The full Admin Guide in pdf format can be downloaded by clicking the image below:

Open

Definitions

[INSTALL DIR] The folder in which the Sigma application is installed (where the sigma.exe file resides).

Sigma application installation

Sigma is a Desktop application, and primarily stores settings and project in files. All settings are stored in various .INI files, and all documents, are stored in XML format.

Requirements

• Intel I3 or better, 32-bit (x86)

• 1 GB RAM

• 200 MB free hard disk scape (optional third-party libraries not included)

• 15-inch screen, resolution of at least 1024x768

• Windows 7 or newer

Alternative font-sizes in Windows are supported, but for the best visual appearance it is recommended that “recommended” is used.

Sigma requires administrator rights to be installed. The application is installed using an installer application.

License and activation

The application has a build in activation system and must be activated after installation (and trial period). A license number for activation is provided by the reseller.

The application communicates with a Sigma Estimates license server. URLs to such servers are defined in path.ini, which resides in the installation folder.

License types

Sigma supports two kinds of licensing modes; single user and floating license.

When Sigma is in “trial mode”, it is possible to enter a License Number to activate the installation. In that process, the Sigma installation will become either single user or floating license type. To change this, the installation need to be de-activated – see below.

Single user license

A “Single user license” can be used to activate the application on a single PC for a single user.When Sigma has been activated, the application will check the license server every 14 days to verify that the license is still valid.

Floating license

A floating license gives the customer right to install Sigma on an unlimited number of machines, but the program cannot be simultaneously used on more machines than the number of floating licenses acquired.When Sigma is run using a floating license, the program contacts Sigma Estimates server, and verifies that there are licenses available. If no licenses are available, the program cannot start. When an installation claims a license, it will maintain that license by re-claiming it every 30 minutes. If Sigma is inactive, and do not re-claim the license, it will be available for other installations after 30 minutes.

Activation

Proxy

It is possible to specify a proxy to be used for communication with Sigma license servers:

In [INSTALL_DIR]\internet.ini add the following section:

[proxy]Server=XPort=YUsername=WPassword=Z

Where X is an IP number or server name and port is an integer.

Example:[proxy]Server=127.0.0.1Port=8080Username=adminPassword=admin

De-activating license on a PC

In case you need to de-activate the license on one PC, e.g. when changing to another Sigma Edition or from single-user license to floating license, do the following steps:

1.  When Sigma is launched click on the Ribbon TAB “FILE” to open back stage.

2. Click on the button Subscription

3. Now double click your license code:

   Open

   

Remove current license number, click OK and confirm that you want to remove the license.

Open

Sigma will now be in “Trial” mode

Installation

This section describes how to install Sigma, where application files are places and how files can be administered

Directory names

The directory names below are used throughout this section:

Install Sigma

Run the installation executable file to install Sigma on a PC. All files required for running Sigma are contained in this file.

By specifying the parameter "/S" to setup.exe, the installation is executed silent, i.e. without user interaction.

Install Path

A normal installation will ask for installation path. It will suggest e.g. "c:\[ProgramFiles] \Codegroup\Sigma Enterprise\", according to Windows settings, and product type.For silent installations, the suggested directory will be used. It is possible to control installation path by placing a file named "Setup.ini" in the same folder as setup.exe, see below.

E.g. by adding following into Setup.ini. will make suggested path "c:\[ProgramFiles]\codegroup \ABC:

[Directory]InstallName=ABC

These settings will apply to both new installations and updates.

Other examples of changing the Setup.ini file

[Directory]FullInstallName=c:\sigmatest #Will define the path “c:\sigmatest” for installation

Ask=0 #Will disable the page in the installer (meaning that above settings WILL be used)

De-activation of Sigma on install by the use of setup.ini

In a situation where it's required to activate using another license (e.g. when moving from Sigma Professional to Sigma Enterprise), it's possible to have the installer "deactivate" Sigma. A different activation key could then be entered on first startup (or by using master.ini).

[Setup]Deactivate=(0|1)

If "Deactivate" equals 1, the license.dat file is simply removed during install, and it's required that Sigma is activated again when started next time.

Example using Setup.ini and what's written in "Add/Remove programs" entry

The InstallName from Setup.ini is also used for identification of the "Add/Remove Programs" entry in Windows (InstallName is written within parenthesis):

Profiles

The Sigma installer contains a number of "profiles", making it possible for the end user to choose between several standard configurations. These are defined like "addendums", see below.It is possible to instruct the installer NOT to offer this choice for the end user, which is suitable in situations where an addendum has been defined for the customer, and thus, the question about a profile will confuse the end user.This can be done using "Setup.ini":

[Profiles]Ask=0  #Will disable the page with profiles.

