Changing location of "Support Files" or "Creatives"

[JonRobertson2]

I need to change the location of the "Creatives" and "Support Files" in a project. The developer that created the project has left our firm. Another developer has taken the project over. However, the original developer had the support files in local folders on his machine. I want to change the location of those files to be a folder on the network. I also want to use a compiler variable for the location, so that the project could be moved to yet a different workstation with a different drive/folder configuration and still build.

The error message states "use the Project Manager window to update or remove the reference". I can't find a way to UPDATE the reference or edit the source location for these files. I removed one of them from the project, then added it back. I then compared the project against what is in our source control system, and the .mpr was modified. But I can't see where this information is stored in the .mpr.

I've searched these forums and so far haven't found an answer.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: This includes the source locations for custom dialogs. The custom dialogs are in the same folder as the .mpr. However, the project seems to have absolute paths to where the project existed on the previous workstation. The project is located on a different drive now, so the IA compiler complains that the dialogs cannot be located.

[MichaelNesmith]

You can always open up the MPR project file and fix path references. However, dialogs and support files are required to be in the same folder as the MPR file. This can be a network location - that is fine. But they all have to be in the same folder. Removing all path references from the MPR file will "relocate" those file references to the same folder as the project folder (the folder where the MPR file is found).

[JonRobertson2]

Then I'm confused. All of the dialogs are in the same folder as the MPR. When I copy that folder to a different drive on a different computer, and then try to build the project in IA, IA complains that it cannot find the dialog. The error message contains the original folder name. Yet the dialogs are in the same folder as the MPR. Also, I can't find the original path anywhere in the .MPR.

Regarding support files, or specifically "Creatives": If I remove the reference that is causing the error, then add the file back, the error goes away. I'm adding the file from a location other than the folder where the MPR is located. However, after saving that project, my source control tells me that the only file changed is the MPR. And the only change I can see in the MPR is the removal of several blank lines.

So I don't understand how IA "knows" the location of the "Creative" that I just added. Is it possible that the "current directory" of the IA process has changed to the location of the "Creative", and that is why IA is able to find it?

Are "Creatives" also "Support Files"? Are "Creatives" required to be in the same folder as the MPR file?

Thanks

[MichaelNesmith]

If its saying it cannot find a dialog, and referencing an old folder, then something in your MPR file has gotten corrupted. Like I said, open it up, search for the path in question, and eliminate it. A dialog reference could never actually be folder specific. Maybe you are getting the error as part of the baggage file. Are there any baggage files in your project folder?

Creatives are the same thing as support files. The visual designers refer to support files as creatives since they contain your progress billboards, setup splash screens, and so forth. The MSIcode view refers to all of these files, including files like license.txt and readme.rtf, as support files (the creatives view actually hides some files which it knows are for other purposes, like the license and readmes).

Your MPR file can again not include path references for support files, because they are always supposed to be in the same folder that your MPR file lies in. When you add a reference, the support file gets copied in to your project folder. You really should just open up your MPR file in Notepad and take a look at it to see what is going on with paths.

If you get behavior which diverges from the above established patterns, please provide reproducing steps, so we can take a look at the issue(s) you are experiencing.

[JonRobertson2]

Are there any baggage files in your project folder?

Unfortunately, I have no idea what a baggage file is. The Help has no mention of "baggage". (Searching for "baggage" returns "No results found.")

You really should just open up your MPR file in Notepad and take a look at it to see what is going on with paths.

I did that before I searched the forums or posted a message. Unfortunately, there is zero indication what each line of the MPR relates to or what damage could be done to the project by manually editing the MPR. A lot of text based project files are INI based, or at least have some form of internal labeling of the data in the project file. I haven't found any such reference for an IA MPR file.

The path where the project was stored on the original workstation is in the MPR, on a line by itself. I did not know what harm would come from manually removing that line.

The knowledge that support files are copied into the project folder is very helpful. This explains why removing a support file and adding it back does not have a net effect on the MPR file. I assumed the project would reference the file in the location that I added it from. Does IA wait until I save the project before it copies the support files? Because looking in the new project folder, the support files that I removed and re-added are not in that folder.

Is there anywhere that this level of detail is documented? For example, the "Modifying Support Files" topic in the help says nothing about support files being copied to the project folder when they are added.

The error message from the compiler suggesting to go to the project manager and update the reference is very confusing. And the disabled Edit option on the popup context menu for a "Creative" is also confusing. These two things combined led me to believe that properties, such as a folder location, could be edited.

My apologies for seemingly basic questions. The developer that created this project is no longer with us. And there are a lot of things I see in the project that do not make sense. We actually have two IA projects in the same folder (a client installer and a server installer). However, there are a ton of inconsistencies between the two that should not exist.

[glenharvy]

Does anyone know how to do this?

My .mpr file looks like:-

<snip>
componentstree.dfm
componentstree.dfm.miaf
computerrole.dfm
computerrole.dfm.miaf
destination.dfm
destination.dfm.miaf
<snip>

so there are no paths anywhere that I can change.

I am looking to change the directory where the original files are stored on my system. The path and file name is clearly recorded in the scripts but will doing a search and replace stuff everything up?

[FrancescoT]

Dear User,

have you tried to have look at the script file (mia extension)?

What are you searching for exactly?

Regards

[glenharvy]

Hi,

I ended up doing a search and replace in the script and that worked fine.

[FrancescoT]

[ru2]

You can always open up the MPR project file and fix path references. However, dialogs and support files are required to be in the same folder as the MPR file. This can be a network location - that is fine. But they all have to be in the same folder. Removing all path references from the MPR file will "relocate" those file references to the same folder as the project folder (the folder where the MPR file is found).

I'm just curious if this is still true: " dialogs and support files are required to be in the same folder as the MPR file." in the latest version of IA, since it was posted quite some time ago.

[FrancescoT]

Yes, it is.