P&D Wizard desktop shortcut problem

Hi,

I have tried to solve this problem myself, I am here as last resort.

My VB6 application can create a desktop icon during setup which is great, but the P&D wizard doesn't create the program's .exe file in the folder the user selected. My program creates the desktop shortcut in XP but an error was created in Vista that said "unable to create desktop shortcut"....

I have read tutorials on editing the P&D wizard setup code, and it seems correct. Maybe I haven't edited the setup.lst file properly. The Group1=DESKTOP and [DESKTOP] headings is text I have added myself from tutorials.

Also, my program's icon image is not "linked" to the desktop shortcut, perhaps this will work once my
program's .exe file is saved in the installation folder.

Here is my Setup.lst code:

Quote:

---

[IconGroups]
Group0=Client_Master
PrivateGroup0=-1
Parent0=$(Programs)

Group1=DESKTOP
PrivateGroup1=-1
Parent1=$(Programs)

[Client Master]
Icon1="Client_Master.exe"
Title1=Client Master
StartIn1=$(AppPath)

[DESKTOP]
Icon1="Client_Master.exe"
Title1=Client Master
StartIn1=$(AppPath)

[Setup]
Title=Client Master
DefaultDir=$(ProgramFiles)\Client Master
AppExe=Client_Master.exe
AppToUninstall=Client_Master.exe

---

Where does the setup create the executable file?

The setup doesn't create an executable file in the installation folder. The only executable file I can see is the desktop shortcut. It seems the desktop shortcut is looking for the .exe file in the installation folder, (because the file path to the main .exe file is correct)...

I followed this website: http://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/s...43727&lngWId=1

The last comment on this page says ""..\..\Desktop" and fCreateShellLink no longer okay on some systems like Vista. Instead, one should create desktop shortcut using other means, e.g. Windows Script Host Object Model.
And, in order to automatically have the shortcut removed on program uninstall, write the shortcut link file to ST6UNINST."

That is why I have trouble creating a desktop shortcut in Vista.

Windows Application Guidelines have long suggested you avoid creating desktop shortcuts anyway. This is the most likely reason the PDW doesn't support them. I find them annoying myself when DivX, Acrobat Reader, etc. dump them on there and almost always immediately remove them.


If you come up with a working technique in code to create one, you might look at the Project in:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\Wizards\PDWizard\Setup1

Copy that project and alter it to create a custom setup1.exe to use when packaging with the PDW.


If you have Visual Studio 6.0 Installer 1.1 (the free 1999 replacement for the PDW, no longer available from Microsoft Downloads) you can probably do what you want with that. Quality 3rd party packagers can also do such things, being based on Windows Installer technology themselves.

I'd avoid looking at additional 3rd party legacy scriptable installers though. Many of them can be fairly hazardous to the health of your target systems. I am quite tired of cleaning up after bad and broken "Inno Setup" installs and uninstalls - they can easily break other applications. That can be a powerful tool but it can also be like a chainsaw that has no safety devices on it. You have to be hypervigilant to create a safe package with it.