Installing Desktop Notifications App for MacOS

Obtaining the Installer

The desktop notifications app is obtained through your AppArmor Dashboard. Navigate to the “Communications” → “Alerting Mechanisms” → “Desktop Alerts” page. Then click the “Mac App” tab. You should see an interface similar to below:

There are several settings available to configure your Desktop Notifications app on this page. They are:

User Settings Profile

The user settings profile allows you to define a set of optional groups for the user to subscribe to. The configuration of the profile is done on the “User Settings Profile” tab. Leave this option blank for default settings.

Auto Launch Option

The Desktop Notifications app can be installed to automatically launch for all users of the computer, or only the user who installed the app. Choose the appropriate option here.

Groups

Users are automatically subscribed to the “All” group whenever the app connects. You can also specify which other groups the user should be automatically subscribed.

When you have finished choosing the options, click the “Download MacOS Desktop Client” button to begin the download. You will be prompted to save a .ZIP file to your computer.

Unzipping the Desktop Notifications App

After the download completes, you should completely unzip the content of the download. When unzipping is complete, there should be two files that were extracted:

Desktop Notifications-X.X.pkg - This is the Desktop Notifications Installer
DeviceSettings.plist OR UserSettings.plist - The settings for your desktop notifications app

Below is a screenshot showing the files configured to be installed for all users of the computer:

If is very important that both an installer file, and a configuration file exist before running the installer. Be sure to unzip both files. The installer will look for the settings file in the same folder from where it was run. If the settings file can’t be found, then the installation won’t be configured properly.

Setting Environment Variables on Mac (Versions 6.6.4.0 and higher)

Adjustments can be made before installation to the enclosed DeviceSettings.plist file, to add environment variables.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>Disabled</key>
	<false/>
	<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
	<dict>
		<key>apparmor_serverurl</key>
		<string>[serverurk]</string>
		<key>apparmor_groups</key>
		<string>[groups]</string>
		<key>apparmor_additionalgroups</key>
		<string>[additionalgroups]</string>
		
		<!-- Add Custom Environment variables below like so -->
		<key>customVariable</key>
		<string>variableValue</string>
		
    <key>apparmor_profile</key>
    <string></string>    
	</dict>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>com.cutcom.apparmor.apparmordesktopmac</string>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>/Applications/Desktop Notifications.app/Contents/MacOS/Desktop Notifications</string>
	</array>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Once these variables are set, install the application. If the Variables are properly configured on the dashboard, it should pull it in.

Run the Installer

Double click the “Destop Notifications-X.X.pkg” file to start the installation. You will be prompted with the following screens.

The Welcome screen appears, click “Continue”:

Review the storage space requirements, then click “Install”:

You may be prompted to enter your password, please do so:

The installation will proceed, and you will see a confirmation that the installation was successful:

At this point, you should also notice the Desktop Notifications app appear in the status bar. If the app is able to connect then it will change from blue to green. (If you system is configured with custom icons, the icons may look differently.)

When you click “Close” on the installer, you may be prompted to move the installer to the trash. Please choose “Move to Trash”:

Your installation is now complete and the desktop notifications app is running on your computer.

Next Steps

We recommend that you restart your computer to verify that the Desktop Notifications app automatically starts whenever you sign into the computer. You can also send a test notifications to your device using the AppArmor Dashboard.

Troubleshooting

“The Desktop Notifications app didn’t automatically start during installation.”

This is likely because the settings file (DeviceSettings.plist or UserSettings.plist) couldn’t be found by the installer during the installation process. Recommend that you uninstall the app by dragging the blue “Desktop Notifications” icon from your Applications folder to the Trash. Then download the installer again and verify that both the PKG and PLIST files are extracted from the zip.

“I’m seeing an “Edit Server URL” dialog box when running the app.”

You are seeing this dialog because the settings for the app couldn’t be found. To solve the problem, exit the Desktop Notifications app by clicking the icon in the Status Bar, and choose Exit.

Then, uninstall the app by dragging the blue “Desktop Notifications” icon from your Applications folder to the Trash. Download the installer again and verify that both the PKG and PLIST files are extracted from the zip.