New York State Pesticide Reporting Law

Installing the PRL Reporting Software

This document describes how to install the free PRL Reporting Software (Options A, B, and C) supplied by the Pesticide Reporting Service Bureau. All three programs require a computer running Microsoft Windows^® 2000 or later; Option B also requires Microsoft Excel^® 2000 or later.

Preliminaries

Windows 2000/Windows XP Operating Systems: You must log on as an administrator or using an account with administrator rights to run the installation package.

Vista/Windows 7 Operating Systems: Depending on how your computer has been set up, you may need to log on as an administrator or provide user name and password for an account with administrator rights in order to run the installation package. It is generally advisable to log on as administrator but may not be required..

We also recommend uninstalling previous versions of the software before installing a new version, especially if you are upgrading from a version older than version 6. Uninstalling the old version is not usually required but can help avoid confusion caused by having more than one version of the program installed at the same time. Uninstalling the software will not affect any saved data files. Recent versions of the PRL Reporting Software include an “Uninstall” shortcut in the All Programs/Pesticide Reporting group, but for older versions you will need to open the Add/Remove Programs dialog from the Control Panel and remove the old program from there.

The Installation Process

Download the most recent version of the PRL Reporting Software installation package (a .msi file) for your chosen Software Option from the PRL Reporting Software page. You may be able to run the installation program directly from the web site, but we recommend saving it somewhere on your computer and running it from there. Saving the installation program to your computer allows you to install the program at a later time without re-downloading it from the web site.
Run the .msi file you downloaded (double-click, or right-click and choose Install). The InstallShield Wizard should start. There are several steps; for some of the steps, you can change the default values. We recommend that you keep the default values unless you have a good, compelling reason to change them.
1. “Welcome” — Informative only.
2. “Readme information” — Gives contact information (see the Contact Information web page as well).
3. “Destination Folder” — This is the folder to which the program, some supporting DLL libraries, and (for Option B) blank “starting” copies of PRL Forms will be installed. You can select a different location, but you should rarely need to do so. For most users, the installation folder does not matter.
4. “Report Root Folder” — The Report Root is the parent folder for your PRL reports. It defaults to the C:\ drive, but you can change the initial setting here. (You can also change the Report Root while running the program.) The Report Root will contain a folder for each Report Year; the sub-folders are named PRLyyyy, where “yyyy” is the report year. For example, if you set the Report Root to C:\PRL and create reports for 2011 and 2012, the C:\PRL folder will contain two subfolders: PRL2011 and PRL2012.
5. “Ready to Install” — Last chance to review your choices before installing the program.
6. “Installing …” — Installation progress
7. “InstallShield Wizard Completed” — and you’re done!

Results

After you complete installation:

The program itself will be installed in the installation (“Destination”) folder, normally C:\Program Files\NYSPRL.
The initial Report Root folder has been created, if necessary.
There is a program icon on the Desktop. Double-click to run the program.
There is a program group (on the Start menu) called “Pesticide Reporting” that contains links to start or uninstall the program.
Copies of documentation files have been installed in the Common Application Data folder, in the NYSPRL subfolder. On computers running Windows XP or earlier, this is normally C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\NYSPRL. On computers running Vista and Windows 7, this is normally C:\ProgramData\NYSPRL. In both cases, the Common Application Data folder is normally hidden, but the documentation files can all be opened from within the program. They are also available from the Documentation page.