WKL Bootstrapper Manager user guide

WKL Bootstrapper Manager gets an Access application ready to ship. It's the tool for the WKL starter's project file, bootstrapper.json, and it covers the whole path from a finished application to an installation package:

Describe: Instead of writing JSON, you use a set of pages to decide which files go where, which shortcuts, registry values, file types, and prerequisites come along, and what launches at the end.
Check: Bootstrapper Manager has the starter itself check the project file, using the same rules the starter applies later on the user's computer, and takes you from each problem straight to the field where you fix it.
Test before you ship: Preview shows the window users see during setup. Trial run plays through a launch on your computer and lists every file with its destination, without changing anything.
Build the package: Build MSI builds the Windows Installer package that IT uses to put the starter on computers.

Bootstrapper Manager isn't an installer authoring tool like Visual Studio Installer Projects or WiX: it doesn't design setup dialog boxes, and the MSI package always has the same layout. The package installs only the starter and the project file. The starter then sets up the application for each user, without admin rights, and keeps it up to date.

New here? Tutorial: Take an Access application from source folder to verified installation walks you through every step with a single example.

graph LR
    subgraph H["Publisher's workstation"]
        K["WKL Bootstrapper Manager"]
        P["Project file bootstrapper.json"]
        M["MSI package"]
        K -->|"edits, has it checked"| P
        K -->|"Build MSI"| M
    end
    L[("Source folder on a share – CashRegister.accde, bin, Reports")]
    subgraph R["User's computer"]
        S["Starter and project file – Program Files (x86)"]
        A["Application in the profile – %LOCALAPPDATA%"]
        S -->|"copies what's missing or new at every launch"| A
    end
    M -->|"IT installs once"| S
    L -->|"reads"| S

Figure: Who does what. Bootstrapper Manager describes the release and builds the MSI package; it doesn't install anything itself. The package puts only the starter and the project file on the computer. At every launch, the starter brings the application from the source folder into the user's profile and starts it. Only the starter decides what makes a project file valid; Bootstrapper Manager keeps no rules of its own and asks the starter instead.

Who it's for and what you need

This guide is for publishers who ship an Access application with the starter. A basic working knowledge of Access and Windows folders is all you need; you don't need to know JSON.

You need:

Microsoft Access from Microsoft 365, 32-bit or 64-bit, and the WKL Office SDK, whose setup installs Bootstrapper Manager.
WKL Forms Object Library version 2.0 or later and WKL Office JSON version 2.0 or later, both registered for the bitness of Access. The screenshots in this guide show version 1.59.2 with the German user interface.
The starter, Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe, from a WKL Bootstrapper release. Without it, you can open, edit, and save project files, but you can't check them, create new ones, or import.
For Build MSI, the WiX command-line tool (wix, version 6 or later) and the starter's tools\New-StarterMsi.ps1 script.

Users with 64-bit Office. Bootstrapper Manager itself runs in both 32-bit and 64-bit Access. You choose the bitness a delivery is built for in the WKL Office SDK; see How to: Deliver an application from the SDK, section Remarks (WKL Office SDK documentation). You create the project file and the MSI package like for any other project, and you check a delivery for 64-bit Office on a computer with 64-bit Office (see How to: Test a project and build an MSI package).

To get started, see How to: Set up and start Bootstrapper Manager.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Starter	`Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe` from WKL Bootstrapper. It sets up the application on the user's computer and launches it; Bootstrapper Manager also uses it to check projects and to run the preview and trial run
Project file	The file the starter reads, usually `bootstrapper.json` in the same folder as the starter. Format 2 is the current format; Bootstrapper Manager doesn't read format 1 files
Project	A project file Bootstrapper Manager knows about, shown as a row on the Projects page. Bootstrapper Manager remembers every project you open, including its contents, until you remove it from the list
Selected project	The project you're editing on the other pages. Its name appears in the subtitle of every page except Projects
Publisher, user	You're the publisher, preparing the release. The user is the person whose computer the starter sets up and launches the application on
Source folder	The folder with the application's files that the starter installs from (the Source field). A relative path is resolved from the starter's folder, so an MSI package needs a full path or a share
Target folder	The folder on the user's computer where the starter puts an entry, written in the project with a placeholder
Placeholder	A folder name in square brackets that the starter replaces with the actual path on the user's computer, such as `[VersionDir]` (the folder of the installed version) or `[Desktop]`. For the full list, see The project file (format 2), section Placeholders (WKL Bootstrapper documentation)
Product ID	The value of the Product ID field (`product`): the application's permanent internal name. The starter uses it to name the app's folder in the profile (`%LOCALAPPDATA%\WKL\<product ID>`) and its entry in installed apps; that entry shows the Name from the Appearance page
MSI package	The Windows Installer package that Build MSI builds. It installs the starter and the project file once for all users of a computer, not the application itself
Check	The starter assesses the project file (`/check`) and names every problem with the part of the file it concerns (Check)
Not saved	Bootstrapper Manager's tables hold changes that aren't in the project file yet (Not saved in the upper-right corner)
Notification	A short message in the lower-right corner of the window, such as “Saved to bootstrapper.json,” that disappears on its own

In this guide

Get started

Tasks

Reference

Navigation, commands, and keyboard
Troubleshooting
"Command line of WKL Bootstrapper Manager": how to open Bootstrapper Manager from another program

Limitations

Only format 2 project files are supported. Bootstrapper Manager rejects a format 1 file when you open it, and neither Bootstrapper Manager nor the starter can convert it. The starter can, however, convert a configuration of the former starter (StarterPro.config.xml) with Import.
Build MSI always builds a package with the same layout: for all users of a computer, with the starter, the project file, and the logo if there is one, and no setup dialog boxes of its own. For a package with a different layout, build it yourself, for example with WiX.
Parts of the project file that don't have their own column are preserved unchanged when you save, but you can't edit them in Bootstrapper Manager (for example, keep on a file entry, or start.environment). Edit those parts directly in the file; see The project file (format 2) (WKL Bootstrapper documentation).
For some fields (bitness, language, color scheme, /runtime), the choices are the raw, untranslated project file values (access, automatic, …). For what they mean, see The project file (format 2), section Property value (WKL Bootstrapper documentation).
The user interface appears in the language of Office: in English, German, or Slovenian, and in English for any other language.

Language versions

The German version is the reference version. This English version and the Slovenian version cover the same content, each written for its own readers. If they differ, the German version applies.