Configuration Profile - Dock Applications

[aburrow]

Since upgrading to 8.64 I've noticed that I can now see Apple applications under Dock Applications when setting up Configuration Profiles.

How can I include other applications in this drop down list or is it still not 100% working?

[quedayone]

Good question!

[imperatives]

Thanks for the post. I hadn't noticed the Apple applications list since updating and would be interested to know if it is possible to add non-apple applications to that list as well.

Right now we configure a dock to our liking, grab the com.apple.dock.plist, and upload it to the Custom Settings of a Configuration Profile. You may need to convert the plist to xml (plutil -convert xml1 /path/to/plist).

[mm2270]

Don't think you can. The issue it seems, is that the configuration profile you're creating can only assume the default applications that ship with the OS. I don't know that they have the ability, currently, to see anything installed on your Mac to add in, which is rather unfortunate, and I might add, shortsighted on Apple's part.
Most likely the only way to do it is to make a payload under the Custom Settings section and add the dock.plist settings for what you want, which is really what we were doing back when it was just MCX, so I often wonder what the point of Config Profiles are.

I may be in the minority, but I feel Configuration Profiles are just too immature for serious use. They may be easier to set up than MCX because of their nice GUI, but they're so much more limited.

[johnnasset]

It can be done but you need to modify the following file on the JSS server:

/Library/JSS/Tomcat/Webapps/Root/WEB-INF/xml/ConfigurationProfileDockItemApps.xml

I added our common non-Apple apps and removed stuff we'll never use (Grapher anybody?) I always restart Tomcat after modifying the file.

[wilesd]

johnnasset - Good find.

Question - What are populating the appID key with ?

[aburrow]

Does the ConfigurationProfileDockItemApps.xml file get overwritten when an upgrade to JSS is done?

[SamB_]

Hello JAMF Nation. Here is a follow up to johnnasset's post about editing this file:

/Library/JSS/Tomcat/Webapps/Root/WEB-INF/xml/ConfigurationProfileDockItemApps.xml

In that .xml file you can add non-apple apps by adding the below modification to the .xml.

<dict> <key>mcx_typehint</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>tile-data</key> <dict> <key>file-data</key> <dict> <key>_CFURLString</key> <string>/Applications/Firefox.app</string> <key>_CFURLStringType</key> <integer>0</integer> </dict> <key>file-label</key> <string>Firefox</string> </dict> <key>tile-type</key> <string>file-tile</string> </dict>

The above example is to add Firefox to the list of applications in OSX configuration payloads. Copying from the <dict> to the </dict> above you can place it in the .xml after the following line:

<key>static-apps</key> <array>

You can see in the .xml file that all of the native Apple apps are included between a <dict> and </dict>. We are simply adding non-apple apps in the same format.

If you want to add any non-apple apps simply modify the above to change the Firefox lines:

<string>/Applications/ANYNAME.app</string>

and

<string>ANYNAME</string>

Hopefully this helps.

[SamB_]

Oh Follow up. RESTART TOMCAT after the edit. And this change will be over-written during upgrades, so prior to upgrading save a copy of the .xml file to your desktop, and then re-copy it into place after the upgrade.

[mgantz]

We are running our casper app on a linux box. I made the changes above to the Tomcat/Webapps/Root/WEB-INF/xml/ConfigurationProfileDockItemApps.xml file, stopped and
started tomcat and don't see the changes show up. Should I have seen this. I added this code:

<dict> <key>mcx_typehint</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>tile-data</key> <dict> <key>file-data</key> <dict> <key>_CFURLString</key> <string>/Applications/Firefox.app</string> <key>_CFURLStringType</key> <integer>0</integer> </dict> <key>file-label</key> <string>Firefox</string> </dict> <key>tile-type</key> <string>file-tile</string> </dict>

[grecopj]

Ok, so I followed the steps above to add non-apple apps to the ConfigurationProfileSystemApps.xml file. Something happened when I saved the file and now that file is not being recognized. I thought I had copied a BU of the file before making edits but….not the case.

How do I go about getting a copy of that file that has not been edited? I'm on JSS 9.32

Thanks, holding my head in shame.

[bumbletech]

In case anyone else stops by:

I had trouble when I copied over the modified xml file via scp. It looks like if I stopped tomcat, rm'd the existing file, scp'd the modified file and then restarted Tomcat, the JSS saw the updates.