Hi @janasrs,
I know; the product docs are mainly a reference, without much guidance, concepts, how-tos, et cetera... ☹️
The easiest way to achieve what you're looking for, are predefined settings. These are settings that you as a DEM admin configure (or "pre-define"), tied to a particular Flex config file. Depending on the predefined settings type, the user's saved settings (their profile archive) or the predefined settings get applied (a mix of the two is also possible) at logon (or application launch, in case of a DirectFlex-enabled config file, but that's not applicable for a Windows setting like this one.)
The typical workflow for this would be to create a config file in your development environment, and populate the Import/Export tab in such a way that it captures the bits of the profile that you want to provide predefined settings for. If it captures a bit too much (like in this case, as you're only interested in the short date format rather than everything related to regional settings) that's fine; you can tweak this later.
Now, log on with a test account, configure the application or Windows component to your liking (in this case, define the short date format), and log off.
You now have a profile archive that we can turn into a predefined setting:
- Switch to the config file's Predefined Settings tab, and click Add...
- In the Create Predefined Setting dialog, click Install...
- Select the test account's profile archive that was just created.
- Back in the Create Predefined Setting dialog, click Edit... This extracts the settings to a temporary folder, and allows you to remove, add, or edit any of the contents.
In the case of regional settings, there's only a Registry\Flex Profiles.reg file. If all you're interested in is defining the short date format, you could strip it down to something like the following:
NOTE: Make sure to leave the Pre and Post ImportMarkers values intact. - Once you're done editing the settings, click Done in the Edit predefined settings dialog.
- Now you can choose how you want these settings to be applied:
- If you want to provide a default short date format but want to allow the user to change this, set the predefined settings Type to Default Settings. This means that predefined settings will be imported if the user has no personal profile archive yet.
- If you want to enforce the short date format, you have two choices:
- Partially Enforced Settings means that the user can change their regional settings preferences, and those will be restored at their next logon. However, the predefined settings are applied on top of that, so the short date format will always be what you configured via predefined settings.
- Fully Enforced Settings means that user preferences are not persisted at all. The user can change their regional settings within the session, but those changes will not be saved at logoff.
- The fourth flavor (Default Settings with Partial Enforcement) combines the first and second cases described above.
- Click Save to close the Create Predefined Setting dialog, and save the config file.
- Log on with another test user, and check the short date format.
Hope this helps! If not, please let us know.