Feature corruption?

[zim2323]

HELLO!

I'm new to InstallAware. As a company we have used Advanced Installer, but I'm researching other products and their capabilities as our software model has grown. I'm currently running Studio Admin Trial and have run into an issue that is somewhat of a showstopper. We're testing with the latest version 18.08.

We rebuilt one of our current Advanced Installer projects (no conversion/import). Everything was working great until...

Quick Start, with all base files in "All Features" (feature independent).
Two additional features, one of them having 3 subsets to include.
No Start Menu shortcuts, only Desktop shortcuts created. Created in "Feature Independent".
Had a working installer, tested with debug and ran through a non-debug build on a test machine without issue.
Went through a few last minute file cleanup on disk forgetting that they were still attached to the Project.
Started a Single File EXE non-debug build with maximum compression.

Part way through the debug-build it complained about the 3 files I removed, so I went to the Files section to remove them from the Project and NO files were there. ALL the files that I had in "feature independent" were moved to the first available feature, including all the Desktop shortcuts I had associated!!!

Even when I look at the MSICode, most of the code is moved all over the place. I've been unable to find a way to reattach shortcuts and/or files to another feature to put them back where they were. On top of that, deleting and recreating the shortcuts and removing the files from one feature and manually re-adding them "worked", but within the MSICode they are no longer being put in the proper location. I have some custom MSICode that needs to get information from certain dialogs, and some of those happen at certain points that they are moved from. I'd say about 20% of the MSICode has been jumbled from where it should be. Every time I've tried to move it back to where it was and made a change to the Design, it jumbles the MSICode again. Things worked great for 3 days, but now I can't figure out if I'm doing something wrong or if this is a bug.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Chris

[FrancescoT]

Dear Chris,

in all honestly, I've never had a similar experience or received a possible similar report from other users.
For what you report, it seems more like a Virus effect than something wrong on your part.

I really don't know what could be the effective cause of such problem .

Regards

[zim2323]

This wasn't virus activity. It was a direct affect of something in the build process. It only happened after it tried to find a file that didn't exist. I have successfully replicated the issue after the fact by making changes to MSICode. As long as I don't touch/add/modify anything in Design it's fine. As soon as I make a change, it breaks MSICode.


Either way, how do you reassociate/move a file/shortcut from one feature to another? That code is either hidden from MSICode, or I'm missing it in the Design.

[FrancescoT]

Dear Chris,

from MSI code you can easily assign a file or shortcut to a feature.

Example;

Code: Select all

Get Component Feature B Selection State into Variable SELECTED
if Variable SELECTED Equals TRUE
   Install Files \AppFiles\  Get Component Feature B Selection State into Variable SELECTED
  if Variable SELECTED Equals TRUE
    Install Files \AppFiles\B.txt to $TARGETDIR$
  end
to $TARGETDIR$
end


With the above code, the installation of the file "B.txt" is assigned to feature "B".

It is also available a ready to use "Feature sample" project from the link: http://www.installaware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6772

Hope this helps you.

Regards

[zim2323]

***FYI...looks like you're code has a double-paste of the first 2 lines of code.

Sure that works to verify the file is written when/in the right place, but that still doesn't answer the question of how you actually re-assign a file/shortcut/etc to a feature/component so that it's seen in DESIGN VIEW. I assume the whole point of Design View is to get a visual picture of what's happening in the code. If I do something in code that overwrites what I would see in Design, then I expect Design to reflect that. Advanced Installer does this beautifully. So far, this is the one glaring issue I have with InstallAware. Not trying to knock the product, but just pointing out the usability for what we do. With Advanced Installer, and many other products I've tested, I am able to drag-drop or reassign any file/component to any other feature. InstallAware is the first I've used that does not allow this, let alone even give you the ability to change it.

It should be noted that from a MSICode view, while many pieces are moved around, the componenet/feature sections are still somewhat intact, in that they still have their base code, as I have not changed them. It seems that all the files are set to install in the proper components based on MSICode, but that is not the case for Design.

I have a "ComponentA" feature that had 1 folder that had 1 file in it originally, but now has ALL the files/folders and shortcuts that were in "Feature Independent". In MSICode, they still show in "[Offline Content]" with no feature designation.

I want to see in Design exactly what I have in MSICode and vice-versa. I don't want to "know" that I'm writing code to a feature when in Design it looks like it's writing someplace completely different.

Either way, how do you code to write to Feature Independent? Is it best practice to not do that and assign a Default type of feature?

Thanks!
Chris

[FrancescoT]

Dear Chris,

***FYI...looks like you're code has a double-paste of the first 2 lines of code.

You are right ... it was an error and I have just correct it.

For what concerns you question, I believe there was misunderstanding.

