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. An .ini file is mandatory in silent mode. It must specify the values that are needed to install.

Note that no checking is done in silent mode, which means that in the .ini file:
  • The TICS variable is set to an URL pointing at an API endpoint of the TiCS Viewer to which it can connect (probably needs authentication).
  • The rest of the content is complete and correct.

    • General Configuration Properties

    [General]
    TICSINSTALLDIR=<path>
    This is the local installation directory where TICS (wrappers) will be installed. If this option is set and the specified directory is accessible, then the setup will not ask during installation to specify the installation path, but will use the path set with this option. Windows command line variable syntax can be used e.g. %APPDATA%\TICS\Wrapper
    TICS=<URL>
    This is the URL to the TiCS configuration on the Web Server. 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 does not have to be used every time TICS is run.
    TICSHOSTNAMEVERIFICATION=[0|1]
    This will set the environment variable TICSHOSTNAMEVERIFICATION. This setting can be used to disable hostname verification in TICS applications. See Client-side SSL/TLS for other TICS applications for more details.
    TICSTRUSTSTRATEGY=[strict|self-signed|all]
    This will set the environment variable TICSTRUSTSTRATEGY. This setting can be used to use self-signed certificates in TICS applications. See Client-side SSL/TLS for other TICS applications for more details.

    Example

    [General]
    TICSINSTALLDIR=%APPDATA%\TICS\Wrapper
    TICS=http://www.company.com:42506/tiobeweb/TICS/api/cfg?name=default

    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