e650eb0220
Reported from the Server 2019 test: the Existing database page rendered a truncated "Username:" label and no input boxes at all below it, so there was no way to enter connection details. CreateInputQueryPage lays its fields out BELOW the description text. The description had grown to include a five-line CREATE DATABASE / CREATE USER / GRANT block, added so a DBA could be handed the exact SQL. With five fields underneath, the last two fell past the bottom of the page surface, where they are simply not drawn - no error, no scrollbar, just missing controls. The description is back to three lines. The SQL moves to docs/INSTALL-WINDOWS.md, which is where someone would look for it anyway and where it can be copied without being retyped from a wizard page. Wizard page descriptions are a fixed budget: anything long enough to be worth reading twice belongs in the guide, not on the page.
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Install ShopDB-Flask on Windows Server
This is the route for a new site. You run one .exe, answer a few questions,
and get a working application. Nothing here needs an internet connection, and you
do not need to know IIS, Python or MySQL.
If you are looking after an existing hand-built server, see DEPLOY-WINDOWS-IIS.md instead - that is the manual procedure, and the installer will not adopt a server it did not build.
Before you start
You need four things. The installer supplies everything else.
| What | How to check | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windows Server 2019 or newer | winver |
| 2 | The IIS Web Server role installed | Server Manager -> Manage -> Add Roles -> Web Server (IIS). Or run the PowerShell below. |
| 3 | Administrator rights on the box | Right-click PowerShell -> "Run as administrator" works |
| 4 | A decision about the database - see Which database? | - |
Installing IIS, if it is missing (this needs no internet):
Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeManagementTools
The installer checks all of this before it changes anything, and it will not let you continue until the check passes. You do not have to get it right first time.
Which database?
Two options. Pick before you start, because they ask different questions.
- Use the bundled MySQL - the installer puts MySQL 8.4 LTS on this server and creates the database for you. Choose this when the server has no database today. Simplest option, nothing to arrange in advance.
- Use an existing MySQL - the database already exists somewhere, and you have a hostname, a database name, a username and a password for it. Choose this if your site already runs MySQL, or a DBA looks after it.
If you are unsure: if nobody has given you database credentials, you want the bundled option.
SQL for your DBA (existing-MySQL option only)
The installer does not create the database or the user - it never needs administrative rights on your database server. Ask your DBA to run:
CREATE DATABASE shopdb_flask CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'shopdb'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<a password you choose>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON shopdb_flask.* TO 'shopdb'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
The utf8mb4 charset matters - the default on older servers is latin1, and a
latin1 database mangles any non-ASCII text you store.
Installing
- Copy the installer
.exeonto the server. It is one file and needs no network. - Right-click it -> Run as administrator. Without this it cannot configure IIS, and it will tell you so.
- Work through the wizard. The pages are:
| Page | What it wants | If unsure |
|---|---|---|
| Server check | Nothing - it reports what it found | Fix anything red, then "Check again". You cannot continue while something is red, and nothing has been changed yet. |
| Features | Which parts of the product this site uses | The defaults are fine. You can add more later; removing needs a new installer. |
| Database | Bundled or existing - see above | Bundled |
| Database details | Host, port, name, user, password | Only asked for the existing-database option |
| Address | How people reach the site | See Own address or subpath? |
| Client addresses | Whether a proxy sits in front | See Client addresses |
| Location | Where to install | C:\shopdb-flask is fine |
- The install takes a few minutes. Most of it is Python and the database schema.
- At the end you get the address to open. Write it down - it is also on the Start Menu as "Open ShopDB-Flask".
Own address or subpath?
- Its own address -
http://yourserver:8090/. Choose this on a server that is not already running a website. Simplest. - Under this server's existing address -
http://yourserver/shopdb/. Choose this when the server already serves something else and you do not want a second port or a new DNS name. This is what West Jefferson uses.
You cannot change your mind later without re-running the installer, because the web interface has the address compiled into it.
Client addresses
The application records who connects, and some features decide what to show based on it. The wizard asks one question:
- Clients connect to this server directly - the normal answer. Pick this unless you know otherwise.
- A proxy or load balancer sits in front - pick this only if your network team has told you traffic reaches this server through something else first.
Getting this wrong is not dangerous, but the site will record every visitor as coming from the server itself, and features that depend on location will not work. It can be changed later by re-running the installer.
First login
Open the address the installer gave you. With no users in the database yet, the page offers to create the first administrator, then runs a short setup wizard for site details, features and the floor map.
That first account is a normal administrator account. Use a real password - this is the account that creates everyone else.
Did it work?
From the Start Menu, open ShopDB-Flask Console and pick option 1, or:
cd C:\shopdb-flask
.\shopdb-admin.ps1 status
You want to see the site started, the pool started, and responding : yes.
Day-to-day tasks - restarting, backups, logs, upgrades - are in OPERATE-WINDOWS.md.
If the install fails
The server is left part-configured. Whatever had been done before the failure is still there. That is deliberate: it means re-running is able to pick up where it stopped.
- Read the error. It names the cause and what to do about it.
- Fix that, then run the same installer again. Re-running is safe - it skips
what is already done and does not touch your database or
.env. - If you would rather start clean, remove it from Settings -> Apps first.
The full log is at:
C:\ProgramData\ShopDB-Flask\logs\shopdb-install-<date>.log
It records every step, including everything that was created. Send this if you need help.
Getting help from an AI assistant
These installs are often done with an assistant open in another window. Give it real state rather than a description:
.\shopdb-admin.ps1 check -Json
That prints one structured block covering the version, how the site is published, IIS state, database reachability, Python version, installed features and any errors. Paste it in. It contains no passwords. The install log is also safe to share - the installer keeps secrets out of it deliberately.
Offline API reference for this server is served at /api/docs on the site
itself, and docs\ in the install directory holds these runbooks.
Upgrading
Run a newer installer over the top. It:
- backs the database up first, verifies the dump is complete, and refuses to continue if it cannot;
- restores from that backup if the schema migration fails;
- refuses to install an older build over a newer one;
- keeps your
.env, your data and yourweb.config.
Nothing else is required. See UPGRADE.md.
Before your first upgrade: confirm
mysqldumpis available - the console's health check reports it. Without it the pre-upgrade backup is skipped, and that is the one you would want if a migration went wrong. It ships with the bundled database option; for an existing remote database, ask formysqlclient\to be included in your installer bundle.
Removing it
Settings -> Apps -> ShopDB-Flask, or Add/Remove Programs.
That removes the website, the application pool, the firewall rule and the application directory. It deliberately does not drop the database and does not uninstall MySQL, so your data survives.
Take a backup first: .\shopdb-admin.ps1 backup
Notes for the person who builds the installer
Building a bundle for a site is a separate job, documented in
../deploy/windows/installer/README.md.
Sites receive a finished .exe; they do not build one.