Windows App Catalog enhancements

Content

In 10.66, MaaS360 adds a lot of great features in Windows App Catalog (portal) including: distribution of scripts, with support for installation context and execution commands; distribution of documents, with support for downloading documents to specified location; distribution of web apps with support for opening web apps using MaaS360 browser; distribution of app bundles, with support for adding app bundles to featured apps section.

MaaS360 allows the administrators to mark the apps as featured apps so that the apps are displayed in the Featured section in App Catalog agent. The Featured app section increases the changes of apps being discovered.

MaaS360 adds following features in MaaS360 App Catalog (portal):

• Support for deploying Windows scripts
• Support for deploying downloadable files
• Support for deploying web apps
• Support for deploying app bundles
• Support for managing app ratings and reviews

Support for deployment of Windows scripts

MaaS360 adds support for deploying the following Windows scripts on Windows desktops and tablets:

• batch files (.bat)
• VBScript (.vbs)
• PowerShell (.ps1)
• registry files (.reg)
• Python (.py)

To upload Windows scripts,

1. Navigate to Apps > Catalog > Add > Windows > Enterprise App for Windows.

Result: The Select an app type to add enterprise app for Windows screen appears.

2. Select Windows Scripts (.bat, .vbs, .ps1, .reg, .py)

Result: The Enterprise App for Windows window appears.

3. Provide the following details in the App Details tab.

• App: Upload a script file.
• App Name: Provide the name of the app.
• App Version: Provide the version of the app.
• App Icon: Upload an app icon. Recommended size is 30*30 px.
• Description: Provide a description of the app.
• Category: Select appropriate app categories for the app.
• Screenshots: Provide up to a total of 4 screenshots. Recommended size is 220 * 350.

4. Provide the following details in the Installation Requirements tab.

• Installation Mode:
  • Silent Mode: Select this option for installing packages in System installation context.
  • UI or Wizard Based: Select this option for installing packages in the per-user installation context.
• Installation Context:
  • System or All Users: Executes the script with System privilege. System or all users installation is required to enable all users of the computer to access and use the application.
  • Per User (Installed User): Executes the scripts with user privilege. Per User installation is required to enable only the enrolled user to access and use the application.

Note: For more information, see System and User contexts.

• Execution Commands:
  • Install: Specify installation commands along with parameters based on the type of the script.
  • Uninstall: Specify uninstall commands along with parameters based on the type of the script.

Note: For example, cscript.exe %APP_NAME% <param1> <param1>  where %APP_NAME% is a placeholder for the script file.

• Relevance to Install: Select the supported architecture.
• Requires Restart: Select the option if a restart is required on executing the script.
• Install Success Criteria: Specify the success criteria to be displayed on installing the script.

5. Click Add.

Support for deployment of downloadable files

MaaS360 adds support for deploying the following Windows downloadable files on Windows desktops and tablets.

• .zip
• .gif
• .pptx
• .docx
• .jpeg

This feature makes it easy for the administrators to distribute files to a specific location on users’ devices.

To upload a downloadable file,

1. In the App Catalog, click Add > Windows > Enterprise App for Windows.

Result: The Select an app type to add enterprise app for Windows window appears.

2. Select Windows Downloadable Files (.docx, .pptx, .jpeg, .png).

Result: The Enterprise app for Windows window appears.

3. Provide the following details in the File Details tab:

• File: Upload a file.
• File Name: Provide a name for your file.
• File Version: Specify the version of the file.
• File Icon: Upload an icon for the file.
• File Description: Provide a description for the file.
• Category: Select file category.

4. Provide the following details in the Installation Requirements tab:

• Save to Location: Specify the location on the user’s device to which the file must be downloaded.
• Relevance to install: Specify the supported system architecture.

5. Click Add.

Support for deployment of web apps

MaaS360 adds support for deploying web apps for Windows 10 devices. With this feature, administrators can also configure the web app settings to enable the users to launch the web app using the MaaS360 Secure Browser. On the App Catalog agent, when the web app is installed, the web app is pinned to the Start menu on the device.

To upload a web app,

1. In the App Catalog, click Add > Web App.

Result: The Web App window appears.

2. Provide the following details in the App Details tab:

• Web App Display Name: Provide a name for the web app.
• Web App URL: Provide web app URL. Prefix the URL with maas360browser:// instead of https:// or http:// to enable the users to launch the web app through MaaS360 Secure Browser. For example, maas360browser://google.com
• Web App Icon: Provide an icon for the web app.
• Description: Provide a description of the web app.
• Category: Specify a category the web app falls under.
• Screenshots: Provide screenshots of the web app.

3. Click Add.

Support for deployment of app bundles

MaaS360 adds support for deploying of app bundles to Windows 10 devices. App bundles are a group of individual apps that can be easily bundled together and loaded in the App Catalog. App bundles also make it easier for the administrators to distribute multiple apps at once. After the app bundle is distributed, MaaS360 allows administrators to add app bundles to the featured apps section, increasing the changes of app bundle being discovered.

To create app bundle,

1. In the MaaS360 App Catalog, click Add > App Bundles.

Note: App bundles can also be added from Apps > Bundles.

Result: The App Bundles window appears.

2. Provide the following details:

• Bundle Name: Provide a name for the app bundle.
• Description: Provide a description of the app bundle.
• Bundle Icon: Provide an icon for the app bundle. Click Add from Defaults to choose from a set of default icons.
• Show App bundle on end-user app catalog: Displays the app bundle in the end-user App Catalog (agent).
• App Name: Provide a comma-separated list of apps that must be added to the bundle.
• Distribute to: Specify the distribution criteria.
• License Type: Specify if a license is specific to users or device.

3. Click Add.

Result: To view and manage the app bundles, navigate to Apps > Bundles.

Support for managing app ratings and reviews

MaaS360 displays all the user ratings and reviews along with the time stamp in the detail view of an app. Administrators can also delete the reviews from the detail view.

System and User Contexts

It is recommended that all the system context apps must be installed in silent mode and all user context apps be installed in UI mode. However, MaaS360 provides an exemption for the administrators to install certain system apps in user context through installation execution commands. 

To install a system app in user context, provide the following .msi command in the Execution Installation Command field in detail view of the app.

msiexec /i %APPURL% /qn ALLUSERS="" INSTALLDIR="%USERPROFILE%\AppData\local\"

Note: For more information on installation context, see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd765197(v=vs.85).aspx

When migrating the existing apps installed in previous versions of App Catalog, the apps installed in silent mode will be marked and installed in per-machine or system context and apps installed in UI mode will be installed in per-user context.