Understanding ICA File Contents

The Citrix XenApp Server usually provides a web interface for the published application(s) it hosts. Selection of a particular application icon from inside the web browser results in the caching of the ICA file followed by invocation of the Citrix client.

The ICA file must conform to the in initialization format shown below. An example with populated for field values is shown on the RHS and shows (made up) connection settings for Microsoft PowerPoint application hosted on the Citrix platform. An explanation of each field is given. The symbol against each field show whether it is mandatory or optional where:

l depicts mandatory fields

¡ depicts optional fields

Depending on how the administrator has configured the XenApp Server environment, the ICA will contain one or more (key only) entries in the ApplicationServers block. For the example below (RHS), there is only a single entry for the application Microsoft PowerPoint. Each entry in the ApplicationServers block will have its only block containing the application settings.

As long as the file association is configured on the host operating system, double clicking the ICA file will invoke the Citrix Receiver client and automatically attempt to connect to the application. This provides a quick way of validating the ICA file and connection.

Lines starting with # characters are comments and are therefore ignored by the Citrix client.

If the ICA file you are using contains the key RemoveICAFile and this is set to yes, then launching the Citrix client will result in the file being deleted from the file system after the Citrix session ends.

To stop the file from being deleted, in your Citrix script, either comment out the RemoveICAFile field or set the value to no.

The ICA properties can also be set in the script using the code:

SetIcaProperty(string property, string value);

e.g.,

SetIcaProperty("FontSmoothingType", "1");