Region

The Sigma installer contains a number of "regions", making it possible for the end user to choose between several standard configurations. It is possible to instruct the installer NOT to offer this choice for the end user, which is suitable in situations where an addendum has been defined for the customer, and thus, the question about a profile will confuse the end user.This can be done using "Setup.ini":

[region]

Ask=0 #Will disable the page with profiles.

“Addendum" folder for automatic installation of additional files

It's possible to automatically install additional custom files (such as reports, templates, data files), by placing them in the "Addendum" folder located in the same folder as the install program exe file.

The following list defines available addendum folders, and where their contents are installed on the PC.

Folders starting with "#USER_" can be installed in a custom folder, specified in e.g. Master.ini (see section "7.2 Ini files settings" for more information about ini file settings).

"#SHARED_" folders are always installed in [AllUsersAppData]\Shared\Data (normally a folder located on the local PC) even if path has been set to something else in master.ini. So it's normally recommended only to use "#USER_" folders in an Addendum 

Specify files that should not be overwritten using #non-overwrite" folder

It's possible to specify if Addendum files shouldn't be overwritten when upgrading Sigma, by inserting a folder named "#non-overwrite#", like the following example:

Using the above structure, the files “file1.dat” and “file2.dat” are always overwritten, whereas “file3.dat” is not. All three files will be placed in the users data folder.

Addendum version

It is possible to give the addendum package a name and a version, which may be used for tracking the package version. This is achieved by providing a file called 'addendum.ini' which must be placed in the root of the addendum folder. Example addendum.ini:

[setup]installname=My custom package #This is only for display purposesname=my_package #This is a package nameversion=4 #This is the version number. It must be an integer.

This is to become deprecated. We encourage to use the Sigma Package system instead. Please learn more about this at https://developer.sigmaestimates.com/

Installing pre-activated license file (containing activation code)

To avoid having each user enter the license number, it's possible to include a license file in the Addendum installation folder. To do this, you must obtain a license.dat file from Sigma Estimates, containing the order number and license number, and place this file in the Addendum folder.

Overview of folders and registry used by Sigma

Sigma follows Microsoft guidelines for installing program and data files, to work in both single- and multiple-user environments, including Microsoft Terminal Services and Citrix installations, and not requiring the user to have administrative permissions for Sigma to run.

Program files

Sigma is by default installed into the folder:[ProgramFiles]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]

This folder, which can be specified during installation, is the location of the program files, e.g. exe, dll, license, help and configuration files. This folder will be referred to as [INSTALL_DIR] in the remainder of this document. The last part will be referred to as [ProductDirName] (e.g. "Sigma Enterprise")

Sigma installation configuration and document folders

Several locations are used by Sigma to store data files. Common for all folders is that even users with non-administrative rights have access to these folders. By selecting the menu item "File->Settings->Files " in Sigma, you can see which folders are used on specific installation:

Here follows a description of each of the folders, with the default location:

Projects Default: [My Documents]\[ProductDirName]\ProjectsUser-created projects are by default saved in this folder (but the user can of course select another folder when saving).

Private libraries Default: [My Documents]\[ProductDirName]\LibrariesPrivate libraries created by the user.

Shared libraries Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\ProductDirName]\Shared\SharedLibrariesThis folder contains libraries used by all users on the machine (or server if it's a Terminal Services or Citrix installation).

Data files Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\Shared\DataCategories, constants, "quick library" etc. is installed into this folder.

Generated reports Default: (empty)Sigma outputs reports as PDF files, which by default are stored in the same folder as the project file. It's possible to specify another path, so e.g. a network share doesn't get polluted by PDF files.

Tools Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\Shared\ToolsUsing the "Tools" in Sigma it's possible to define common tasks. The definitions files are stored in this folder, which is used to populate the "Tools" menu in Sigma

Report files Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\Shared\ReportsReport definitions files are stored in this folder.

Pricelists Default: [My Documents]\[ProductDirName]\Pricelists When importing pricelists into Sigma, it's actually imported into a Microsoft Access database, in order to speed up searches in the pricelist (compared to searching an ordinary text file). The resulting Microsoft Access databases are stored in this folder.

QuickLibraries Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\Shared\QuickLibrariesUsed to store Sigma libraries (.sli files), that should automatically be loaded as quick libraries.

My Reports Default: [My Documents]\[ProductDirName]\ReportsUsed for storing report definition files for the user (when creating new reports in Sigma)

Shared reports Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\Shared\ReportsFolder for shared report definition files, often used for company reports.

