Encoding Settings into the Installer File Name

CA ArcotID OTP Client Installation Guide › Customizing the Installer › Encoding Settings into the Installer File Name

Encoding Settings into the Installer File Name

Some of the ArcotID OTP Desktop Client settings and the AuthMinder plug-in component settings are customer-specific and can vary from customer to customer. For example, the AuthMinder plug-in requires a list of domains that are allowed to use its features. For example, the permitted domain list for ABCCorp might include the www.abccorp.com domain and the list for ACME might include the www.acme.com domain. To handle such settings, ArcotID OTP Desktop Client enables you to create customized properties or settings and ship them with the ArcotID OTP Desktop Client to your end users.

However, if the installer file is digitally signed, then the content cannot be modified, which is the case with the Microsoft Windows ArcotID OTP Desktop Client installer. To resolve such problems, you can encode such settings in the installer file name. During installation, the installer decodes these settings and saves them to the configuration files.

You can customize the following settings into the installer file name:

The authorized domain list containing the set of domains, which are allowed to use the AuthMinder plug-in for storing the credentials.
The remote server, which is used to update the authorized domain list and to obtain the information about new versions of the ArcotID OTP Desktop Client and AuthMinder plug-in.

The setting that you want to encode must be appended to the file name as a name-value pair in the base-64 encoded format. Each name-value pair is separated using the underscore character to enable the installer to locate and parse them.

The format of each name-value pair must be as follows:

_name_b64value_

The following steps describe the process of appending the name-value pairs to the installer file name:

Convert the value into the base-64 encoded format. You can use any open source encoders, such as http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-decoder-encoder.asp to perform this operation. For example, if you want to append a setting named foo with the value bar, then convert bar into the base-64 encoded format, which will be YmFy.
Construct the name-value pair. For example, _foo_YmFy_.
Append the installer file name with the name-value pair. For example, if you append _foo_YmFy_ to the Microsoft Windows installer file name, then the file will be OTPDesktop-Web-1.0.4-windows-installer_foo_YmFy_.exe.

Note: If you plan to encode multiple settings, then you must concatenate the base-64 encoded name-value pairs.

The following table lists the settings that you can encode:

Setting	Name	Value
Domain Name List	d	Specifies the domain names that the AuthMinder plug-in can access. The domain names must be separated with a comma. If there are any whitespace characters in between the domain names, then they are ignored. Action: The installer writes the authorized domains to the domains.dat file that is stored in the Shared Data Area.
Host	h	Specifies the URL of the remote host servers. If you specify the partial URL, such as www.foo.com, then the URL is resolved to https://foo.com/aid/authdomain.txt to create an absolute URL. Note: It is mandatory that you specify the server name. Other objects of the URL are optional. Action: The URL is included in the hosts.dat file stored in the Shared Data Area during installation. AuthMinder plug-in connects to the hosts.dat file to fetch the URL of remote servers. See "Reading Remote Server Updates" for more information on remote servers.

Setting

Name

Value

Domain Name List

Specifies the domain names that the AuthMinder plug-in can access.

The domain names must be separated with a comma. If there are any whitespace characters in between the domain names, then they are ignored.

Action:

The installer writes the authorized domains to the domains.dat file that is stored in the Shared Data Area.

Host

Specifies the URL of the remote host servers.

If you specify the partial URL, such as www.foo.com, then the URL is resolved to https://foo.com/aid/authdomain.txt to create an absolute URL.

Note: It is mandatory that you specify the server name. Other objects of the URL are optional.

Action:

The URL is included in the hosts.dat file stored in the Shared Data Area during installation. AuthMinder plug-in connects to the hosts.dat file to fetch the URL of remote servers. See "Reading Remote Server Updates" for more information on remote servers.