Best way to run external setup.exe (InstallShield setup)

[mbuckaway]

As part of our application installation, we install another application. It is created outside our division and as do not have access to the source or the InstallSheild project. We are given a set of files on a CDROM image and must run their setup.exe as part of our installation. This installer is small and does not take up much space.

This works fine as part of our older InstallShield install. The older installer includes these files as part of the package, re-creates the directory structure of the CDROM in the supportdir, moves the files into this directory, and executes a silent install. This works. I should note, that we are only responsible for installing the application and we are not responsible for uninstalling it. The InstallShield installer does the uninstall.

I'm trying to duplicate the feature with InstallAware, and I am not having much luck. I've included the files for this setup as part of the support files in my project. After Apply Install executes and does the work of installing our application, it tries to move the files around, and run setup.exe as a silent install. What I am finding is that the Create Folder and Copy Files command do nothing:

Create Folder $SUPPORTDIR$\\TMP
Create Folder $SUPPORTDIR$\\TMP\\BW
Copy/Move Local Files $SUPPORTDIR$\\setup.exe to $SUPPORTDIR$\\TMP
...etc....

The directories are not being created. If I change the target to a another directory, the same thing happens. I know this happens because I've put a message box before the Run Program command that executes setup.exe.

I am curious as to what I am doing wrong. Is there a better way to accomplish the same task?

Thanks,
Mark

[MichaelNesmith]

Hi Mark,

InstallAware 101 - purple commands are not applied until Apply Install is called. I understand from your description that you are actually calling the additional commands after Apply Install has been called, so a second application is necessary.

However, this is a sub-optimal method to do things, as you can see. The recommended approach is to:

1) Use the File Bag command to add the setup files to your project - file bag can be multiple files, folders, and subfolders.

2) Directly execute the setup from the folder that the File Bag command returns at runtime for its live bag location.

This way, files are not copied to the target system unnecessarily, the IS files are modular, and automatically removed from the system after your master setup quits.

[mbuckaway]

I knew I missed something. I used the filebag and run my external setup directly, and it works fine.

Thanks,

Mark