Three Dialog Designer questions

[JohnO]

We need a new dialog to specify a folder for the 'User Workspace'. "Ah!", I thought, I can edit the 'destination' dialog, modify it and 'save as' 'userworkspace'. With a bit of native wit and cunning , plus some help from the pdf on basic dialog creation, I have got this mostly working. It appears after the 'destination' dialog, and I can get the folder value chosen.

But...
1. I want the folder tree view to be positioned at the default value. In the 'destination' dialog, this is defined in the Object Behaviour tab as 'Installation Folder'. I can't see where this is defined (not in MSIcode). I need to define an equivalent that will hold the default value of 'User Workspace'. How do I do this?

2. I am using the 'Official' theme, and I saved my new dialog in that folder. However, the background colour has changed from grey to white. I can't find where the background is defined. Where do I specify this?

3. Does a user-defined dialog have to be saved in the folder for its theme? I would prefer to hold it outside, so I won't lose it when upgrading IA.

Regards, John

[FrancescoT]

Dear John,

#1 - In this case, when "Retrive Information from" in the Object Behaviour points to "Installation Folder", it will use the value of TARGETDIR pre-defined variable. If you want to change this behavior; define a custom variable, initialize it to a value, in the dialog Object Behaviour set "Retrive Information from" to "Written Variable Value" and then, enter your custom variable in "Writes value to variable".
In your code, the custom variable must be declared and initialized, before the Destination dialog is shown

#2 - Please check the Color property of your dialog.

#3 - It is recommended to use a separate folder to store your custom dialog themes.

Regards

[JohnO]

Dear Francesco
Thanks for your continuing help. I guess you can tell when I have moved on to a new phase!

#1. I was very close to the solution. Now it works. The Object Behavior tab has 'i' icons, which I thought I had to click to get Help! Is it in plan to add F1 Help to the designer?

#2. I think that the background colour must be set as part of the Theme (Official in my case). If I open the provided 'destination' dialog in the designer and press Test, it has a white background. I'm not completely sure when the window-as-whole has been selected, but when I think it has been, the value for Color is 'cWhite'. Yet when the installer runs, 'destination' has the normal mid-grey background, but my 'userworkspace' is white. It's as though I need to do something more to make it fully part of the Theme. Can you suggest anything?

#3 I will do that.

Regards, John

[FrancescoT]

Dear John,

#1- Yes, it is in our to-do list.

#2- I am sure there is something wrong with the dialogs property ... but not really easy to find out without having your dialog templates ( ... assuming that you correctly used the same color property with both. Try to post them.

Regards

[JohnO]

Dear Francesco
When the target folder does not exist, the behaviour of my new 'User Workspace' Dialog (created from 'destination) is not the same as for 'destination' Dialog, but I want it to be the same.

For the 'destination' Dialog, if the target folder doesn't exist, the path specified is in the text field, and the folder tree view is positioned at the lowest point in the tree that actually exists. Fox example:
- Path defined for $TARGETDIR$ is C:\Apps_x86\rss22X
- The folder view is positioned on C:\Apps_x86

However, for my 'user-workspace', the folder tree view is only ever positioned on a folder, when the full path actually exists. When it doesn't exist, the value that should be shown gets replaced by: 'C:\Users\JohnO\Desktop' in the text field, and this is the folder that the tree view is positioned on. Which is not helpful, as the intended location has been lost. I would like it to work the same way as the 'destination' Dialog.

I display the value for user-workspace in a debug MessageBox just before the user interview starts. So, I know that it has the correct value. Something happens that causes the value in variable to be ignored, and my Desktop location substituted.

I hope you can help me, at least get the specified path displayed in the text field, and preferably, the folder tree working.

Regards, John