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When to make an environment file

When an implementor determines that configuration settings must be specified during product installation, they first determine if a component containing those configuration settings exists within the <instance>/component/Default components. As a general rule, if a component does not exist, it is exported as a data component and used in the <instance>/component/Custom/ directory. If the component does exist in /Default/ components, it can be overwritten in the environment file(s) or via creating a "Custom" version of the "Default" component.

For /Default/Functional/ components, use the following guidelines to determine whether to customize the component or use an environment file::

  • only Data changes are required (.json or .csv), they go in an environment file.

  • changes to (py, ps) code are needed, they are made in the /Custom/ component.

  • data changes exist, but they are NOT environment-specific, they are made in the /Custom/ component.

It is possible to create the entire instance configuration directly in an environment file, however, for readability and centralization purposes, environment files use templates for component overrides, variables, and other tricks. This allows implementors to change some data, structure or values in one place and apply them elsewhere.