2 replies to this topic

[shmayek]

Hi

I've created MSI using VS2005. When I install my product and this product (with the same version) is already installed on target machine the installer quits with no message. What I need to is to display message "There is already PRODUCT ver. x.xx installed on your computer". I tried to add custom action which looks for all versions of this product, but installer quits before any CA is called.
Is there any solution for this?

Best regards
shmayek

Edited by shmayek, 02 July 2008 - 11:20.

[VBScab]

The first thing you need is a decent MSI authoring tool. The Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW) serves a basic purpose but for anything beyond that, you'll need a decent tool.

Next, you need an editor for directly editing MSIs, for those occasions where you don't need the "fluff" of the authoring tools. There's Orca - which you probably already have in an MSI if you installed the entire VS suite. I prefer InstEdit but either will suffice.

Next, you need to go to MSDN and research the use of the AppSearch (AS) and LaunchCondition (LC) actions. Basically, AS will populate a property which you can then test with LC. Note that, as VS's PDW has as its base a very elderly version of Wise for Windows Installer, it may well be that it has the same issue which other versions of Wise tools have, even to this day, where these two actions are incorrectly sequenced, such that LC appears before AS. Altering the InstallExecuteSequence and InstallUISequence tables so that AS comes before LC fixes that.

[nan]

I would also recommend you to consider a good MSI authoring tool. Efficient Installers like InstallAware will really help you to solve this problem with its easy-to-use MSIcode script editor. It is really worth trying. InstallAware's powerful MSIcode scripting provides commands and pre-defines variables which will help you get a solution.