Private templates Default: [My Documents]\[ProductDirName]\TemplatesFolder to store template files created by the user.

Shared templates Default: [AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\Shared\TemplatesFolder for shared template files, often used for company templates.

The "New User" folder

The folder "[AllUsersAppData]\CodeGroup\[ProductDirName]\New User" contains default files, which is copied to the users [My Documents]\[ProductDirName] folder the first time the user runs Sigma. See section Master.ini, page for disabling this system.

SigmaTex report system

The report system, used to generate PDF files, is located in:[ProgramFiles]\CodeGroup\SigmaTex2\Files placed in the following folders, is automatically searched for by the report compiler (that generates the PDF file). This is useful for e.g. images used for signatures etc.

• [INSTALL_DIR]\tex\include

• #USER_DATA#

Windows registry

File associations are written to the system registry. (All other settings are stored in the Sigma.ini files).When Sigma is installed, Sigma files are automatically associated to this latest installation, which might not be correct if multiple versions of Sigma has been installed on a single machine. In this case it's possible to manually register the file associations by opening the "File->Settings->Files->Advanced" menu and associate files to the current version of Sigma.

File associations are stored in the following registry keys:HKEY CLASSES ROOT\.sigHKEY CLASSES ROOT\.sitHKEY CLASSES ROOT\.sliHKEY CLASSES ROOT\.sidHKEY CLASSES ROOT\.sic (Only Sigma Claims)And:HKEY CLASSES ROOT\sigma.claimstemplateHKEY CLASSES ROOT\sigma.documentHKEY CLASSES ROOT\sigma.libraryHKEY CLASSES ROOT\sigma.projectHKEY CLASSES ROOT\sigma.document

User settings & configuration

Sigma uses .ini files for user settings & configurations.

sigma.ini

The default user settings are stored in the file sigma.ini.

The following directories are searched, in the specified order, for sigma.ini:

1. [AppData]

2. Installation folder (i.e. [INSTALL_DIR])

The first found sigma.ini is used.

sigma.ini in the installation folder is used for default settings for new users. The first time a new user uses the application, it will store the user’s settings in sigma.ini in [AppData], upon close. Sigma.ini in [AppData] will be updated every time the application closes.

master.ini

The file master.ini can be added in the installation folder [INSTALL_DIR]. If found, it will overwrite any settings defined in sigma.ini. It is used for organizations with multiple Sigma users, to specify default network share etc.

To see available settings for master.ini, see the sigma.ini file in [AppData].

Additional settings options in master.ini

The easiest way to find the available settings is to look in the sigma.ini file, and then copy the required key/values to e.g. master.ini.

Folder path settings

The table shows the “key” values for folder locations used in sigma.ini:

Example:[Path]QuickLibPath=\\ServerName\Share\Sigma Data\QuickLibraries\ 

Disabling program features

In master.ini specific features can be disabled. The section used is "DisableFeatures". To disable a feature write in this section, e.g.:[DisableFeatures]ChooseColumns=1

The following features can be disabled:

Skip setup for new Sigma users

It is possible to disable the routines that are normally executed for a new user. This includes copying of files from the 'New User' folder.To do this, include the following master.ini setting:[Application]SkipNewUserSetup=1

Copy files from a different location for new Sigma users

It is possible to set a path that files should be copied from instead of the 'New User' folder when starting as a new user. To do this, include the following master.ini setting:[Application]NewUserFilesPath=the-path-to-the-folder

Always perform new user setup on upgrade

By settings this option files will be copied and overwritten as if it was a new user starting the program when an upgrade has been performed.To do this, include the following master.ini setting:

[Application]PerformNewUserSetupOnUpgrade=1

Automatically activate Sigma

It's possible to have Sigma automatically activate, i.e. it's not required that the user enters activation code.Insert the following section in master.ini file:[License]OrderCode=nnnnn-xxxx-xxxxAutoActivate=(0|1)

HER NÅEDE VI TIL 2019.04.12

Rename columns

It's possible to rename the "compare price" columns, by adding the following section to Master.ini:[ColumnNames]CompareUnitPrice=xxxCompareSalesPrice=yyy

Use of environment variables and Windows folders in master.ini

It's possible to use environment variables and some additional names in the ini files. This is especially useful at install time handle e.g. localized Windows folder names. The following is an example to install reports into a "MyReports" subfolder of the installation folder.[Path]ReportsPath=#SIGMA_INSTALL#\MyReports

Environment variables

Windows environment variables are enclosed with "%", e.g. "%USERPROFILE%".

