Pre-configuring Loftware installation with product.config

Problem

You can install Loftware with semi-automated using pre-configuration options. The configuration file product.config. stores Loftware preferences. You can edit this XML file to conform to the requirements of your environment.

You can use the product.config file from your existing Loftware installation, edit it and save it to the same folder as the Loftware installer file. The options defined in the product.config apply during the installation to a new computer.

Solution

Here are some of the most common parameters you can configure:

• License key. Enter this parameter when installing multi-user Loftware products, where all Loftware clients use the same license key.

• User interface language. You can force Loftware to run in a specific language. Users can also change the user interface language later in the application. Refer to this Microsoft article about language IDs. Use decimal values for language ID (not hex values).

• Default directories. Define where Loftware searches for the requested files (labels, solutions, images, file-based databases).

• Location of global variables. You can store your global variables on a shared network folder, or in Control Center.

• HTTP address of the linked Control Center server.

• Tracing mode. You can enable tracing mode for troubleshooting. Loftware creates log files in the specified or in the default (Loftware system) folder.

The file product.config is located in the Loftware system folder. A default location is the following folder:

If you copy product.config from the existing Loftware installation, omit the client-specific parameters that must be unique per computer. Such XML elements are <MachineName> and <PrintManagementId>.

You can download a sample product.config.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Configuration>
  <Common>
    <General>
      <AnalyticsEnabled>True</AnalyticsEnabled>
      <GlobalVariables>
        <FilePath>C:\ProgramData\Loftware\Global Variables\Globals.tdb</FilePath>
      </GlobalVariables>
    </General>
    <Directories>
      <FormsFolder>%MyDocuments%\Loftware\Solutions</FormsFolder>
      <GraphicsFolder>%MyDocuments%\Loftware\Graphics</GraphicsFolder>
      <LabelsFolder>%MyDocuments%\Loftware\Labels</LabelsFolder>
      <DatabaseFolder>%MyDocuments%\Loftware\Database</DatabaseFolder>
    </Directories>
    <Languages>
      <Language>9</Language>
    </Languages>
    <Diagnostics>
      <Tracing>
        <Enabled>False</Enabled>
      </Tracing>
    </Diagnostics>
    <ControlCenter>
      <Server>http://server_name/epm/</Server>
      <AvailableServerLocations>&lt;ArrayOfString&gt;&lt;string&gt;http://server_name/epm/&lt;/string&gt;&lt;/ArrayOfString&gt;</AvailableServerLocations>
      <WasLocationDialogShown>True</WasLocationDialogShown>
    </ControlCenter>
  </Common>
  <Activation>
    <LicenseKey>ABCDE12345ABCDE12345ABCDE</LicenseKey>
  </Activation>
</Configuration>