Table of Contents
To insert a new tab:
- Select Add > Register…
- Select the respective tab in the dialog box.
- Change the settings and click OK or Apply.
Tabs help you to categorize software, e.g., default, development, printers.
Register Properties – View
Edits a tab view.
- Name
Specifies the internal name of a tab. This name has to be unique within the software depot. There must not be another object (tab or package) of the same name.
The character [ (= square bracket) must not be at the beginning of a name, leading spaces will be ignored.
- Text
Specifies the text the user will see. This text is arbitrary.
- Description
Describes the contents of the tab. The user sees the description beside the tab icon.
- Tab icon
Shows the small icon which is displayed in the tab.
- Change tab icon
Opens a dialog box which permits you to select an icon.
- Icon
Shows the large icon which is displayed above the list with the packages.
- Change icon
Opens a dialog box which permits you to select an icon.
Register Properties – Security
Edits the security settings of a tab; they apply for both PUSH and PULL distribution. If an entry is made in several options, they are treated as an AND relation!
Security settings affect the installation of packages that are located in the respective tab. Packages may only be installed or selected if these settings apply for the user! If the conditions do not apply, the packages to be distributed are not installed, and the user will not be able to see the respective tabs in the software depot, i.e., he cannot install the related software.
- Global group
Specifies the name of the global group (Microsoft Windows network only), which a user has to be a member of to see the tab. If several groups shall be queried through an OR relation, they can be specified, separated by commas.
Examples:
Domain\%$DomainUsers%
Domain\%$DomainAdmins%,Domain\EmpirumUsers
- Local group
Specifies the name of the local group of a Windows workstation, which a user has to be a member of to see the tab. If several groups shall be queried through an OR relation, they can be specified, separated by commas.
Examples:
%$LocalAdmins%
%$LocalUsers%,EmpirumUsers
- Local user
Specifies the name of a local user of a Windows workstation, which has to be identical with the login name for the tab to be visible.
- Checkfile
Specifies the name of a file or directory for which a user needs read access rights to see the tab.
To make a package actually visible on a tab, the user also needs access rights to the setup script. These access rights are administrated via the file access rights of the operating system, for instance via the Microsoft network or Novell NetWare. For the script and the files belonging to the script, the user needs read access rights only. An exception to that rule applies if the checking option of the individual packages has been disabled for the tab.
Register Properties – Operating System
Edits the operating system settings of a tab.
- Windows
Specifies that the tab is visible when the software depot is executed on a computer with a Windows operating system. You have the option to further restrict the visibility of the listed operating systems (Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012/R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2025) and of the platform (32-bit = x86 and 64-bit = x64).
- Linux
Specifies that the tab is visible when the software depot (specific version) is executed on a computer with a Linux operating system. You have the option to further restrict the visibility of the platform (32-bit = x86 and 64-bit = x64).
- Mac OS X
Specifies that the tab is visible when the software depot (specific version) is executed on a computer with a Mac OS X operating system. You have the option to further restrict the visibility of the listed operating systems.
The operating system settings allow you to define packages that perform specific settings, which are only valid for the corresponding operating system, for instance Windows Service Packs or printers for Windows XP.
Register Properties – Misc
Edits the miscellaneous settings of a tab.
- Check rights
Specifies whether the access rights for packages in this tab are to be checked. This should generally be the case because otherwise the user might see packages which he cannot install. Since the checking of the rights consumes some time, it might make sense to turn it off for reasons of performance. This should, however, only be done if all users have access rights to all packages in a tab.
- Use for distribution only
Specifies that the tab shall only be visible if the software distribution mode is used, i.e. SwDepot.exe is launched with the /I parameter. This allows you to define tabs that will never show up in the normal interactive mode of the software depot, independent of the access rights.