I gave a try to TMS Dashboard. While the previous application used for installing was "meh", "so-so", at least when installing I knew where each installer will put the components. Kind of knew where it stored it's cache of previous installers.
But this new one is absolutely (at this time) non configurable.
I don't want the dashboard to decide where to put my components. I have specific folders for my decades long delphi versions and different versions, including components I have purchased from TMS.
You need to add options for the user to decide where to store the components souces, where to put the downloads, Etc.
In addition, I tried to install WebCore and it install it, surprisingly quickly. But when opening Delphi, a bunch of errors appeared. They asked for the TMS web core source directory and others I didn't take note of. I think it seems I had to uninstall the setup-installed components first.
I checked the dashboard documentation and that is not written anywhere.
A good documentation indicating all the paths used, and options to change the paths would be a good improvement. Also it would be great to remark how this installer relates or interacts with the previous installations of the same product, as TMS web core or the FNC suite.
It is a good concept, if correctly implemented. But at this moment, my best option is to download individual installers and do it one by one manually. Also, at this moment, I see that it is a good marketing and product discovery application, but for actual installation I don't find it practical and controllable. Right now am in the process of reinstalling my TMS components again, normally.
It seems that prior to using the TMS Dashboard app, it is required to manually go to the IDE's bpl directory and manually remove previous files compiled by the setup installers (after uninstall all setup-installed packages ), to avoid package loading errors when opening the IDE. This error appeared in my installations when opening Delphi 11.3 and 12.
I removed manually all the BPLs left by the previous installers, and also corrected the library paths leftover in the IDE.
Then, I installed TMS WebCore with the TMS Dashboard. It took something from the cache, and installed it in a few seconds, and now the components are in the IDE. I found the demos under the TMS smart setup, and test one of the demos. Now it looks like It does not recognize my license, even though the TMSDashboard clearly knows am licensed.
As a second issue, I could not compile a modified set of components I worked on before, since the IDE does not find the TMSWEBCorePkgLibDXE15 required package. I didn't find where the installer put that package, and I am assuming there is some naming change on this version of WebCore.
When installing a TMS Smart Setup WEB Core installation, the prompt should come to activate your installation during the startup of RAD Studio. If this is not the case, you might need to manually start activation again. If you don't get a prompt, check the registry key and remove the License under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TMSSoftware\TMS WEB Core
TMS Smart Setup installation folder handles the downloads. There is a sub-folder containing zip files for each product.
The package naming is different in TMS Smart Setup, so you cannot use the same package to install custom components or extensions. The best option is to create a new package and make it depend on TMS WEB Core. The package naming in TMS Smart Setup for Delphi 12 is TMSWEBCorePkgLib290.bpl
To tell you the truth, I solved all the issues by completely erasing those smart setup and dashboard applications, and just downloading/installing the components manually. Never fails, and did not have problems with licensing or any other.
At this time I don't have time to experiment with this kind of things. Maybe when the dashboard and associated applications are more mature and debugged I will try again.
Thanks.