Special Windows folder names

The following table contains the special folder names that can be used in master.ini. Enclose these with a "#" sign, e.g. "#CSIDL_PERSONAL#".

Disabling automatic update

If running on a locked-down machine (i.e. users don't have administrative permissions – e.g. in Terminal Services or Citrix environment), it's possible to skip the automatic update. This requires that Sigma Estimates is informed, to disable the updating on our server. By managing it in our systems, we're able to notify all customers without automatic backup, when a new version of Sigma is released.

Update.ini

In addition to other ini files, it is possible to add an update.ini file in the application folder in case the automatic update check should be bypassed. The update.ini file should contain the following:[Auto]Auto=(0|1)

Setting Auto=0 will tell Sigma not to check for updates. Setting Auto=1 will be the equivalent of not having an update.ini file.

Scalepoint.ini

In addition to Sigma.ini and Master.ini a settings file called Scalepoint.ini can be added. This file is specific to the Claims version of Sigma for companies interacting with the Scalepoint system.The following options can be added:[Webservice]Url=address[Features]CommitClaims=(0|1)DisableValidation=(0|1)

"Url" will allowing settings the address of the webservice to be contacted. "CommitClaims" will make the ScalePoint menu available for all projects. "DisableValidation" will allow sending projects to Scalepoint without doing client side validation, which can be useful for assessors in insurance companies.

Libraries

Display custom logo in library

In order to use a custom logo in upper left corner of a library, simply add a project image named "tree_head_logo" to the project (this can be either a calculation or a library)

The height of the image control in Sigma has a height of 67 pixels, so this is the maximum height allowed for a custom image (otherwise it's simply clipped at this height). The color of the lower-right pixel of the custom image is used for filling the area outside the image.

Localization

Sigma is able to run in multiple languages. The program operates with 4 different types of language:

• Program language (UI)

• Project language

• Report language

These types are described further in the following sections.

Program language

The Sigma program (user interface) can be setup to run in different languages. The language is selected in "Tools->Options" using the Language tab and selecting application language from the drop down list. In this tab it is also possible to define the default project language.

Project language

This language is used to control the language used by the spell checker and when printing reports. E.g. if English has been specified as project language, reports will by default be in English, even if the Sigma UI is running Danish.

To change the project language, use Document Properties:

Report language

When printing out a report it's by default printed in the same language as the project. This can be changed by opening the report settings using the "Report generator".

Advanced features

Tracing

It's possible to enable tracing in Sigma by adding the following setting to the users sigma.ini or master.ini file:[Application]TraceLevel=(None | Info | Warning | Error)

When tracing is enabled, messages are written to a file named SigmaTrace.txt in the users temporary folder (%TEMP%).Info generates most trace information, whereas Error only writes errors into the log.To display a warning if the user attempts to save the file in compressed format the following setting should be included. This may be relevant if the files should be read by other programs, e.g. in the case of integrations.

Warning about compressed files

Add the following to the master.ini file:[SigmaFile]WarningWhenCompressed=(0 | 1) When this feature is turned on, and the user tries to save a compressed Sigma file, a warning is given.

Generate project number

To automatically generate a project number when creating new projects add the following to the master.ini file:[Project]ProjectNumberPattern=report keyfigure expressionSee the online help in Sigma for a description of keyfigure functions used in reports. The sign "^" is used to specify keyfigure functions in the expression. For example[Project]ProjectNumberPattern=PN-username()@date(dd-mm-yyyy) time()would result in a project number of the following style: PN-user@09-10-2008 20:50

Run Sigma as a single instance

Normally when you double click a Sigma file, a new instance will be created. It is possible to change this behavior so, in case a Sigma instance is already present, the file will be opened in this instance instead. With this behavior enabled it is not possible to have two running instances of the same Sigma version.Add the following to the master.ini file:

[Application]UseSingleInstance=(0 | 1)

File validation when saving files

By default Sigma validates that un-compressed XML files are stored correctly by verifying that the last 64 bytes of the file are same as internal buffer. This validation can be disabled by the following master.ini/sigma.ini setting:[Application]ValidateFileOnSave=0

Specify master.ini using Windows environment variable

By setting a Windows environment variable "SigmaMasterIni", it's possible to control which master.ini file is used by Sigma. If only filename is specified, Sigma searches for file in the same folder as sigma.exe, otherwise a full path must be specified.

Additional?

SigmaScript: Claims variables

SigmaScript: Mappe navne (e.g. %sigma_datapath%)