Inno Setup Modify app.config file when you run setup.exe

Question

I have a WCF service which I am hosting as a Windows Service. I normally go to VS command prompt and install the service using installutil.exe, then modify the base address of the service in app.config according to the machine name that I am installing it on and run the service.

base address goes like this:

<endpoint address="http://MACHINE_NAME/NFCReader/" binding="webHttpBinding"/>

I modify the MACHINE_NAME in the app.config file.

I want to use inno setup to do the same for me.

What I want is when the user run the setup.exe file to install the service, I want to prompt the user for base address of the service and use that address to host it. I am not able to figure out if it is possible at all OR how to do it.

Any help please? Thanks in advance. :)

Answer 1

Just an example I use to replace string in my app config.
I'm sure it can be done better :-)

What I replace is:

add key="AppVersion" value="YYMMDD.HH.MM"

[Code]
procedure Update;
var
C: AnsiString;
CU: String;
begin
        LoadStringFromFile(ExpandConstant('{src}\CdpDownloader.exe_base.config'), C);
        CU := C;
        StringChange(CU, 'YYMMDD.HH.MM', GetDateTimeString('yymmdd/hh:nn', '.', '.'));
        C := CU;
        SaveStringToFile(ExpandConstant('{src}\Config\CdpDownloader.exe.config'), C, False);          
end;

function InitializeSetup: Boolean;
begin
  Update;
result := True;
end;

Answer 2

I would recommend you to use XML parser for updating your configuration files. The following function can help you with it. It uses MSXML as a file parser:

[Code]
const
  ConfigEndpointPath = '//configuration/system.serviceModel/client/endpoint';

function ChangeEndpointAddress(const FileName, Address: string): Boolean;
var
  XMLNode: Variant;
  XMLDocument: Variant;  
begin
  Result := False;
  XMLDocument := CreateOleObject('Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0');
  try
    XMLDocument.async := False;
    XMLDocument.preserveWhiteSpace := True;
    XMLDocument.load(FileName);    
    if (XMLDocument.parseError.errorCode <> 0) then
      RaiseException(XMLDocument.parseError.reason)
    else
    begin
      XMLDocument.setProperty('SelectionLanguage', 'XPath');
      XMLNode := XMLDocument.selectSingleNode(ConfigEndpointPath);
      XMLNode.setAttribute('address', Address);
      XMLDocument.save(FileName);
      Result := True;
    end;
  except
    MsgBox('An error occured during processing application ' +
      'config file!' + #13#10 + GetExceptionMessage, mbError, MB_OK);
  end;
end;