SDK settings: settings.json

Signature

{
  "format": 1,
  "newProjects": {
    "root": "D:\\Projects",
    "sourceFolder": "source",
    "buildFolder": "build",
    "deliveryFolder": "delivery",
    "neutralLanguage": "sl",
    "targetAccess": "x64",
    "configurations": "Debug;Release;Customer"
  },
  "paths": {
    "packages": "D:\\Packages",
    "templates": "D:\\Templates;%USERPROFILE%\\Templates",
    "controlBlocks": "%LOCALAPPDATA%\\WKL\\Access Components\\2.0.0\\control-blocks",
    "bootstrapperManager": "D:\\Tools\\Wkl.Bootstrapper.Manager.accdb"
  },
  "behavior": {
    "exportOnSave": true,
    "checkCodeBeforeBuild": true,
    "askBeforeReopen": false,
    "language": "en",
    "terminalShell": "pwsh"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "template": "D:\\Publisher\\publisher.json"
  }
}

Summary

The settings of the SDK belong to your Windows user, not to a project: defaults for new projects, the folders where the SDK finds release packages, templates, control blocks and the Bootstrapper Manager, how the add-in behaves, and a publisher template. The add-in (Settings in the group Tools) and the command line (`wkl-office settings`) read and write the same file.

The file is %APPDATA%\WKL\Office SDK\settings.json, in the roaming part of your profile, so it follows a roaming profile to another PC and stays when you install another version of the SDK. Without the file, the defaults of the SDK apply. The environment variable WKL_SDK_SETTINGS names another file, for example on a build server.

Order of precedence

A value applies in this order; the first one that names a value wins:

the project file (.acproj), for the settings it has a property for;
the environment variable of the setting;
settings.json;
the default of the SDK.

The dialog SDK Settings and wkl-office settings list show where each value comes from. A value you write to the file does not apply while its environment variable is set; both say so.

Entries

Entry	Values	Default	Environment variable	Meaning
`newProjects.root`	folder	none	–	`wkl-office new` creates a project given by name only (`new Customers`) in this folder.
`newProjects.sourceFolder`	folder name	`source`	–	`SourceRoot` of a new project.
`newProjects.buildFolder`	folder name	`build`	–	`BaseOutputPath` of a new project and the folder in its `.gitignore`.
`newProjects.deliveryFolder`	folder name	`delivery`	–	`DeliveryRoot` of a new project.
`newProjects.neutralLanguage`	language code	none	–	`NeutralLanguage` of a new project, for example `sl`.
`newProjects.targetAccess`	`x86`, `x64`, `any`	`any`	–	`TargetAccess` of a new project.
`newProjects.configurations`	names separated by `;`	Debug and Release	–	The configurations a new project declares besides Debug and Release (`Configurations`).
`paths.packages`	folder	none	`WKL_PACKAGES`	The folder of the release packages (`<product>\<version>`); a new delivery suggests the newest version of each WKL library from it.
`paths.templates`	folders separated by `;`	none	`WKL_ACCESS_TEMPLATES`	Where a project's `Template` is searched when it is not found relative to the project.
`paths.controlBlocks`	folder	none	`WKL_ACCESS_CONTROL_BLOCKS`	The control blocks of WKL Forms Object Library, when neither the project nor its template names a folder.
`paths.bootstrapperManager`	file	the installed version	`WKL_BOOTSTRAPPER_MANAGER`	The database of the Bootstrapper Manager, instead of the newest installed version.
`behavior.exportOnSave`	`true`, `false`	`true`	–	Whether saving in the VBA editor exports the changes, for a project you have not switched on or off yourself.
`behavior.checkCodeBeforeBuild`	`true`, `false`	`false`	–	Build and reopen and Rebuild and reopen first check the code; an error stops the build before the database is closed, warnings do not.
`behavior.askBeforeReopen`	`true`, `false`	`true`	–	Whether Build and reopen and Rebuild and reopen ask before they close the database.
`behavior.language`	`en`, `de`, `sl`, `hr`, `it`	the language of Office	`WKL_SDK_LANGUAGE`	The language of the add-in and the command line.
`behavior.terminalShell`	`pwsh`, `powershell`, `cmd`	PowerShell 7, else Windows PowerShell	–	The shell of the add-in's terminal.
`publisher.template`	file	none	–	A `publisher.json` copied into the `DeliveryRoot` of a project when its delivery is set up and it has no `publisher.json` yet.

Folders and files may contain environment variables (%USERPROFILE%). A folder name has no path.

Not in the settings

The SDK does not repeat what Access and the VBA editor already offer. Change these where they are:

Setting	Where
Trusted locations, macro settings, add-ins	Access: File › Options › Trust Center
Start form, navigation pane, ribbon of a database	Access: File › Options › Current Database (in the project: `source/application/properties.json`)
Default file format, default database folder	Access: File › Options › General
Require Variable Declaration, Auto Syntax Check, font, tab width	VBA editor: Tools › Options
Compile On Demand, Break on Errors	VBA editor: Tools › Options › General

Remarks

Format. format is 1. A file of a newer format is refused with a message instead of being read in part: the dialog SDK Settings then offers nothing to change and wkl-office settings ends with exit code 3, so the file is never overwritten. Use the version of the SDK that wrote it, or remove the file.
Unknown entries are refused with the list of entries, so a mistyped name never goes unnoticed.
A file that cannot be read counts as missing for every other command, which works with the defaults.
Existing projects keep their settings: the entries under newProjects apply to wkl-office new only.

Code example

wkl-office settings set paths.packages D:\Packages
wkl-office settings set behavior.askBeforeReopen false
wkl-office settings get paths.packages
paths.packages = D:\Packages (settings)
wkl-office settings set paths.packages

The last line removes the entry; the default applies again.