Practice CS Systems Information

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The information in this topic is primarily intended for your qualified IT professional to use while planning for changes such as server migrations or when setting up, configuring, and troubleshooting CS applications. This topic can also help you share technical details of our applications with other staff members in your office or when discussing an issue with our Support team.

Practice CS Directories

Practice CS has four primary installation directories:

Directory Path Description
\WinCSI\Practice CS This directory contains program level files and folders on the network. In addition to the executables the program utilizes, it also contains imperative configuration settings files, as well as folders where license and program updates are ran from and stored.
\WinCSI\Practice CS Data Unlike other CS Professional Suite applications, no pertinent client/firm data is located here. In addition to files used to help the program communicate with the proper SQL instance, this directory also consists of folders and files used by Practice CS for integration and datasharing.
C:\Program Files\Creativesolutions\
Practice CS *		 This folder gets created on the workstation during a desktop installation. It will contain version folders, .dll files, executables and other files that need to be ran locally on the machine rather than on the network.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\
MSSQL10_50<SQLInstanceName>\MSSQL\DATA **

 This is a location on the server where your SQL instance resides, which is where the actual firm/client data is located.

* If on a 64-bit machine, the program files path will be C:\Program Files (x86).
** While this is the default location in most cases, the version of SQL and any customization to the location of the data files may cause the folder to be named differently and for the SQL data files to reside elsewhere.

Files by Category

Listed below are important Practice CS files sorted by category.

Global Files

Directory Path File Name Description
\WinCSI\Practice CS Networkinstallation.ini This is the file that the workstation's Localinstallation.ini points to upon launching the application. The program then uses the information in this file to determine the location of the other needed components such as: data location information, license file locations, network application files, and any special configurations added to the program.
Version.Dat This file holds the version of Practice CS that is installed on the network and is compared to the local version of the file to determine if the workstation needs to be updated upon launching the application.
CSIUPD.exe This is the executable that is used to access CS Connect in order to download updates and licenses.
\WinCSI\Practice CS\DESKTOP SETUP.EXE This executable is what is browsed to and used to install Practice CS to the local workstation.
\WinCSI\Practice CS Data DataSource.xml This file holds the name of the SQL instance that the program is using.  Other files also contain this same information, but this is the one the program primarily looks to for it.
\WinCSI\Practice CS Data\CISData In this folder, the application will build and update files for each client in order for other CS Suite Applications to compare data that is being datashared to or from Practice CS.
C:\WinCSI\Practice CS Data\Data This folder holds information that is directly integrated with Practice CS and is where other applications within the suite would send files that will be automatically imported into the program upon launch.
IntegrationSettings.xml This file is created when integration is enabled within the program. This file will state which Practice CS firm has been enabled for integration, as well as which SQL instance that firm is using.

Local Installation Files

During the desktop set up of Practice CS, files are installed on the workstation. These files are workstation specific and do not affect other users in the program. Below is a sample of a few of these integral local files:

Directory Path File Name Description
C:\Users\<UID>\AppData\Local\Creative Solutions\Practice CS ClientSettings.xml This is the Practice CS user preference file which holds stored login information, as well as some filter/search settings, dashboard information and other various user specific configurations.
Log.xml Whenever Practice CS throws an error, this file is created with the appropriate information for further troubleshooting, if needed. If you click Send log file on the received error, the log file will be emailed to the appropriate Development Team for review and tracking purposes. The sent log file is renamed to log.xml.000. Each time a log file is sent, the files will be renamed and kept up to log.xml.005.
C:\ProgramData\Creative Solutions\Practice CS LocalInstallation.ini This file points the workstation installation of Practice CS to the appropriate shared network files and additionally points to a locally installed version of SQL to use if Remote Time Entry is enabled.
DisconnectedDataSource.xml This file is created during the installation of Remote Time Entry on a workstation and functions in place of the Datasource.xml when the computer is no longer connected to the network that contains the shared WinCSI directory.
C:\Program Files\Creative Solutions\Practice CS\<version> CreativeSolutions.Practice.exe This is the executable that runs Practice CS on the workstation. Unlike a few other CS Professional Suite applications that store and run the executable from it's shared WinCSI directory, Practice CS keeps this file local and workstation specific.
CreativeSolutions.Practice.exe.Config This .config file can be modified to allow for more in-depth error log file information. When edited, it allows for capturing information, warnings and errors within the program, rather than just error messages.
Version.dat This file is created during a desktop setup and records what version of Practice CS is running. Upon opening the program, this file is compared against its network version to determine if a local update is needed.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative Solutions\Practice CS\<version>\Practice CS Wcis_p.dll This file controls datasharing for Practice CS with other applications. In rare circumstances, this file can be manually registered to resolve local datasharing issues.