[Encoding]	[Block] defining the character encoding type of the ICA file		[Encoding]
InputEncoding=	Describes the character encoding type of the ICA file. This information is used by the Citrix client to convert and understand the ICA file data should the Metaframe web server use a different encoding type to that of the the Citrix client.	¡	InputEncoding=UTF8
[WFClient]	[Block] defining the WinFrame Client.	¡	[WFClient]
RemoveICAFile=	Specifies whether or not the ICA file should be deleted after the Citrix session has finished. Settings the value to 'no' maybe useful whilst developing the Citrix script so the client can be launched quickly (by double clicking the ICA file) without the file being deleted when the Citrix session has been ended.	¡	RemoveICAFile=yes
TcpBrowserAddress=	The IP address of the Citrix server. Required if the 'Address' field is not present.	l	TcpBrowserAddress=91.208.99.13
TransparentKeyPassthrough=	Determines how the mapping of certain Windows key combinations are used during the Citrix session.	¡	TransparentKeyPassthrough=Local
TransportReconnectEnabled=	Specifies whether 'Auto Client Reconnect' is enabled or not.	¡	TransportReconnectEnabled=On
Version=	Specifies the WinFrame Client version number.	l	Version=2
[ApplicationServers]	[Block] defining each application hosted on Citrix which you have been granted access to.		[ApplicationServers]
Application1=	The fist application in the block (the names of each application are defined by the Administrator)	l	Microsoft PowerPoint=
[Application1]	[Block] defining the first application in the 'ApplicationServers' list. The ICA file will always contain one or more application blocks which map to each application in the list.	l	[Microsoft PowerPoint]
Address=	The address of the remote Citrix server. For TCP/IP connections this can be the DNS name or IP address of the Citrix server, or in some cases the name of a published application. For IPX, SPX, and NetBIOS connections it can be the name of a Citrix server or the name of the published application. The port is sometimes included with the address of the Citrix server but this is not mandatory.	l	Address=91.208.99.13:1494
AutologonAllowed=	Boolean field specifying whether or not autologon is allowed for Secure ICA clients. If this field is set to 'OFF' the user will need to enter their username, domain and password everytime a connection attempt with the Citrix server is made.	¡	AutologonAllowed=ON
BrowserProtocol=	Specifies the network protocol used for ICA browsing. This defaults to 'UDP' although when connecting from the internet this would almost certainly be set to 'HTTPonTCP' by the administrator.	¡	BrowserProtocol=HTTPonTCP
ClearPassword=	Specifies the clear text (unencrypted) password for the user account. This is an optional field. To use a clear text password, the 'Password' field must be unset i.e. 'Password='	¡	ClearPassword=w0rdhash#
ClientAudio=	Boolean field specifying whether or not client audio mapping should be enabled.	¡	ClientAudio=On
DesiredColor=	Integer field specifying the preferred color palette depth for a session.Here 1 sets the palette to '16 color', 2 to '256 color', 4 for 'high color' and 8 for "true color" (which is 32-bit).	l	DesiredColor=8
DesiredHRES=	Specifies the horizontal window size in pixels. If 'ScreenPercent' is present this field is ignored.	l	DesiredHRES=1024
DesiredVRES=	Specifies the vertical window size in pixels. If 'ScreenPercent' is present this field is also ignored.	l	DesiredVRES=768
Domain=	Specifies the domain to log on to.	¡	Domain=TESTTEAM
EncryptionLevelSession=	Specifies the encryption level to be used for the Citrix connection. Field options here are 'RC5-40', 'RC5-56' and 'RC5-128'.	¡	EncryptionLevelSession=EncRC5-128
FontSmoothingType=	Recommended Setting = "1" (turn off font smoothing) An Integer field specifying the font smoothing type for the session. The value is only set after connection once the session has been established. The local Windows ClearType setting must be on for FontSmoothing to be enabled. FontSmoothing/Cleartype tends to make image matching of text less reliable due to the different ways terminals can render the ClearType text.	¡	FontSmoothingType=0
FontSmoothingTypePref=	Recommended Setting = "1" (turn off font smoothing) This is the same as FontSmoothingType. Used as a default if FontSmoothingType is set to zero.	¡	FontSmoothingTypePref=1
InitialProgram=#	Specifies the name and/or path of the published application to be automatically launched on connection. This may or may not include command line parameters. If the name of the published application is already specified in the Address field, then the name of the published application must be prefixed with a has character ('#'). Here the published application name must be entered exactly as it appears in the 'Address' field (case sensitive).	l	InitialProgram=#PowerPoint
Password=	Specifies the password for the user account. This is an optional field. The password, if used, must be encrypted. To enter an encrypted password into the ICA file, use the Citrix ICA Client Remote Application Manager's 'New Entry Wizard' to create a remote application entry. When you are prompted for the username and password, enter the password that you want to use in the ICA file. Finish the New Entry wizard. Open the file APPSRV.INI in the Windows directory and locate the entry you just created. Copy the password value and paste it into the ICA file.	¡	Password=
ScreenPercent=	Specifies the size of the window as a percentage of the client desktop size. Takes precedence over DesiredHRES/VRES fields and is available only when lauching the Citrix session from the Citrix Web Client.	l	ScreenPercent=100
SSLCiphers=	Used when the platform supports multiple SSL cipher suites. This parameter determines which cipher suite(s) the client is permitted to use to establish a succesful SSL connection.	¡	SSLCiphers=all
SSLEnable=	Specifies whether or not SSL is enabled.	¡	SSLEnable=Off
SSLProxyHost=	Specifies the server name value. By default, this parameter is not present, or, if it is present, the value is set to *:443.	¡	SSLProxyHost=*:443
TransportDriver=	The data transport type. Usually TCP/IP, but can also be IPX, SPX, or NetBIOS. This is a required field.	l	TransportDriver=TCP/IP
UILocale=	The language of the WinFrame user interface on the Citrix Client PC.	¡	UILocale=en
Username=	Specifies the name of the user account used as part of the logon credentials.	¡	Username=ptestuser
WinStationDriver=	Defines the version of the ICA presentation/XenApp server protocol	l	WinStationDriver=ICA 3.0
[Compress]	[Block] defining the compression driver to use.		[Compress]
DriverNameWin32=	Specifies the name of the Win32 driver file to load for the specified driver. The pdcompn library being the compression driver.		DriverNameWin32=pdcompn.dll

For details on other ICA file keys, see the Citrix ICA settings reference.

This topic was last updated on August 19, 2021, at 03:30:51 PM.