Installation (Installer)

These instructions describe installing VA Assist using the VA Assist Installer as opposed to installing the zip files without the installer. Make sure to check the system requirements before installing the product.

1. If you have an earlier version of VA Assist installed, you must follow the instructions in Uninstalling VA Assist to unload the earlier version before installing the current version.
   
   
2. Download and execute VA Assist installer.  If you are installing over an older version of VA Assist, then the VA Assist installer will prompt you to unload the earlier version of VA Assist if it detects the that the default.ini file has not been renamed to _default.ini.  If you are installing over an older version of VA Assist and the new version of VA Assist contains newer versions of the VA Assist unloader, then the installer will warn you that after installing the newer version of VA Assist, you must rebuild your workspace using a clean IDE.ICX. A clean IDE.ICX file can be found in a zip file in the backup directory on your IBM VisualAge for Java installation CD or from the this page.
   
   Version 2.0.5 of VA Assist introduces an enhanced error logging facility and an enhanced unloader facility. We recommend that, if you have an older version of VA Assist installed, you completely delete all of the VA Assist and jFactor IC directories (\ide\ics\com-instantiations*) and replace your IDE.ICX file with a new one before you install VA Assist 2.0.5 or higher. This is not required, however, and, if you don't do this, the existing error logging and unloader facilities will be used. 
   
   If you are installing into a new VA Java 3.5.3 or 4.0 installation, these new facilities will automatically be installed. Do not install VA Java 3.5.3 or 4.0 on top of your existing VA Java 3.0/3.02/3.5 installation without first deleting/un-installing any existing VA Assist and jFactor files (e.g., all VA Assist IC directories - \ide\ics\com-instantiations*). Versions of VA Assist prior to 2.0.5 should not be used with VA Java 3.5.3 and versions prior to 2.0.8 should not be used with 4.0. See the FAQ for further details.
   
   
3. Launch VisualAge for Java, and the VA Assist functionality will be automatically loaded during the VisualAge for Java startup sequence. Look for a message in the VisualAge for Java "Log" Window stating that VA Assist has been loaded.
   
   When starting VisualAge for Java, if you get an error message
   
           Fatal Application Error Exit due to error 37
           Workspace file is not a Visual Age for Java Workspace.
   
   and VisualAge for Java refuses to start, it means that VisualAge for Java has already been bound to a particular version of an IC file (such as VA Assist's com-instantiations-vaa.ic file) and expects that IC file to be available when VisualAge for Java starts up, but either cannot find that IC file or is finding a different version of that IC file.  Typically, this situation can arise when one version of VA Assist is loaded overtop another version of VA Assist before the first version has been properly unloaded from VisualAge for Java.  There are two options for recovering from this situation once you are in it:
   
   a) you can install the original version of VA Assist and then VisualAge for Java should launch normally with the original version of VA Assist loaded and running in that image.   Then you can proceed with Uninstalling VA Assist, followed by loading the newer version of VA Assist.
   
   b) Alternately, you can rebuild your image with a clean IDE.ICX file.  A clean IDE.ICX file can be found in a zip file in the backup directory on your IBM VisualAge for Java installation CD or from the this page.
   
   See the FAQ for further details.
   
   
4. If you have a valid VA Assist serial number (received when the product was purchased), follow the instructions for Unlocking a Purchased Product to fully activate it.