Creating a new Database

After you have installed ThinkWave Administrator, double-click on the sunflower icon to start the application.

Open Database Screen

The Open Database screen is empty the first time you run ThinkWave Administrator. After you have created a new datafile, or have linked to an existing datafile, a shortcut will be visible in the screen.

To create a new school datafile, click the NEW button.

Startup Wizard: Define SA Password

You will see this screen the first time you create a new datafile using ThinkWave Administrator. The SA password allows people to create or delete files on the Microsoft SQL Database Engine (MSDE) that was installed on your computer.

This password is different than the ThinkWave ID (username and password), which is used to access the ThinkWave Administrator Datafile.
The SA password is case-sensitive.
The ‘SA’ password is needed to:

Create/delete Administrator datafiles.
When you ‘Restore from Backup’
Configure any other applications that might be installed on the computer that utilize SQL as a database.

If you see this screen, input a password greater than 1 character in both the ‘Password’ and ‘Retype Password’ fields, then click Next.

Normal / Custom Configuration Screen

This screen allows you select Normal or Custom setup options when establishing your ThinkWave Administrator Database.

Select ‘Custom’ only in the following cases:
If you want to define a different location for the Database Server or Grades Online server. ThinkWave normally hosts these servers. The only reason to change the links is if a separate license agreement has been signed for local hosting options.
If you want to create a blank database.
After making your selection, click Next.

Custom Setup Options

If you selected ‘Custom’ in the previous screen, you will see the following screen in the setup wizard:

This screen allows the user to configure a custom location for the Gradebook Server and for the Grades Online server, or create a Blank Database.

If you have received Custom URLs from ThinkWave, enter them into the appropriate fields in this screen.
If you want to create a blank database (A blank database would not contain any sample students, classes, terms, etc.), check the ‘Make Blank Database’ field.
After making your selections, click Next.

Select your ThinkWave ID

Your ThinkWave ID will be used for the following purposes:

To open, and work with, the ThinkWave Administrator datafile.
To login to Grades Online to manage licensing and other administrative functions online.

If you are creating an Administrator datafile for the first time, select the “Create a New ThinkWave ID” option and click Next.

If you already have a ThinkWave ID (for example, you are creating a new database for the next school year), you may check “Use my existing ThinkWave ID” and click Next.

Create a New ThinkWave ID

To create a new ThinkWave ID, you should select a username and password. After you click Next, ThinkWave Administrator will attempt to register the username and password on the Gradebook Server and Grades Online server. You must be connected to the Internet when registering a new ThinkWave ID. If the username is already taken by another user, then you will need to select another one.

Enter your preferred username in the “Select User Name” field. Remember to be creative, because many usernames are already taken by other users.
Type in your Password in the “Select Password” and “Verify Password” fields. It must be more than six characters, and can consist of numbers and letters.
Username and Password are not case-sensitive.

When you have typed in your information, click Next. If you receive a message that the registration failed, then:

Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
Make sure that Internet Explorer is properly configured to access the Internet. ThinkWave Administrator uses some components of Internet Explorer for network connectivity.
Try another username. Remember – most ‘simple’ usernames (such as ‘Admin’, ‘Admin1’, and ‘Admin400’) are already taken by other users.
If you used the ‘Custom’ screen to modify the URLs for the Gradebook Server and/or Grades Online server, double-check that they are typed in correctly. You can click ‘back’ to get to that screen in the Wizard. Double-check that you have typed in the appropriate value for ‘http’ or ‘https’ – depending on instructions.

Enter your Existing ThinkWave ID

If you already have a ThinkWave ID (for example, from a previous ThinkWave Administrator Database), then you may use it here.

Enter your ThinkWave ID into the ‘Username’ field.
Enter your password in the ‘Password’ field
The ThinkWave ID and password are not case-sensitive.
Click Next.

If you get a message that the system was unable to verify the ThinkWave ID and/or password, then:

Verify that you typed in your ThinkWave ID and password correctly.
Verify that you are connected to the Internet
If you used the ‘Custom’ screen to modify the URLs for the Gradebook Server and/or Grades Online server, double-check that they are typed in correctly. You can click ‘back’ to get to that screen in the Wizard. Double-check that you have typed in the appropriate value for ‘http’ or ‘https’ – depending on instructions.
If the above steps fail, then click ‘Back’ and select the “Create a new ThinkWave ID” option.

Select Location

This screen lets you select which SQL server will contain the ThinkWave Administrator database. The SQL server pull-down menu automatically scans the local area network, and shows all available SQL Servers, or MSDE servers.

Use the pull-down menu to choose which server on your local area network you want to use to create the new database. The first item on the menu is normally the Local Computer.
Click Next.

If you cannot find a particular SQL server, you can try the following:

If the SQL on your local computer is not showing, then:
Restart your computer.
If this does not help, then use the ‘Service Manager’ in Start|Programs|Startup to manually start the SQL server.
If the computer name was changed, then you may need to reinstall MSDE.
If you cannot find the Service Manager, you may need to reinstall MSDE. Check the Microsoft website for more details.
If you cannot find a particular server on the Local Area Network, then:
Make sure that you are logged into the network properly. Check that you are logged into the correct domain on the network.
Ensure that computer you are connecting to is on, and is logged into the local area network.
Ensure that the SQL Server you are trying to connect to is Started. Use Service Manager on target computer to Start the server.
Ensure that TCP/IP is properly configured.
You can also try to manually type in the local IP address of the computer containing the SQL Server.

Enter SA Password

In most cases, you will see this screen when creating a new Administrator database. The exception is if you are using the same ThinkWave ID as you used previously to create a database on the selected SQL server.

Enter the ‘SA’ password for the SQL server that you want to create the database on. You may need to speak to the System Administrator of the computer you are using to determine the proper password.
The SA password is case-sensitive.

If you get a message saying that you cannot login using the ‘SA’ password, check that:

Make sure that you did not change the ‘SA’ username to something else. For this screen, you must use ‘SA’.
Ensure that you are typing the ‘SA’ password correctly. Remember that it is case sensitive.
If you are sure that you are using the correct password, and still get ‘login failed’, then you can try the following:

Click ‘Back’ to get to the screen where you choose the SQL server.
Instead of selecting the server name, type in the Local IP address of the server you are connecting to. In some configurations, this workaround allows the software to connect when other methods fail.

If you have forgotten you SA password, you will need to:

Uninstall ThinkWave Administrator, selecting the option “Lose all user data”. If you do this, you will lose all databases previously created on this computer. After you have reinstalled Administrator, make sure to remember the SA password you define.
You may want to try to create the database on a different computer.

Setup Grades Online

This screen is used to create an account on the ThinkWave Grades Online server.

Enter the Name and contact information of the server administrator.
Click Next to continue with the wizard.
Alternately, you can click Finish.

Enter Term

This screen lets you setup a Term for the new Database. A term is a period of time for which a Final Grade (report card) is to be generated. Examples of terms are Quarters, Semesters, Trimesters, Marking Periods, etc.

Input the name of a term
Input the start and end dates of the term. Note that you can either type in the date in “MM/DD/YYYY” format, or you can click on the arrow in the input box to bring up a visual calendar interface.
Click Next

Enter Class Name

Enter the name of a class for the database. You will later have the opportunity to modify the class name. Click Next.

Enter Teacher Name

Enter the name of a teacher for the database. You will later have the opportunity to modify the teacher’s name. Click Next.

Enter Student Name

Enter the name of a student for the database. You will later have the opportunity to modify the student’s name. Click Next.

Complete!

The startup wizard is completed. Click Finish to close the wizard and enter the actual ThinkWave Administrator application.

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