If you use the above approach through the MSI code, the IA design view will be automatically updated to reflect the feature inclusion changes.
That said and having the following code;

Code: Select all

  Get Component Feature B Selection State into Variable SELECTED
  if Variable SELECTED Equals TRUE
    Create Shortcut $SHORTCUTFOLDER$\Uninstall #TITLE# to $UNINSTALLLINK$
    Install Files \AppFiles\B.txt to $TARGETDIR$
  end


The design view will show the above shortcut and file as part of the Feature B with the IA Desisign view.
I may suggest you to verify if the "Filter Files by Feature" flag has been checked during your testing.

IA file ide.png (21.69 KiB) Viewed 10494 times

IA shortcuts ide.png (40.56 KiB) Viewed 10494 times

Regards

[zim2323]

Your answer was not misunderstood.

I am explaining exactly as you have coded. As I stated, all of my files and shortcuts listed in the [OFFLINE CONTENT] region are still listed in "Feature A" of Design. In the Design view, they should be listed in "Feature Independent".

I just tried to create a shortcut in "Feature Independent" and in the MSICode, it did NOT place the code in [OFFLINE CONTENT], rather it put it several pages up in the following:

label: Custom Setup
Display Dialog: componentstree (if variable PERSONALIZED is TRUE), wait for dialog to return (modal)
Create Shortcut $DESKTOPDIR$\MyProgram to $TARGETDIR$\MyProgram.exe
Get Component New Setting Selection State into Variable NEWSETTING
if Variable WIZARD Equals BACK....


This is several pages up in the "Setup User Interview" region, versus down in the "Perform First Time or Maintenance Installation" region. Again, all I did was create a shortcut in "Feature Independent" to an EXE file in the $TARGETDIR$ and then searched for it in the code. If I cut that code out and paste it in the [OFFLINE CONTENT] section, then the shortcut is moved to "Feature A".


I should clarify, that I've gone through my code and verified that files that were originally assigned to a specific feature were not affected. It was ONLY the "Feature Independent" associations that were merged with the first feature in the component list. If I clean up the code or reload from backup and move another feature to the top of the list, then it merges with that feature. If move any shortcut or file to anything other than "Feature Independent", then it moves in Design. If I move that file or shortcut back to [OFFLINE CONTENT] then it moves back to "Feature A"

This is why I asked the question if I should not use "Feature Independent", but rather create a "Default" feature to put base files in.

[zim2323]

Since I can no longer use "Feature Independent", I'm going to take use of the built-in commands to lock down a feature. So here's what I've done to try and correct the problem so I don't have to copy paste into a new project.

I created a new feature called "Default". The following is the MSICode:

Define Component: Default
Do not allow user to select or deselect Component: Default
Select Component: Default
Hide Component: Default

I then moved all of the Install Files and Create Shortcut from [OFFLINE CONTENT] and moved them to [DEFINE WEB MEDIA Default]

I "guess" problem solved, but I'd still like to know why the Design view is not displaying content in the proper component, as defined in MSICode.

[FrancescoT]

Dear ,

I am very very sorry, but I am really not able to follow your problem.

Could you release a dummy project along with a description of what you expect and what you instead suspect is wrong with features (... along with the steps required to replicate your findings)?


Regards

[zim2323]

I'm assuming there's a language barrier issue here, because I feel I've laid it out quite plainly. I'll try to simplify...

1) All files and shortcuts I add to "Feature Independent" in the Design view, end up in an obscure part of the MSICode during the "interview process", NOT after the [OFFLINE CONTENT] Web Block. If I move those Install Files and Shortcuts after [OFFLINE CONTENT], then in the Design view they are removed from "Feature Independent" and put into the first feature, "Feature A".
2) If I add files and shortcuts to ANY other feature in the Design view, then they indeed are added in the MSICode after the specific Web Block intended.
3) I have corrected the issue by creating a Default feature and set it unchangeable and invisible to the user. I just can't use Feature Independent[OFFLINE CONTENT] anymore.

My question from the start has been, WHY does the Feature Independent Design view not show what it did originally? Why does it place it in the wrong section of MSICode, It doesn't even put it someplace relevant.

[FrancescoT]

Dear Chris,

it is not a fact language barrier, it's instead that I can't replicate the behavior you seems to have with using features.

That's the reason why I was asking for a project that replicates the issue.

independently by the feature selected from the IA, Files or Shortucts will be placed within the "[DEFINE REGION: Perform First Time or Maintenance Installation]" and never within the "[DEFINE REGION: Setup User Interview]" of the main script file.

That said, it's definitively VERY STRANGE the problem you are reporting.

Question;
Are you sure you used a correct personal license to activate your IA product?

"Using different versions of license installers and trial downloads can wreak havoc with the IDE and the setup engine, out-of-sync versions will cause a lot of random issues with your setups purely due to engine/compiler/script version mismatches and cannot be supported by technical support."

Regards