SQL Files

Directory Path File Name Description
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.<SQLInstanceName>\MSSQL\DATA* CSP_<FirmID>_<FirmName>.mdf This is the primary database file on the server where your SQL instance resides and contains the actual database data for the program.
CSP_<FirmID>_<FirmName>.ldf This is the transaction log file on the server where your SQL instance resides. Transactions made in the program are written to this file, which then stores them as it writes the requests to the .mdf file.
Backup.bdf If using the automatic backup process within Practice CS, this is the most current backup of the SQL data.
CSP_<FirmID>_<FirmName>_<timestamp>.bdf Although the naming of this file can be modified during the process, this is the default naming convention and file for one-time manual backups of SQL that have been initiated from Practice CS.

Note: FirmID represents your Thomson Reuters firm ID number that the licenses for your Practice CS is under. If the firm ID number associated with the SQL files is different than installed licenses (with the exceptions of firm IDs 0 and 999), Practice CS will not recognize that database. FirmName is the name you gave your firm in Practice CS which is seen in the firm dropdown field when logging into the program. Additionally, while the names and file locations shown are the program defaults, these options may be customized or different (due to your SQL version). Your files may be located elsewhere and/or under a different name.

Installation Prerequisites

Practice CS has several prerequisites for the operating system in order to run the application on a workstation, including Internet Explorer, Microsoft .NET Framework, and Microsoft Visual C++.  The desktop setup for Practice CS will check that your workstation has these components and automatically install any prerequisites that are missing. If you need to individually reinstall or repair the separate components required to run Practice CS, see the table below for the location of the appropriate installation files.

Note: We recommend consulting a qualified IT professional when repairing, uninstalling, or reinstalling components of your operating system.

Directory Path File Name Description
\WinCSI\Practice CS\DESKTOP Setup.exe Executable file to run the Practice CS desktop setup.
\WinCSI\Practice CS\DESKTOP\MSI dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe Executable file to install or repair Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
\WinCSI\Practice CS\DESKTOP\MSI\VC2010SP1 vcredist_x86.exe Installer file to install or repair Microsoft Visual C++ 2010

See the following links for information on the Microsoft components:

.NET Framework and Visual C++ Considerations for CS Professional Suite

Microsoft .NET Framework External link  (What's this?)

Installing the .NET Framework External link

Microsoft Visual C++ External link

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Internal only

In Virtual Office / SaaS there are some changes to a few critical files when compared to an installation of Practice CS outside of that environment:

  • NetworkInstallation.ini does not serve in the same capacity in Virtual Office environment and LocalInstallation.ini does not exist. In lieu of these two files, if certain AppSettings variables need to be set in Practice CS (ex: disabling Outlook integration, modifying drop down limits), an optional file named FirmInstallation.ini can be created and added to the Y:\Practice CS Data directory. Be aware that this file will be global and affect all PCS users. Contact CitrixPortalTech to add this file if needed.
  • Due to a lack of a standard local workstation file structure, ClientSettings.xml is located in a different folder. In Virtual Office, this file for the specific user in question can be found in Y:\VOsystem\PCS\<FirmID>.<HashID>\creative solutions\Practice CS. It's functionality remains the same.