Configure Client Installers

The TICS setup program for the TICS client installation can be customized and made silent by specifying a special <setupname>.ini file. When a <setupname>.ini file is available that satisfies the conditions below, the setup executable will read this file at startup of the installation process. All options that are set in the .ini file are used to skip steps of the installation process that would otherwise be interactive. Furthermore, other options can be set in the .ini files to change specific behavior. See the properties below for more details.

Conditions on the <setupname>.ini file

When a .ini is present in the same directory as the TICS setup program the .ini can be ignored by running the TICS setup program with the /noini command line option.

Silent installation

Each setup can be run completely in silent mode, i.e. no dialog is shown at all by running the setup with the command line option /S. When no .ini file is specified the default values will be used to install, otherwise the properties set in the .ini will be used.


General Configuration Properties

[General]
TICSPATH=<path>
This is the local installation directory of TICS setting the environment variable TICSPATH. If this option is set the setup will not ask during installation to specify the installation path, but will use the path set with this option.
TICS=<path>
This is the path to the TICS configuration, which will reside on a server. This option only applies to client installers. If not set the setup program will ask to enter this path.
TICSPROJECT=<projectname>
This will set the environment variable TICSPROJECT. TICSPROJECT refers to the database TICS will connect to. This is equivalent to the –project option for tics.exe on the command line. The only difference is that in this way the –project option doesn’t have to be used every time TICS is run.
ALTERNATIVEDOWNLOAD=<path>
During TICS client installation some files need to be downloaded, e.g. the Java JRE. If Internet access is not available, this property can be used to set the path to the directory that contains the files to be downloaded.

Example

[General]
TICSPATH=C:\Program Files\TIOBE\TICS
TICS=\\someserver\tics

Component Configuration Properties

The TICS client installer installs TICS plugins for all tools that have been detected automatically on the target system. For tools for which it is not possible to know whether they have been installed (e.g. because their installation is not administered in the registry), a facility is offered to enforce the installation of these TICS plugins in the .ini file:

[Components]
IDEECLIPSE=[0|1]
Installs the Eclipse IDE plug-in.
IDEINTELLIJ=[0|1]
Installs the IntelliJ IDEA plug-in.

Example

[Components]
IDEECLIPSE=1
IDEINTELLIJ=0

Eclipse Configuration Properties

Since Eclipse installation information is not stored in the registry, TICS must explicitly ask for it. If the Eclipse installation location is known beforehand, it can be specified with the InstallPath variable in the Eclipse section:

InstallPath=path
Set the Eclipse installation path.

Example

[Eclipse]
InstallPath=C:\Program Files\Eclipse

IntelliJ Configuration Properties

Since IntelliJ installation information is not stored in the registry, TICS must explicitly ask for it. If the IntelliJ installation location is known beforehand, it can be specified with the InstallPath variable in the IntelliJ section:

InstallPath=path
Set the IntelliJ installation path.

Example

[IntelliJ]
InstallPath=C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ

Tornado Configuration Properties

To install the TICS Tornado plugin the installer needs to know where the Tornado IDE is located on the file system. Unfortunatelly, it is not possible to do this automatically. If the Tornado IDE is installed in the same location for all users, it is possible to preconfigure the location of the Tornado IDE in the .ini file. This can be done for Tornado 2.0 and Tornado 2.2 IDE installations.

[Tornado2.0]
wind_base=path
The path should be the path till, but excluding, the Tornado directory called "host".
[Tornado2.2]
wind_base=path
The path should be the path till, but excluding, the Tornado directory called "host".

Example

[Tornado2.2]
wind_base=C:\Program Files\tornado2.2

Visual Studio Code Configuration Properties

To do a silent installation of Visual Studio Code Plugin the .ini file is used. Although the install location of Visual Studio Code is set in registry, this differs for the different types of Visual Studio Code and not used here. To use the silent install feature, set the InstallPath variable in the VSCode section of the .ini file. Remember to set IDEVSCODE=1 in the Components section to enable the silent install.

InstallPath=path
Set the Visual Studio Code installation path.

Example

[VSCode]
InstallPath=C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code