installation. We apologize for the duplication.
    
   


In order to continue, you must indicate agreement with the License Agreement by selecting "I have read and accept ALL of the terms of the License Agreement" button at the bottom of the window. The "Continue" button will appear afterward so you can proceed. Failure to accept the license will cause the program to close when you close the Welcome window.
 
4. The Locus Message shown below will appear after you accept the license and click the "Continue" button of the Welcome window. It provides a few pointers for running the program, including how to launch the User Manual. Click its "OK" button to close it and you'll finally be looking at the main window of Locus. In the future, the main window will appear as soon as you click the "Continue" button of the title window.
    
   

 
5. Next, let's notice the Help menu. You can launch the User Manual from here in four different places. It can be opened to its "Welcome" topic or its "Contents" page or its "Illustrated Dictionary". It can also be opened to the "Locus License (EULA)" should you wish to review the terms of the License Agreement.
    
   

 
6. Also notice the Edit menu. Some of its commands are not available until after you have selected a camera and entered a lens. An important command for this first launch of the program is the "Preferences" command. It opens the Preferences dialog so you can configure the program settings. This is explained in the User Manual.
    
   

 
7. Select the "User Manual Welcome" command from the Help manual to open the User Manual to its "Welcome" topic as shown below. This topic provides an overview of the program and its User Manual. If the contents panel is not visible on the left, click the "Show" icon in the upper left corner to open it. We circled it below (note: It toggles to a "Hide" icon when the contents panel is open as shown). We've expanded all of the topic groups in the contents panel below and placed red arrows next to a few of the topics that new users will want to explore first. The "Illustrated Locus Dictionary" defines all of the terms used by the program. The "Getting Started" topic will walk you through the basic steps to use the program. The "Evaluation Period" topic explains the way the evaluation mode works. The "Preferences" topic explains the settings of the Preferences window. The "Main Window" topic provides a great overview of the main window and how it works.
    
   

 
8. One of the first things that you may want to do is change the units of some inputs. Since Locus is a U.S. program, English units are selected the first time you run the program. However, you can change the units at any time by clicking on a unit label as shown below. Locus remembers the last units used from one launch to the next.
    
   

In the above example, µm (microns or micrometers) is the selected unit. By clicking on the unit label, a pop-up menu will appear so you can select a different unit. In this case the options are µm, mm or inches. In many cases the program will automatically scale the units based on the associated value. If you set the units to a metric value, it will scale within the available metric choices. If an English unit was selected, it will scale within the available English choices. This can be configured in the Preferences window.

This concludes the detailed installation and first launch procedure for Windows 7/Vista. The best place to obtain more information is the User Manual. It also includes a topic explaining how to obtain technical support should it be needed. Enjoy!