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INI Files - Bug, Config Option or Something Else ?

Hi Forum,

I have been packaging an application that had numerous INI files. Some that were proper INI files with section headings, items and values and others that had no section headings or values.

My understanding is that if the INI file conforms to the INI file standards then Wise imports them into the INI file table. If for example they don't have a section heading or a value then they are then captured and imported as installed files.

The INI file I had had no section headings. So I would have expected it to be installed as a file but it wasn't. It hadn't been captured at all. The reason I think this is happening is down to the INI file starting with comments. i.e the file starts with /* blah blah blah. Another packager I work with has had this problem too where his INI file was starting with # blah blah blah and wasn't captured.

Is this a known bug or is there some option I have missed when configuring Wise or is there something else I have missed?

We are using Wise5.6.

Thanks in advance ... ...
Asked 18 years ago 3104 views
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Answers (9)

Posted by: bheers 18 years ago
Second Degree Blue Belt
0
if the INI file conforms to the INI file standards then Wise imports them into the INI file table. If for example they don't have a section heading or a value then they are then captured and imported as installed files

I have the same experience with INI files. i had to manually import them as files.
Posted by: PackMan999 18 years ago
Yellow Belt
0
Nice one bheers, it's good to know this has been noticed by others. I can happily import the file now I know about it but because it wasn't captured I was unaware this file existed before the customer specifically mentioned it. So there is a problem of how do you know for sure your application has captured all INI files?

Thanks.
Posted by: bheers 18 years ago
Second Degree Blue Belt
0
So there is a problem of how do you know for sure your application has captured all INI files?

Hmmm, we can do a search for the ini files in the original application directory and compare it with the ones that were actually captured. and also we can compare the number of files/folders in the actual install and the number of files in the capture.
Posted by: PackMan999 18 years ago
Yellow Belt
0
This is great bheers all advice appreciated. However INI files are not always going to be in the application directory. They can be in Windows, windows\system32, common files\... etc. So we need to do more than scan the application directory and comparing the files against the captured files and the INI file table in wise. I know it's very rare this situation occurs but I was thinking along the lines of using something like InstallWrite and scanning the PC beforehand. Do your install and capture via wise, then sweep the pc again using installwrite. Using installwrite count the ini files then compare it against the INI file table and the capture area of the wise setup capture.

However, this would be very time consuming.

Any other ideas?
Posted by: gizsha 16 years ago
Purple Belt
0
Bringing up this old thread.

Is this a known bug in Wise 5.1?
Wise didn't capture any of the approx. 150 ini files. Not as ini, not as files.

I haven't worked with 5.1 for several years, but am back working with it and I can't remember if this was an issue or happened to me back in the days.

Anyway, is this a bug or some settings?

Thanks.

~Gizsha
Posted by: AngelD 16 years ago
Red Belt
0
In my current project we use WPS 5.6 and this version is definitely buggy regarding unformated .INI files.
I've had several non-formatted .ini files missed during capture.

You could as a pre-step execute "dir *.ini /B /S > pre-INI-files.txt" from the C:\ root.
After a capture just issue the same command, pipe the output to post-INI-files.txt instead and do a compare.
There are free tools for comparing contents in files to give a better overview of the newly created files with an ini extension.
Posted by: gizsha 16 years ago
Purple Belt
0
Cool. Thanks for the quick reply.

I also found this on the forum and just tried it. I changed the settings to:
Retain Registry entries as is and unchecked SmartMonitor.
After the capture I selected INI files and all are there, but something didn't go right when I clicked finish. Not sure what happened but it stopped and no wsi file. Anyway, below suggestion did capture the ini files.

"This particular quirk of WPS has been bugging me for quite a while.
I did however discover something just over the last week of packaging up a monster app. It has to do with the way you configue the Setup Capture setting.
If you select "Convert Registry entries into advertising info" and "Use snapshot comparisons and SmartMonitor", this will almost alway miss a lot of ini files if not all.
If you capture this way I recommend as soon as you have captured do a search for ini files in the apps directory's or by time and date, then add them manually as files to your project.
If you select "Retain registry Information as-is", and "Use snapshot comparisons only" you will usually get most of the ini files imported into the ini file table. But if there are a lot of ini files I've had compiling errors and I still use the manual method. The only reason I use the ini file table is if I want to package something with a few ini files and use variables I can set from inside the msi that will be deployed to different platforms."

~Gizsha
Posted by: gizsha 16 years ago
Purple Belt
0
ORIGINAL: AngelD

In my current project we use WPS 5.6 and this version is definitely buggy regarding unformated .INI files.
I've had several non-formatted .ini files missed during capture.

You could as a pre-step execute "dir *.ini /B /S > pre-INI-files.txt" from the C:\ root.
After a capture just issue the same command, pipe the output to post-INI-files.txt instead and do a compare.
There are free tools for comparing contents in files to give a better overview of the newly created files with an ini extension.

What exactly do you mean by "unformated" ini files?

Thanks.
~Gizsha
Posted by: anonymous_9363 16 years ago
Red Belt
0
What exactly do you mean by "unformated" ini files?Some apps use files which have an INI extension but which aren't in the usual INI format:

[SomeSection]
SomeValue=Some data entry or other
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