Changing external files using commands
When the application is deployed (from the PowerBuilder IDE) or
installed (from the packaged executable installer or zipped file) to
the Web server, the app files are generated with hash codes, to
prevent files changed illegally from running. Therefore, you cannot
directly change the deployed files on the Web server, instead you will
have to make changes in the project painter and then deploy the
application again, or modify the files using the CustomizeDeploy.dll tool.
The CustomizeDeploy.dll tool
allows you to modify the external files in the Web server. The
“external files” refers to the packages, folders, and files (such as
INI files, DLL/OCX etc.) that are deployed from the External Files tab of the PowerClient project
painter.
You can find the CustomizeDeploy.dll tool under the “1.01”
sub-folder of the application folder after the application is deployed
or installed to the Web server (either from the PowerBuilder IDE or
from the packaged executable installer or zipped file).
The CustomizeDeploy.dll tool
supports the following syntax:
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dotnet CustomizeDeploy.dll -src=<source file> -dest=<destination file> |
The “src” argument should point
to the new file that you want to use to replace the old file.
The “dest” argument should
point to the old file that you want to replace with the new
file.
When external files are deployed to the server, they are
appended with the file extension “.zip”, but they are not compressed
files (the only exception is package). For example, if apisetup.ini is selected in the External Files
tab, it will be deployed as apisetup.ini.zip to the server, however,
apisetup.ini.zip is not a compressed
file and it can be directly opened in a text editor just like
apisetup.ini.
And to replace the file, you should prepare the source file
without .zip extension.
For example,
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dotnet CustomizeDeploy.dll -src=/new/apisetup.ini -dest=apisetup.ini.zip |
Or
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dotnet CustomizeDeploy.dll -src=/new/new.ini -dest=apisetup.ini.zip |
The only exception is the package which is indeed compressed as
the zip format (with file extension “.zip.zip”) during deployment.
Therefore, you should prepare the source file for the package in the
compressed zip format.
For example,
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dotnet CustomizeDeploy.dll -src=/new/theme.zip -dest=theme.zip.zip |
Or
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dotnet CustomizeDeploy.dll -src=/new/aaa.zip -dest=theme.zip.zip |
The tool will replace the package as a whole (and refresh the
hash code of the package) and it will not validate the individual
files included in the package. Therefore you need to make sure the
files included in the package are correct and complete.
Important
Prerequisites
To execute the CustomizeDeploy.dll file using the dotnet
command, you will need to install the ASP.NET Core Runtime 3.1 or
later in the server.
To run CustomizeDeploy.dll in Windows Web server:
-
Install the ASP.NET Core Runtime 3.1 or later.
-
Open the command prompt. (You’d better run the command
prompt using an administrator by right-clicking it and then
selecting “Run as administrator”). -
Navigate to the Web server root folder > [application]
folder > “1.01” (for example,
C:inetpubwwwrootsales1.01). -
Execute the CustomizeDeploy.dll file using the dotnet
command.
To run CustomizeDeploy.dll in Linux Web server:
-
Install the ASP.NET Core Runtime 3.1 or later.
1dnf install aspnetcore-runtime-5.0 -
Go to the Web server root folder > [application] folder
> “1.01” (for example, /var/www/html/sales/1.01, or
/usr/share/nginx/html/sales/1.01). -
Right click the blank area within the folder and then select
Open in Terminal. -
Execute the CustomizeDeploy.dll file using the dotnet
command. Notice that the command and file name are all
case-sensitive in the Linux OS.