Install from application catalog via a script

Question

Does anyone know of a way to script the equivalent of clicking install for an application in the application catalog?  Just a thought that although users can install applications from the application catalog themselves, I can see a situation where perhaps
an exec or VIP needs a list of applications but will never go through the app catalog with hundreds of apps or more to find selected apps and install them, so one idea is for a tech to be able to run a script that will install one or more apps back to back
via script for this VIP user.  So basically a script that mimics clicking install next to an app in the catalog.
I know I can also target the user with required deployments of all those apps but trying to get out of that business of deploying individual apps to individual users or devices.  I would expect the majority of users to be able to use the app catalog
but want to have options for the small percentage that will not.

Answer 1

@Mitch35
I think I understand what you're after, and let me give you a few ideas for consideration.
1.  It sounds like you probably were doing machine based collections in ConfigMgr 2007, and then adding each machine with a direct membership rule to a collection that already had the package advertised (mandatory) to it.   This is how
many organizations did "on demand" installation of software through ConfigMgr 2007.  This method will still work in System Center 2012 ConfigMgr, however, as you note, it's cumbersome and time consuming.
2.  You have a couple of ways that you can potentially get your list of applications down to something manageable.  First - it sounds like you won't need to have all 10,000 applications made available in the catalog to all your users.  The
application catalog isn't just a big global list of all the applications in your library that's shown to users.  Rather, the list of applications shown for any user is only the list of applications that matter to their job role, function, department,
division, group, etc.  You get to control that list by using user collections.  I know in ConfigMgr 2007, since you were likely using machine collections, this is a bit of a mental shift, but hopefully an easy one to transition to. 
3.  Start by thinking about what collections of users will need these applications, and build your collections that way.  If you manage Distribution Groups for these groups of users already in AD, then it's pretty straightforward to just build
a collection with that DG as a member.  Now, you have a mirror in ConfigMgr of your DG membership from which you can use to limit the applications shown in the catalog to members of that DG.  Or, you can just use ConfigMgr collections and add the
users to the user collections as necessary to have them see the applications in the catalog.  My guess is that you'll just want to consolidate on one method to add users to some grouping mechanism (not both AD and ConfigMgr) but that's going to be
up to your business practices.
4.  Let's consider your executives.  How do they get an application requested today?  Do they call a special help desk person? Do they have an assistant do it?  Their entry point into "requesting software" is your key to helping them
out.  A help desk person, or an assistant can cut/paste a link from the catalog and put it into an e-mail, and the executives can just click the link in the e-mail to go to the application details page directly.  From there, they can install the
application with one click. Or, someone can show them how to search the catalog for their application. You can also create a shortcut for the Exec's to get to the catalog, and they might be just fine using the catalog if they know how easy it is to search
for an install software.  It'll be new for them, but how many already have smartphones and install software on their phone?  Probably a lot, and hopefully the leap to using the catalog for their system isn't a problem. 
5.  You're worried about the executives searching through hundreds (or more) of applications in the catalog, but remember that the catalog allows categorization, and searching by description and keyword. I could see where you might tie those together
in such a way as to make it easy for the executive to see a small list of apps because they're in collections that really only contain the "business apps" necessary (e.g. they probably don't need to install a bunch of marketing LOB apps, or shipping department
apps), and you might be able to even add a keyword such as "Exec" or "SLT" (meaning Senior Leadership Team) or something like that to help them search in the application catalog and get a very small list of applications quickly.
6.  Your other consider is the "new machine" scenario.  Someone gets a computer, and they need to have the "top 15 apps" installed on their system.  Again, leverage the application catalog metadata (keywords, categories and description fields)
to help users find what they're looking for quickly.  You could create a "Common Desktop Apps" category.  That might contain 50 apps, but remember that the list of apps shown to any one user is only the list that has deployments for any collections
the user is a member of.  So, even though there might be 50 apps in your "Common Desktop Apps" category, any one user might only see 15 or 20. 
7. The catalog doesn't support the ability to select several applications, and then install all at once. That's some feedback that we've heard customers would like the ability to do, but it's not currently in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. 
So, if you want to go the route of enabling this functionality, you'll need to write your own application catalog with that capability. We have an updated revision of the SDK that was posted recently, but unfortunately, we don't yet have the application catalog
API's documented.   It will be a little while until we're able to get that documentation out.  I'd suggest you take a look at the targeting and categorizations and keyword options that you have to make it easier for your users to find what they're
looking for in the catalog. 
Hope this helps,
Dave
- Dave