Visual Studio Installer (VSI)

[Quiver318]

It would seem that using Visual Studio Installer (VSI) with VB6 is fairly straight forward if you want to make a quick installer (MSI), but is there a way to make custom dialogs with VSI?

The IDE shows many controls on a tool bar such as listviews and radiobuttons, but they are all disabled with no apparent way to use them. The dialogs that you can choose to add to your installer don't seem to be editable except for minor properties such as adding a graphic. The helpfile (which is not so helpful) does not even mention the use of the tool bar or adding other higher custom features, such as limiting an installation to a certain OS version.

Does anyone know how to make custom dialogs who could point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

[dilettante]

You either move to another tool, probably 3rd party, or else rely on editing the MSI database afterward via Orca or scripts.

Part of the reason was that early versions of Windows Installer offered lmited flexibility. Part of it was that VSI 1.0 and 1.1 are early products. I think another part was that Microsoft chose to leave room in the market here for 3rd party products.

Later versions of VSI were part of the .Net-ified Visual Studio and don't offer direct support for VB6.

[Hack]

Moved To Application Deployment

[Quiver318]

You either move to another tool, probably 3rd party, or else rely on editing the MSI database afterward via Orca or scripts.

Thank you for the post.

Are you saying that those many tools that appear on the VSI toolbar are are completely non-functional? Microsoft added them, but there is no code behind them? It is not impossible that they would do that, of course, but it would be odd.

I understand that many functions have to be done using Orca, and I have found that I can explore other MSI files to get some of those functions. Still, I seem to recall a fellow making his own dialogs in VSI, as I had to enter a password to run his installer. His custom dialog had several combo boxes used to dail in the password. I have lost touch with him, however, and cannot ask him how he did that.

[dilettante]

Are you saying that those many tools that appear on the VSI toolbar are are completely non-functional? Microsoft added them, but there is no code behind them? It is not impossible that they would do that, of course, but it would be odd.

Those "many tools" do not even appear unless you choose View|Toolbox, which is pointless when working with VSI projects. Go ahead and close the Toolbox, these aren't the droids you're looking for.

The IDE you are looking at is a shell used for multiple project types including VC++ and Visual InterDev as well as VSI. The controls, server objects, etc. have nothing to do with a VSI project.

It is possible to select and deselect various templated User Interface dialogs in VSI 1.1 and you can do minor customization via each dialog's Properties. That's about it though. Anything further requires the use of another packaging tool, Orca tweaks, or a script or program running against the MSI database.

You might be thinking of the templated dialog discussed in How To Validate a Serial Number During an Installation Created with VSI.

[Quiver318]

Thanks for your followup post, Dilettante. For a moment, I was thinking they were the droids I was looking for. They sure made the same peeping noises, and everything.

I have been tinkering with Inno Setup, and I will probably use that instead of VSI. Once you roll up your sleves and get into the heart of Inno, it is pretty easy to use.

Thanks!

[dilettante]

That might be a good solution for you. I tend to avoid legacy installer technologies like those employed by PDW and Inno Setup these days myself. They aren't supported through GPO distribution, in Vista they've been deprecated with the caution that future OSs may not support them, there is no rollback recovery from a failed installation, uninstalls aren't as clean, and they can't be used to create non-admin per-user install packages that work on Vista.

They do still work however, though with limitations. Lots of people just love Inno Setup and I still use PDW for a lot of hobby programming.

Alternatives to VSI 1.1 include commercial products from Wise as well as free options such as WiX and MAKEMSI.

[Quiver318]

Thanks for the tips on other installers. I will look into them, too.