Component Variables

Components support the use of variables, which are user-definable containers that store values and are used during deployment.

A component variable is used to make parts of a component accessible and configurable by objects that are external to the component. For example, a component might have a variable named installPath that is overridden on a per-host basis. This variable defines where to install each component.

The value of a component variable can be a reference to another component variable, which includes variables that are defined by the component's container. When a nested component is added to a container component, the browser interface verifies that the referenced variable is defined in the container. If the variable is not defined in the container component, the browser interface automatically adds the referenced variable to the list of the container's variables.

For example, simple components typically define their installPath variable to have the value of the container component's installPath variable. In this example, the syntax of the referenced variable is :[container:installPath]. For more information about variable substitution, see Chapter 6, Configuration Generation.

Component variables are evaluated and assigned a value when the component is deployed. Component variables are used to specify information (such as host names, IP addresses, and paths) that is required to implement a deployment.