17 replies to this topic

[blassos]

I called installshield with what seemed to be a simple problem.  I use XCOPYFILE to place some files onto the machine.  The specifics are not important but the files can be up to 500MB and I would like that size reflected in the Control Panel's Add Remove Programs accurately.  I have done some searching on the web and through the registry.  I noticed some applications create a string (REG_SZ) value called SIZE but that doesnt seem to work.  Looking through the web there is an MSI property called ARPSIZE but I am not sure how to make that value stick via a non-MSI install.  Furthermore the only suggestion made by Installshield to improve the accuracy of the size was to set the DISK1TARGET variable to where my programs are getting installed.  This forced the copy of the install that windows hides to go directly into my directory and furthermore did nothing to populate the field with my extra files.  I am a bit lost and would appreciate some help.

Regards,
Oscar

[Taco Bell]

I always wondered how to correctly set that value.  Especially since most of the entries I've seen aren't anywhere near the actual value.

[Blake Miller Wonder]

I recommend that you guys view my article in the section
"Extended Information in Add/Remove Program Control Panel" on this website for some information.  Most of the ARP info is in the registry.  I documented many of the entries.

[Taco Bell]

FYI, here's the URL for that topic:
http://www.installsi..._os.htm#ARPinfo

Also, I figured it was done using one of an uninstall registry entry value, but unfortunately I do NOT see something along these lines in your article.

[blassos]

Taco... Am I missing something?  What does his article have to do with size?

[Taco Bell]

It doesn't have anything to do with size.  There in lies the problem.  It's been awhile since it was updated though, so I'm guessing BMW just forgot what all it exactly contained.

However, after checking some of the other Uninstall entries on my box, I found the answer to our problem.

Create the following registry entry:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\<ProductGUID>\EstimatedSize (DWORD value)

For that registry value, set its contents to be the size of your install in terms of KBs.  Once having been set, Windows 2000/XP Add/Remove Programs should show the expected value.  In your case, it will probably show it in MBs (your DWORD value / 1024) due to the significant size involved.

Hope it helps.  I'm gonna go add to my install right now.

[blassos]

I tried that one... I also tried adding a SIZE string after the fact by changing it in the registry.  I could change the value in the install script itself.  Maybe Windows caches the value somewhere.  I doubt this will work for you.  Tell me if it does.

[Taco Bell]

Yeah, no go.

All the other ARP entries that I looked at had a blank Size string, so I also added that, but it still didn't work.  The math for those EstimatedSize values did work out though, so I think we're on the right track.

I highly doubt that Windows caches this information, but there's definitely more to it than this.  I'm gonna keep playing around with it, but does anyone else have any ideas?

[blassos]

Im thinking it is a combination of fields.  I tried setting ESTIMATEDSIZE and WINDOWSINSTALLER then my add remove programs entry dissappeared.  Wasnt there a tool to spy on what registry keys are accessed?  Nevermind, all the keys will be accessed because its filling in some structure.

You know this is pitiful.  I have a ticket open with InstallShield... I have unlimited support.  The support guy  gives me the same reply he gave me last week... but it is delayed 72 hours because he sends it to my brother instead of me... maybe I am being too hard on him... maybe I did something wrong... you want to give this a try and see if it helps you?


"On a Win2k or WinXP machine, just make sure that you set the following in your OnFirstUIBefore() event... DISK1TARGET = TARGETDIR; ...and make sure you set this at the end of this event.  Then, in the add/remove programs applet the OS should calculate an approximate size of the TARGETDIR directory and it's subdirectory as the size  reported in the add/remove programs applet."

Hope this helps.
Phil H.

[Taco Bell]

I can see how that workaround could make it work, but that's pretty cheesy and I'd rather not do it that way.

[Blake Miller Wonder]

I do not recall its exact location, but there is a registry with the value ARPCacheInfo, or something similar.  I think it is usually set to '1'. Anyway, if you toggle it to 0 if it is 1 or vice versa, this causes the Add/Remove Programs applet to re-read the registry.  Then maybe your changes will show up.

It has been awhile since I messed with this area of the registry...

[Taco Bell]

That sounded very promising BMW and I found the following registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache\<InstallGUID>

It has Changed (DWORD value) which is normally 0.

I tried setting it to 1 as well as deleting the entire key, but I unfortunately I still see the wrong size in ARP.  

[Taco Bell]

Still trying to get this working with each release of our SW, so just though I'd just post a reply to keep this thread alive.

Any and all help/suggestions appreciated.

[Taco Bell]

Still a problem to which I would appreciate any suggestions, so here's a reply to keep this thread alive.

[EberhardH]

I found a big setup that wrote EstimatedSize (with the size in KB) and also Size (with no size: just an empty string). I'm wondering if the empty Size entry might be a hint.

[Taco Bell]

I've tried lots of things, but it's been so long I don't know if I've tried that particular combination.  I will now though.  Thanks.

I'm currently just writing the space required in KB to EstimatedSize.  I don't even involve Size.  I also delete
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache
beforehand to force a re-cache.  However, my current method doesn't work, so we'll see what this new one does for me.  Thanks again.

[Taco Bell]

Sorry, but no go on the new method.

In trying it, it seemed very familiar, so I think I've seen & done it before.  However, I think the application which I copied off of was MSI based and, from what I'm told, they have a built-in way of handling this.

[Stefan Krueger]

Going back to the workaround suggestion with setting DISK1TARGET: does it work?

I wonder how ARP knows which directory size to calculate. I suspect it might be the first directory the setup copies files to, i.e. DISK1TARGET (the setup files are copied first). Or it's the directory where the uninstall registry key points to?

If it's the first copied file maybe you can copy a dummy file (or the readme.txt) into TARGETDIR before starting the normal data transfer.