install4j API documentation


com.install4j.api.launcher
Class Variables

java.lang.Object
  extended by com.install4j.api.launcher.Variables

public class Variables
extends java.lang.Object

This class provides methods to access compiler and installer variables from your launchers. Do not use this class in the installer, uninstaller or in a custom installer application, in that case use the methods in the context instead.


Method Summary
static void clearInstallerVariablesCache()
          Clear the cache of read installer variables.
static java.lang.String getCompilerVariable(java.lang.String variableName)
          Get the value of a compiler variable.
static java.lang.Object getInstallerVariable(java.lang.String variableName)
          Get the value of an installer variable that was saved to the automatically created response file response.varfile.
static java.util.Map getInstallerVariables()
          Get a map of installer variables that were saved to the automatically created response file response.varfile.
static java.util.Map loadFromPreferenceStore(boolean userSpecific)
          Load installer variables from the preference stores that have been saved by a "Save installer variables to the preference store" action.
static java.util.Map loadFromPreferenceStore(java.lang.String packageName, boolean userSpecific)
          Load installer variables from the preference stores that have been saved by a "Save installer variables to the preference store" action.
static void saveToPreferenceStore(java.util.Map variables, boolean userSpecific)
          Save a map of installer variables to the preference store.
static void saveToPreferenceStore(java.util.Map variables, java.lang.String packageName, boolean userSpecific)
          Save a map of installer variables to the preference store.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Method Detail

getCompilerVariable

public static java.lang.String getCompilerVariable(java.lang.String variableName)
                                            throws java.io.IOException
Get the value of a compiler variable. The first time this method is called, the installer config file will be read, for subsequent calls the compiler variables will be cached.

Parameters:
variableName - the name of the compiler variable
Returns:
the value of the compiler variable or null if the variable is undefined
Throws:
java.io.IOException - if the installer config file cannot be read

getInstallerVariables

public static java.util.Map getInstallerVariables()
Get a map of installer variables that were saved to the automatically created response file response.varfile. Not all installer variables are saved to that file. You can register a variable as a response file variable with Context.registerResponseFileVariable(String). Variables to which form components are bound are automatically registered as response file variables.

If the automatically created response file cannot be read, only system installer variables are available.

Returns:
the map with installer variables from the response file. The keys are the variable names, the values are the original values at the time that the response file was saved.

getInstallerVariable

public static java.lang.Object getInstallerVariable(java.lang.String variableName)
Get the value of an installer variable that was saved to the automatically created response file response.varfile. See getInstallerVariables() for more information.

If the automatically created response file cannot be read, only system installer variables are available.

Parameters:
variableName - the name of the compiler variable
Returns:
the value of the compiler variable or null if the variable is undefined
See Also:
getInstallerVariables()

loadFromPreferenceStore

public static java.util.Map loadFromPreferenceStore(boolean userSpecific)
                                             throws java.io.IOException
Load installer variables from the preference stores that have been saved by a "Save installer variables to the preference store" action. The package name in the preference store is set to the application ID which is the default save location of that action.

Parameters:
userSpecific - if the user-specific preference store should be used or not
Returns:
the map with installer variables from the preference store. The keys are the variable names, the values are the original values at the time that the installer variables were saved. Returns null if no variables were saved.
Throws:
java.io.IOException - if the operation fails due to a problem with the backing store

loadFromPreferenceStore

public static java.util.Map loadFromPreferenceStore(java.lang.String packageName,
                                                    boolean userSpecific)
                                             throws java.io.IOException
Load installer variables from the preference stores that have been saved by a "Save installer variables to the preference store" action.

Parameters:
packageName - the package name that was used when saving the installer variables to the preference store
userSpecific - if the user-specific preference store should be used or not
Returns:
the map with installer variables from the preference store. The keys are the variable names, the values are the original values at the time that the installer variables were saved. Returns null if no variables were saved.
Throws:
java.io.IOException - if the operation fails due to a problem with the backing store

saveToPreferenceStore

public static void saveToPreferenceStore(java.util.Map variables,
                                         boolean userSpecific)
                                  throws java.io.IOException
Save a map of installer variables to the preference store. If you use installer variables loaded by loadFromPreferenceStore(boolean) for the configuration of your application, you can save changes made in the application back to the preference store with this method. Values that cannot be decoded as described by Context.registerResponseFileVariable(String) will be ignored. Values that are present in the preference store and not in the supplied map will not be deleted. The package name in the preference store is set to the application ID which is the default save location of the "Save installer variables to the preference store" action.

Parameters:
variables - the map with the installer variables as returned by loadFromPreferenceStore(boolean)
userSpecific - if the user-specific preference store should be used or not
Throws:
java.io.IOException - if the operation fails due to a problem with the backing store

saveToPreferenceStore

public static void saveToPreferenceStore(java.util.Map variables,
                                         java.lang.String packageName,
                                         boolean userSpecific)
                                  throws java.io.IOException
Save a map of installer variables to the preference store. If you use installer variables loaded by loadFromPreferenceStore(String, boolean) for the configuration of your application, you can save changes made in the application back to the preference store with this method. Values that cannot be decoded as described by Context.registerResponseFileVariable(String) will be ignored. Values that are present in the preference store and not in the supplied map will not be deleted.

Parameters:
variables - the map with the installer variables as returned by loadFromPreferenceStore(String, boolean)
packageName - the package name to which the installer variables should be saved in the preference store
userSpecific - if the user-specific preference store should be used or not
Throws:
java.io.IOException - if the operation fails due to a problem with the backing store

clearInstallerVariablesCache

public static void clearInstallerVariablesCache()
Clear the cache of read installer variables. If you know that the response file has changed, you can call this method to force the installer variables to be read again. The methods in ApplicationLauncher call this method automatically when the custom installer application exits.