SEB Options for Computer Labs

Third-party applications

Currently, third-party applications are only supported when using SEB 2.2 or newer on Windows computer labs. The application you want to use will have to be installed on all the computers before running an exam. Inspera enables customers using SEB to select up to five external applications for students to access during assessments, including predefined options. Below are the supported scenarios: 

• If customers wish to add support for applications not listed in the predefined options, they can enter the executable names of those applications in the “.exe” format as comma-separated values in the custom field, located below the predefined options.

• For applications already available in the predefined list, customers can simply select them and use the custom field for any additional applications. For example, if a customer wants to allow access to Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS, Notepad, Microsoft Word, Chrome, and CMD, they can select Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS, and Microsoft Word from the predefined options, and then enter “chrome.exe” and “cmd.exe” in the custom field.

• If a customer selects more than five applications by combining predefined options and custom entries, only the first five will be considered based on the following order of preference: Applications selected from the predefined list will be prioritised, followed by the applications entered in the custom field from left to right until the limit of five is reached. For instance, if a customer selects Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS, and Microsoft Word from the predefined list, and enters “chrome.exe,” “slack.exe,” and “cmd.exe” in that order, only Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS, Microsoft Word, Chrome, and Slack will be allowed, while CMD will not be considered.

Once saved, all allowed applications will be clearly displayed.

How to add your own executable

If adding your own executable (name of the .exe file) you must find out the name of the file.

1. This can be done by starting the application and pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to open the Task Manager.
2. Find your application and right-click on details. This will reveal the name of the .exe file you should add.
3. To test if this application can be run without further configuration, press Windows + R, type the name of the executable, and run it.
4. If the application starts, you can add the .exe file (for instance stats.exe) to the SEB options, if not you will have to do a windows registry update on the computers that will use this application. IBM SPSS and Lingys have to be updated in the Windows registry.

Windows registry updates in App Paths

Some applications, like Lingdys (Norwegian program) and SPSS, do not update the App Paths in the Windows registry. Word and Excel do this, so that way the .exe file to run the program can be used by SEB.

How to add an .exe file that doesn't start with Windows + R:

1. Press Windows + R.
2. Type regedit and run it.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
4. Right-click and select New > Key
5. Select the Key, right click and choose Edit
6. Add the full path and file name of the executable to the field value
7. Right-click and select New > String
8. Select the String, right click and choose Edit
9. Add the full file path to the field value. This is the folder that contains the executable.
   
   The end product should look like this (Excel example):
   

Tip: If you have Firefox or Chrome installed, you can just look at how their values are added under App Paths and do the same, but add the file path and the .exe file path to your desired program.

Test that your application now starts when running the .exe file using Windows + R.

Security concerns

The largest security concern is that SEB does not block access to the disk. This means that it is possible to open local files from the disk while running a third-party application within SEB. This problem can be minimized in a computer lab.

It is not recommended that you insert files without testing them. We recommend the method of inserting the files as a PDF panel, main illustration, additional resource, video or audio clip, depending on the file format. Some applications, like Excel, for instance, have the possibility to browse the internet within the application. This is also not stopped. However, Excel can be configured not to have the Data → Import menu item. Other applications can have other ways of browsing the web. This has to be checked before setting up an exam with the wanted application.