Showing external bitmap in the install dialog

andrejzr · Post by **andrejzr** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 4:24 am

Hi,

I wonder, if it would be possible to display a bitmap in the installation user interface, which is not "fixed". What I mean is that this bitmap is not defined during design time of the dialog, rather I would read it by the script (if possible) and set it to the image control of the dialog.

If this is not possible, is there maybe an alternative way to provide a DFM file as an external file, and call "Display Dialog" for this DFM (which is not included as the installation dialog)?

I came to this second idea, because it is possible to build a script using a "Display dialog" command, that has an "invalid" dialog name - one that does not exist in the project.

Why I need this? My intention is to have one installer (built, tested, etc.), and by providing an additional file on the same location (bitmap file or DFM file), the install script would slighthly "customize" the appearance of the installation - show this bitmap or dialog during installation. This allows me to make "customized" installers without haveing to rebuild the original one.

Any hint woul dbe welcome.

Thanks
Andrej

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:56 am

Hi Andrej,

I think you should be able to play with the DFM files inside $SUPPORTDIR$ at runtime to achieve this effect. So make plain Win32 API calls using Call DLL Function and the kernel32.dll functions CopyFileA, MoveFileA, etc. - and rename DFM files from one name to another. I think as long as everything is inside $SUPPORTDIR$ by the time Display Dialog is called, this ought to work well.

andrejzr · Post by **andrejzr** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:57 am

Hi Michael,

After trying to implement change of DFM file in SUPPORTDIR, it looks like IA is loading all DFM files at the very beginning. If the DFM file is changed later, it does not have any effect.

Is my understanding correct?

If so, it looks like there is no way to achieve my goal; I'll have to do it somehow different. If you have a wish list, maybe you can put support for showing a variable graphics in the dialog on it (maybe a variable could hold the name of a graphics file on the SUPPORTDIR, and when assigning this to the image, it would be displayed on the runtime). Just a suggestion.

Of course, if you have any other idea how to change a dialog or show an external graphics in a "regular" dialog, I am still interested to hear about it.

Thanks
Andrej

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:47 am

Ah, this is true! Apologies for misleading you. The dialogs are indeed loaded and cached during setup initialization. I will log this as a wish in our database.