Issue with Central Deployment of Menu Configuration Files

[TPorstein]

I am using the app and would like to report an issue related to the central deployment of menu configuration files.

In our environment, menu definitions (JSON files) are created centrally and then copied into the corresponding menu settings folder on multiple clients in order to deploy them consistently. The following behavior occurs:

When a new or updated menu file is copied into the respective folder on a client, it is not automatically recognized by the app and does not appear in the Windows context menu. Restarting the app does not resolve the issue.

The menu is only processed correctly and displayed in the Windows context menu after the respective file is opened within the app, slightly modified, and then saved. It appears that the configuration is only registered or processed after an explicit save operation within the app.

The goal is to manage the menu configuration files centrally and deploy them automatically to multiple clients without requiring manual interaction within the app on each individual client.

My questions are:

1. Is it generally supported or possible to centrally deploy menu files so that they are automatically detected and integrated by the app?
2. Is there any mechanism (e.g., a command, background refresh, or registration process) that would eliminate the need to manually open and save the files?
3. Does saving within the app trigger an additional process that does not occur when simply copying the JSON file?

I would appreciate guidance on how to properly implement centralized management and deployment of the configuration files.
Best regards
Thomas

[ikas-mc]

Unless you've enabled caching.
The cache will automatically update when you save the menu.
The plugin DLL will first check if the menu data exists in the cache; if it does, it reads the menu from there. Otherwise, it reads from the folder list.

The cache toggle button was simplified in previous versions, so it might not be very obvious.

This menu plugin does not rely on the management app.
After turning off the cache, there are correctly formatted JSON configuration files in the folder, and the menu can be loaded correctly.

const auto menus = ApplicationData::Current().LocalSettings().CreateContainer(L"menus", ApplicationDataCreateDisposition::Always).Values();
	if (menus.Size() > 0) {
		DEBUG_LOG(L"CustomExplorerCommand::ReadCommands useCache={},menus={}", true, menus.Size());

		...
	}
	else {
		DEBUG_LOG(L"CustomExplorerCommand::ReadCommands useCache={}", false);
		//const auto localFolder = ApplicationData::Current().LocalFolder().Path();
		...

use debug log check

https://github.com/ikas-mc/ContextMenuForWindows11/wiki/Debug-Log

[LesFerch]

I see that I can turn CCM off/on to refresh the menu. How can I do that programmatically? Or reset the cache (Settings.dat) programmatically?

[ikas-mc]

@LesFerch There's no way to modify it from the outside.

After testing, I found that simple file caching does not improve performance much.
In the future, I will consider redesigning the cache or removing it.

My new tool also needs to face this issue.