Exporting and importing configuration settings

As described in the sections Packaging PowerBench settings and Configuration Settings, you can customize and configure the appearance, default values and behavior of the Packaging PowerBench. The settings that differ from the default values are saved individually for each user in his or her user profile (in the user.config file in the %AppData%\CANCOM_GmbH\PackagingPowerBench.exe_Url_<ID>\<Version> directory).

To define configuration settings centrally, the corresponding values can be entered in the configuration file PackagingPowerBench.exe.config, which is located in the PPB installation directory. Which configuration settings have which meaning is documented in the reference under Configuration Settings. If you make changes there and make this modified configuration file available to other users in their installation directory, they may no longer have to set up their environment individually, but can work with the desired and required settings for their environment. If you update the PowerBench package to a new version, the MSI-based setup transfers the changed default values to the new configuration.

Until version 4.1, however, central configuration of integration with other software deployment systems was a problem. In particular, it was not possible to pre-configure access data, passwords or other confidential information centrally, as this information must be stored securely and encrypted. Instead, the data was encrypted using the Microsoft Crypto API and stored in the user-specific configuration in the profile directory. The disadvantage of this type of encryption is that only the same user on the same computer can decrypt the data, i.e. the encrypted information cannot be made available centrally and universally.

Starting with version 4.5, however, it is now possible to store this confidential information in a securely encrypted form that can be imported and used by any user on any computer. To use this mechanism, follow these steps:

  • First, configure the Packaging PowerBench and in particular the integration with the required distribution systems on a reference system according to your ideas and requirements.
  • Then close the PPB, open a command prompt, change to the PPB installation directory, and run the PPB executable with the -config:export parameter. The complete export syntax is:

    PackagingPowerBench.exe -config:export[:<initialization value>][:<path>]
  • For <initialization value>, you can specify any 32-bit integer that will serve as the initialization vector for encryption during export. If an initialization value is not specified, an automatic value is determined, but the encryption is slightly less secure. Therefore, it is recommended that you specify an initialization value. If you specify a value, it must be known later during import (see below).
    For <path>, specify a directory where the portable configuration files will be stored. It is recommended to use a centrally accessible directory on a share that is accessible to all systems that will use this configuration.

The export creates two files, PackagingPowerBench.exe.export.config and user.export.config. If you have not made any changes to the original PackagingPowerBench.exe.config, you can delete the corresponding export file and import the user.export.config later.

If you want to transfer this configuration to another computer, you have to import it on that computer:

  • Log on to the target system and ensure that the Packaging PowerBench is closed.
  • Open a command prompt, change to the PPB installation directory, and run the PPB executable with the -config:protect parameter. The complete import syntax is

    PackagingPowerBench.exe -config:protect[:<initialization value>][:<path>]
  • If an initialization value was specified during export, you must now know and specify the same(!) initialization value during import. For <path>, specify the directory where the portable configuration file(s) were stored. If no initialization value was specified during the export, just refer to the directory containing the exported configuration.

After the import, start the Packaging PowerBench and verify that all configuration settings have been applied as desired.