5 replies to this topic

[arlorose]

Hey all, I hope someone can give me a hand.

I'm using the InstallShield DevStudio 9 evaluation, and am trying to build the basic installer for my product before I buy it (so I know if it's worth the money or not). If I can't make this do what I want, I need to hand the install task back to my engineer who will use a basic MSI.

Having never used InstallShield but spending the last day diving into it, I get the impression that just about anything is possible... you just need to keep at it 'till you figure it out, that said, here's what I can't figure out:

1) I'm using a custom skin (hence the need from DevStudio rather than Express), and my installer seems to be using SdLicense2, yet there's no SdLicense2 to edit in the Dialogs list. I've tried making my script point to SdLicense, but it complains about too many arguments, and I don't know how and where the arguments match up to the dialog, otherwise I'd remove 'em. But in all honesty, I'd rather edit SdLicense2, or better yet, and RTF version (if I can figure out how to edit non-standard dialog layouts).

2) After an hour of poking around, I was able to find where to change the .ico file for my installer's resulting standalone app one, but a) The name of the file doesn't stick (not a big deal, I can change it by hand after I build it) and I don't see where to edit the company name, or other info that shows up in the Explorer Properties Dialog.

3) Does anyone know if the little InstallShield logo that auto-inserts itself into the bottom left hand corner of my Skin is because I'm using a not-yet licensed version? If not, how do I tell my skin not to render it?


These are least important as my product may just do this itself on its first run, but here goes anyway:

4) How do I assign a folder a custom icon during the install? Is this something I can do by hand beforehand? (You'll have to excuse me, I'm a Mac guy and really new to how Windows system stuff works)

5) How do I tell my installer to install a folder in the User's "My Documents" folder? Is the answer localizable?

And finally...

6) How do I tell the installer to open a specific folder (the one I want to stick into "My Documents") at the end of the install?

Whew!

After almost 17 hours of using InstallShield today, these are the questions I'm left with. :-)

This installer is for the Windows version of my product Konfabulator.

Thanks in advance for any help!


Cheers,
Arlo Rose

[Stefan Krueger]

1) not sure why the SdLicense2 dialog isn't listed in the dialog editor. But you can find the parameters for the SdLicense dialpg in the online help.

2) a) You should be able to set this in the Releases view under Single Exe File Name. B) I believe the company information is taken from the General Information -> Product Properties dialog.

3) The InstallShield logo in the lower left corner of your skins is enforced by InstallShield. There is no way to avoid this branding.

4) I believe you need to copy a special file Desktop.ini (hidden file) into that folder.

5) The system variable FOLDER_PERSONAL should be what you need.

6) may be possible calling LaunchApp and passing in the path to the folder instead of an executable.

[arlorose]

Cool... thanks for the help... looking at the online script example for SdLicense (and looking more closely at the build errors) shed some light on how I needed to alter it to make it work... that part is working great now!

However, I'm still not able to get my Installer name to stick, it continues to revert back to "Setup.exe", and "General Information -> Product Properties" let you alter your product's properties, but not the intaller's.

My installer's resulting exe continues to look like this:


I see that some of the skins have better looking InstallShield logos in the bottom left hand corner... is there some super secret way of getting this better looking one to show up?

Thanks again for the help, I only wish InstallShield's support had a form, or area where not-yet registered users could get answers to their questions. :-)


Cheers,
Arlo Rose

[Stefan Krueger]

You can set the name of the self extracting executable at Media -> Releases -> <Your Release Name> -> Single Exe File Name. If you don't use a self extracting (single file) setup then I believe you cannot change the name of setup.exe

The "nice" InstallShield logo is only available in the default skins. As soon as you touch them with the skin tool that InstallShield text will get added automatically.

At http://mysupport.installshield.com you can ask questions even if you're an evaluation user.

[arlorose]

It turned out that my XML file had a bad node in it which is why my app name wasn't sticking.

I went to add another item via "Files and Folders" and the "Destination computer's folders" tree had a really strange entry in it. When I deleted the entry, InstallShield crashed, and when I reopened, and re-added my project files, all seemed to be well. Suddenly it started building with the correct app name.

This hasn't been a pleasant experience at all. I'm glad they let you evaluate the product for a couple of weeks... I just wish you get get all the time you wasted back at the end of it.

Despite the fact that the installer I came up with was starting to look amazing, I think sticking with the MSI one and letting my engineer deal with the hassle is probably the way to go. People only see the installer for a tiny amount of time, it looking good doesn't need to be a high priority.

Stefan, thanks for the help! :-)


Cheers,
Arlo Rose

[Ozone]

To arlorose,