Visual Basic - visual studio installer

Author

visual studio installer

2006-03-28, 6:56 pm

I'm using visual studio installer for the outputs of a Visual basic 6.0
project to create an MSI. Is there any way to add custom install dialogs.
For instance, asking the user if they want to install the upgrade or new
version of the software. Or asking the user if they want to install the
client or server program. Is it possible to make these custom dialogs?

Also, what is the latest version of the installer? I'm currently using 1.1

MikeD

2006-03-28, 6:56 pm

"pb" <pb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:603797AF-DA93-4409-927E-DD106DABF13B@microsoft.com...
> I'm using visual studio installer for the outputs of a Visual basic 6.0
> project to create an MSI. Is there any way to add custom install dialogs.

No. The only choices of dialog boxes you have are the ones that are built-in
to VSI. IMO, that's one of its severest limitations.

> For instance, asking the user if they want to install the upgrade or new
> version of the software. Or asking the user if they want to install the
> client or server program. Is it possible to make these custom dialogs?

Again, no. With that said, I have managed to modify existing dialog boxes by
using Orca. This is hardly ideal though because Orca works with the MSI
file after you've created it. So, any time you rebuilt the MSI file, you
have to make your modifications again. And just to make sure this is clear,
it only provides limited capability to modify existing dialogs. This means
you can resize "controls" or change captions. You can't modify
functionality, add new functionality, or create new dialogs.

>
> Also, what is the latest version of the installer? I'm currently using
> 1.1
>

That's the latest that works (by design) with VB6.

Your best bet is probably to use something else. If you have the money,
perhaps installers from Wise or InstallShield. Both of these are capable of
creating Windows Installer packages and give you much more ability to
customize, create new dialog boxes, etc. You might also want to look into
using a free product called Inno Setup. You can download it here:

http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

It's got a little bit of a learning curve even for relatively simple
installations, but if you spend the time learning it, you can create highly
customized installations with it. And it's free! (Although if you use it,
you *should* contribute something to the author so he'll continue to support
and improve it).

Also, you probably shouldn't rule out VB6's own Setup Toolkit (AKA Package
and Deployment Wizard). It *can* cause some problems with newer versions of
Windows, but if you know what you're doing, those can all be avoided. The
Setup program it creates is as customizable as it can get: you've got the
complete source code for the main Setup1 program (which is just a VB6
project), so you literally modify it any way you want pretty much without
limitation. It's biggest drawbacks are that it can have issues with Win2000
and greater (but like I said, those are fairly easily overcome) and it just
looks outdated (but since you have the source code, you could give its UI a
complete overhaul to look more modern).

--
Mike
Microsoft MVP Visual Basic

2006-03-30, 7:55 am

Thanks Mike.

I've downloaded Inno and making my own scipt and its pretty good. Don't
think i have gone too deep into it yet. Is there any discussion boards or
extensive knowledgebase for making the scripts, because i didn't find the
help on the inno website too helpful?

2006-03-30, 7:55 am

i found the inno help file......quite good....disregard the last one....thanks

"MikeD" wrote:

>
> "pb" <pb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:603797AF-DA93-4409-927E-DD106DABF13B@microsoft.com...
>
> No. The only choices of dialog boxes you have are the ones that are built-in
> to VSI. IMO, that's one of its severest limitations.
>
>
>
> Again, no. With that said, I have managed to modify existing dialog boxes by
> using Orca. This is hardly ideal though because Orca works with the MSI
> file after you've created it. So, any time you rebuilt the MSI file, you
> have to make your modifications again. And just to make sure this is clear,
> it only provides limited capability to modify existing dialogs. This means
> you can resize "controls" or change captions. You can't modify
> functionality, add new functionality, or create new dialogs.
>
>
> That's the latest that works (by design) with VB6.
>
> Your best bet is probably to use something else. If you have the money,
> perhaps installers from Wise or InstallShield. Both of these are capable of
> creating Windows Installer packages and give you much more ability to
> customize, create new dialog boxes, etc. You might also want to look into
> using a free product called Inno Setup. You can download it here:
>
> http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
>
> It's got a little bit of a learning curve even for relatively simple
> installations, but if you spend the time learning it, you can create highly
> customized installations with it. And it's free! (Although if you use it,
> you *should* contribute something to the author so he'll continue to support
> and improve it).
>
> Also, you probably shouldn't rule out VB6's own Setup Toolkit (AKA Package
> and Deployment Wizard). It *can* cause some problems with newer versions of
> Windows, but if you know what you're doing, those can all be avoided. The
> Setup program it creates is as customizable as it can get: you've got the
> complete source code for the main Setup1 program (which is just a VB6
> project), so you literally modify it any way you want pretty much without
> limitation. It's biggest drawbacks are that it can have issues with Win2000
> and greater (but like I said, those are fairly easily overcome) and it just
> looks outdated (but since you have the source code, you could give its UI a
> complete overhaul to look more modern).
>
> --
> Mike
> Microsoft MVP Visual Basic
>
>
>

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