How to: Set up and start Bootstrapper Manager

Bootstrapper Manager is a single Access file, Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb. It's part of the WKL Office SDK, and the SDK setup installs it. It runs in both 32-bit and 64-bit Access from Microsoft 365. To set it up, you make its folder a trusted location, make sure Bootstrapper Manager can find the starter, and then open it. You can edit and save projects without the starter, but every other command needs it.

• Microsoft Access from Microsoft 365, 32-bit or 64-bit.
• The WKL Office SDK (called WKL Access SDK up to version 0.4.1), installed as described in How to: Install the WKL Office SDK (WKL Office SDK documentation).
• WKL Forms Object Library version 2.0 or later and WKL Office JSON version 2.0 or later, registered for the bitness of Access.
• The starter, Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe, from a WKL Bootstrapper release.

Steps:

1. Find the file. The SDK setup installs Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\WKL\Bootstrapper Manager\<version>. That's also where the SDK looks for it (see Start from the WKL Office SDK).
2. Add a trusted location. Bootstrapper Manager's pages run on VBA code. If Access doesn't trust the folder, it blocks that code and the pages stay blank. In Access, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Locations > Add new location. Add the folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\WKL\Bootstrapper Manager, and select Subfolders of this location are also trusted. That way, the entry also covers each new version, which the SDK setup installs in a subfolder of its own. Up to version 1.x the folder was called Starter Configurator; an entry for that former folder doesn't cover version 2.0, so add the new folder as well.

3. Make sure Bootstrapper Manager can find the starter. Bootstrapper Manager uses the starter from the first location in this table that's set:

   Order	Location	When to use it
   1	The starter passed at startup (starter=; see Start from another program)	When another program opens Bootstrapper Manager
   2	The StarterPath setting in the ConfiguratorSetting table	When you keep one starter in a fixed location for all projects
   3	Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe in the project file's folder, else Wkl.Access.Bootstrapper.exe there (the name up to WKL Bootstrapper 2.4.1)	The usual case: the project file and the starter are kept together, just as they ship
   4	For New only: the selected project's folder. For Import only: the folder that contains StarterPro.config.xml	When the new project file goes into a folder that doesn't have a starter yet

   If the starter isn't where that location says (for example, because StarterPath is out of date), Bootstrapper Manager doesn't keep looking, and the commands report that the starter wasn't found. Usually, you don't need to set anything. To set StarterPath, press F11 to open the Navigation Pane, open the ConfiguratorSetting table, and add a row with Key set to StarterPath and Value set to the starter's full path.

4. Open the configurator. Double-click Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb.

Result: Bootstrapper Manager opens to the Projects list. The first time you open it, the list is empty and the subtitle reads „No project yet – New creates a project file, Open reads an existing one.“ If you already have projects, the one you most recently read or saved is selected, and the pages in the Project and Installation groups are available.

Check: The navigation pane shows Projects, Problems, and the Project and Installation groups. If the pages stay blank or Access says that content has been disabled, the trusted location from step 2 is missing; see Troubleshooting.

A shortcut or another program, such as a build tool, can open a project file directly and tell the Bootstrapper Manager which starter to use:

msaccess.exe "<folder>\Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb" /cmd "project=<project file>|starter=<folder>\Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe"

Bootstrapper Manager then opens to the General page of that project, and any unsaved changes to the project are kept. For all arguments and how they work, see "Command line of WKL Bootstrapper Manager".

When the WKL Office SDK builds a delivery (wkl-office deliver), it writes a starter project file for each target, delivery\<mode>.bootstrapper.json. In the SDK add-in, Delivery > Starter > Set up in WKL Bootstrapper Manager opens that file in Bootstrapper Manager, together with the delivery's starter, in the way described above. There you set the source, the display name, and the shortcuts, and save; the next delivery picks them up.

The SDK takes Bootstrapper Manager from the first of these places that exists:

If WKL_BOOTSTRAPPER_MANAGER names a file in another folder, make that folder a trusted location too (step 2). For the whole process, see How to: Deliver an application from the SDK (WKL Office SDK documentation).

• No ribbon: Bootstrapper Manager hides the Access ribbon. You work with the navigation on the left and the commands at the top of each page. To close Bootstrapper Manager, select the window's Close button (X). If you hold down Shift while you open the file, Access bypasses the startup settings and shows its ribbon and Navigation Pane. This is meant for developers.
• ACCDB, not ACCDE: Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb contains its VBA code uncompiled. Access compiles the code in its own bitness when it opens the file, so the same file runs in 32-bit and 64-bit Access. An ACCDE would run only in the bitness it was built in.
• Multiple computers: The project list and any unsaved changes are stored in Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb itself. A copy on another computer starts with an empty list; the project files themselves aren't affected.
• New Bootstrapper Manager version: For the same reason, a new Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb starts with an empty list. Save all your projects before you replace the file (Bootstrapper Manager prompts you when you close it), and then open the project files again in the new version.
• Keep StarterPath to yourself: The setting applies to your computer only. Don't give anyone a Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb that has StarterPath set.

• Navigation, commands, and keyboard
• Troubleshooting
• How to: Deliver an application with the bootstrapper (WKL Bootstrapper documentation)