Create and edit mst files

In the SuperOffice server folder you find the program SoCreateMST.exe. You may use this to load and edit the mst files located in the Server\Client folder

When using MSI-based installations and MST-files to customize the contents of the MSI file, a problem occur if you want to update the settings for your SuperOffice archive path or the database settings.

1.  To update the client, either uninstall and then reinstall from the server.

2.  Use the command line to specify the transform file, or specify changed properties directly:

The problem is that the first time you install the product; the MST file used to customize the installation is cached locally on the target computer. When you change the MST file (through ServerSetup) and want to perform an update or repair to make your installation pick up the changes, Windows installer won’t be using your new MST file, but the old cached one.

There is no easy or built-in solution in MSI to fix this, since this is by design. However, there is a way to override the values found in the mst-file from the command line.

The installer decides what to enter into the configuration files (SuperOffice.ini and SuperOffice.config) by reading a set of predefined installer properties: 

If you want to change the archive path on your client installation, you need to change the CONFIG_PROP_ARCHIVEPATH property. This can be done from the command-line when you start the SuperOffice CRM 7 setup program by entering:

SuperOffice.CRM.Seven.EN-US.exe /v”CONFIG_PROP_ARCHIVEPATH=\\myserver\my_new_archive_path”

Let’s break down the command-line and find out what’s happening here.
First of all, we’re starting the setup program. Since the Setup-program is a wrapper around an MSI-package (run the setup program with /a to unpack the contents of the file to disk), it will eventually end up starting the Windows Installer (msiexec.exe) with a set of command line options. The switch /V tell Setup.exe to run the MSI package with the additional command –line given in the argument.

By entering the name and a new value of a configuration property, the MSI installer will use this value instead of the one found in the cached mst file. You can specify more than one property by separating it with spaces.

The only problem with this solution/approach is that if you at a later point would like to run the installer again to repair, change or upgrade your installation, you will need to provide the configuration property override again. The installer will not update the cached MST file. Unfortunately the only way to get around this problem is to uninstall and reinstall the product when you change the contents of the mst file.

If you want to read more about transforms, please check out the following deployment tip from Installshield:

http://www.flexerasoftware.com/webdocuments/PDF/TransformOpts.pdf

If you have access to the user’s computer, you can replace the cached mst file with your new transform file. The cached file is found in the c:\Windows\Installer\ folder. Search for the file and replace it with the new one you have generated using ServerSetup. If you have a lot of clients, this option is less viable, but if it’s only for a few computers, it might be what you want.