7 replies to this topic

[jmorgret]

I posted this on the Installshield website but no one was able to help me. I'm hoping someone over here will have a solution.

I have an installation that has only a few files. One of them is a dll. I can install it and everything works fine. Here is the scenario that does not work:
I rebuild the dll so it has a new version and date.
I rebuild the install (nothing has changed except the dll).
I run the install again and it says it will perform an upgrade.
None of the files have been updated.

Here is some more info on my install. It is built as web install so it is all in one exe. I have not added any upgrades through the Upgrades View. I have not added any upgrades in the Upgrade table in the direct editor. I have not specifically created any dynamic links on the files in any of the components (this was mentioned as a possible cause in another thread). When I make the component I just go through the wizard so whatever is the default for that is what I have.

If I run the upgrade validator it says:
- 3 different components are missing from the newest install (I have not removed any components in between builds).
- It tells me that the data in my dll has changed but it won't be replaced (why? I guess because components I never deleted no longer exist)

Another thing I have discovered is that when I run my install the second time it says it is perfoming an upgrade then it goes to the SetupResume dialog. The Preselected property is set to 1. Why is this? I have even tried modifying the sequence to force it to the Maintenance dialog and do a repair. But the file never gets overwritten. I guess because Preselected is 1. The only way I can get it to install the new files is if I have a custom action to delete the old ones. I would rather avoid doing it this way.

What in the world is going on? I have never had this problem with any other version of Installshield. It always worked before.

I would really appreciate a solution.

Thanks,

Jennifer

[Stefan Krueger]

The resume dialog is okay, the preselected flag is set for such an update.
Whenever you rebuild your msi file the PackageCode needs to change. I believe that InstallShield does this automatically for you by default, so I think that's not the cause for your problem (but you may want to check in the release settings).
When you build the new DLL, you should simply copy it to the location where the previous version was (on your build machine). Don't go throght the component wizardagain. That woudl create a new component, with a new ComponentCode GUID. If you change the GUID of a component, then you essentially remove the old component and add a new one (Windows Installer identifies components by their GUID). This would cause the effect you are seeing. In this case you should also see SELMGR errors in the verbose install log.

[jmorgret]

I'll check the PackageCode. As far as the component wizard, I did only use that the first time. It still says I am missing components. I have even tried creating a brand new test install, being careful not remove any components. But when I validate between two setups in this test install it also tells me that components are missing.

Thanks,

Jennifer

[jmorgret]

I did a little test. I created a brand new project with two components. I built it. Then I change the versions of the two files and rebuilt the install. When I run the validator it says I have 10 components missing from the new install!!! How could this be? First of all I only started with two. Secondly I never deleted any components. It isn't even missing any of the components that I made. They are all _34DIBJ234FSI23... type names. Obviously InstallShield generated. Does anyone know what is causing this?

Thanks,

Jennifer

[Stefan Krueger]

Could this be related to some merge modules? Are you doing dependency checks? Do you have dynamic linked components?

[jmorgret]

Stefan,
I have no merge modules, I didn't run the dependency scan, and I have no dynamically linked components. My test project is really simple. I just added two files using the component wizard and that is it. Then the validation check says I have all these components missing and it also says that even though the the files have changed between the two setups, they won't be updated. It doesn't give a reason but I assume that it is because of the other "missing" components.

-Jennifer

[jmorgret]

I discovered something interesting. I looked at the Reports under Releases and this finally told me what files the "missing" components were for. It seems that the install adds components for dependent files that are not included with the install. And the component names for these dependent files are generated on every build! So each time you build this file that the install thinks you should have receives a different component name. So no two builds will ever have matching component names for these files.

The thing is, I don't really need to include these files. This install I am building is for a product that can only be installed if our main product is installed which does include all these files. For now I can include them if it will make this upgrade work but is there a way to prevent the install from autmatically adding these files as components?

Another weird thing is that they don't show up in the Component Table.

Thanks,
Jennifer

[jmorgret]

Of course it was the .NET Scan at Build property that was messing me up. I had it set to Dependencies and Properties on several files and the was the problem. Once I changed these it no longer built with these extra components. Now I can upgrade just fine (can't upgrade the old versions that have these extra components, but anything from this point forward.)

-Jennifer