InstallAware

Please read my topic - V7.8

Does anyone know what these updates do in any detail.

I can't find any notes *anywhere* on the subject.

Please read the What's New section in the help file.

I'm blind and dumb and just plain stupid.

I can't find anywhere that telles me what 7.8 introduces or fixes and the quick release of 7.9 with no information at all and so quickly after 7.8 can only leave me with the feeling that 7.8 introduced something I should have been aware of.

CandiceJones wrote:Please read the What's New section in the help file.

Is the help file available anywhere other than AFTER installing Installaware? A download link somewhere that I may have missed?

It sort of defeats the purpose when a company is trying to decide whether to update their machines if they can't find out what is in the update until after it's installed.

Perhaps someone who has taken the jump to 7.9 will oblige the rest of us by posting it here... hint hint

Perhaps someone who has taken the jump to 7.9 will oblige the rest of us by posting it here... hint hint

I upgraded and still can't find any details of why I did - I certainly can't find it in the Help file.

It APPEARS they may have fixed the bug with regards to truncating and formatting text in the Upgrade notification boxes but only time will confirm whether I will need to re-activate this subject.

BTW: The history exposed by these peer-to-peer groups would indicate that Installaware don't take hints - or even read them.

We certainly follow these groups If we ever miss anything, just email us to bring them to our attention.

I'll give you a brief update on the major enhancements on these new releases. There's more, below is just a brief summary based on what you've asked:

7.8:
o The Get INI File Settings command has been expanded to work with more than 256 characters successfully. This means the update truncation will not occur any more.
o The installer cache for web builds can now be customized. This is very helpful for large setups (as in gigabytes of data) as now when the system drive lacks sufficient space, a custom location can be used.
o The IDE design views now all support feature based customization. You could also previously customize for features using MSIcode, but now you can do so directly using the IDE design views.
o Further connection issues with SQL Servers which were not addressed in version 7.7 are now also fixed.
o 64 bit Integer conversion support for the Mathematics command, meaning you can now work with 64 bit Integers.
o Run As has been fixed to work when supplied alternate user credentials on operating systems newer than NT4.

7.9:
o Full native IIS7 support. We recently had lots of requests for this in the forums and as you can see, we've listened to bring this to you within just two weeks of your forum requests.
o The IDE Assemblies design view now sports three new check-boxes to automatically run regasm, ngen, and installutil on your assemblies. The design view correctly inserts both install and uninstall time code for these options. Again you could do this in MSIcode, but now the IDE does it for you automatically.

Thanks Candice for this information however you have still not addressed the core issue of this post - where is this information available.

It is not in the Help file nor anywhere else that I can find.

It's great to see the truncation problem fixed and this would be a great place to start communicating with us from - at least as far as notifying us of updates.

Your final line in the update information is that Update information is available on your Blog (and the're not) . Why didn't it read (for example) .. Full details available at http://www.installaware.com/blog/iaUpdates.html .

Probably not the time or place to bring this up Candice but the main web site, support site and blog are all a mass of duplicated items. The blogs creation appears to be an amaturish attempt to get higher Google rankings to me .

Factually false:

1) Our blog contains useful, step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish real world tasks (ex: run third party MSI); provides upcoming news on InstallAware features (ex: MSI 4.5 features); and the like.
2) The help file What's New section contains most of the information above that I provided above, and more.
3) Our community center provides a central repository of new plugin and runtime downloads (ex: Visual Studio 2008 runtime updates pack, free plug-ins built by the community, and more).

Some information will obviously be duplicated, but you're grossly exxagerating. I understand you've been frustrated, but the "core issue" of my post was to provide the information you're asking for, and not start a rant. Instead of taking this information, you've made comments on what you think to be our amateurish attempts at Google rankings.

Some customers prove to be inconsolable no matter what we try. I'd recommend you keep your further posts on-topic or you WILL be banned from these forums permanently and without further warning.

Candice,

Your comments have nothing to do with the subject of this topic and I am loath to get drawn into a debate on IA's corporate policies - particularly via these forums which I presume are hosted by IA themselves. I presume you are aware that IA were closing these forums down some time ago and whilst there are not a huge number of contributors to the site, there has been some people express concerns as to the loss of them. Including from myself.

My small departure from the topic and reference to duplication was not meant to offend - I am sure Microsoft and many other companies within the industry have a major duplication of information on their various sites.

1) Our blog contains useful, step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish real world tasks (ex: run third party MSI); provides upcoming news on InstallAware features (ex: MSI 4.5 features); and the like.

This is true - almost all the same information can also be found on your main web site as well as the support site. My statement was one of fact - ie much information is duplicated or even triplicated. This becomes very evident when one starts searching for information - in this case "What's in the updates".

2) The help file What's New section contains most of the information above that I provided above, and more.

This I asume is also true but ignores the question asked ie what's in 7.8 or 7.9 or 7.1 or 7.2 etc. - Also, this information should be available BEFORE installation and not AFTER. This issue was raised by someone else [GlenG] - not me.

I'd recommend you keep your further posts on-topic or you WILL be banned from these forums permanently and without further warning.

How on earth can you conclude that my post is OFF-TOPIC!!!

I am not about to editorialise on the quality of peer-to-peeer support provided via these forums as it is self-evident. Also, I was under the impression that these forums were for the dissemination of information and help on a peer-to-peer basis. Something that I have always abided by.

Candice - if you are personally offended by my comment - I apologise .

I have no real idea why you maintain 3 web portals and I apologise here and now for casting aspertions on on whatever reasons you have for doing so.

I would hope any further discussion on my attitude and reasons for such can be discussed elsewhere as you have my email address.

The questions raised in this topic ie What's New as well as the availability of that specific information remain of course to be answered and I look forward to hearing from someone who may know the answers.

glenharvy wrote:The questions raised in this topic ie What's New as well as the availability of that specific information remain of course to be answered and I look forward to hearing from someone who may know the answers.

Surely you're joking? Don't you see my detailed answer above?

Candice,

The upgrade notification said there were details as to what was included in the upgrade (ie 7.9) on your blog.

I can't find them there or, as I said before, am I blind?

Am I to assume that IA are not going to post the information on their blog - or anywhere else other than buried in the Help file that you get after you install the upgrade?

Just a simple answer is all that was required. Like - Yes, we're a bit behind and it should be posted in a day or two. Or perhaps, Sorry, it was supposed to be on our Support site's Knowledgebase but we goofed. Or even, it is not our policy to give out detailed information as to bug fixes.

Is no one from IA going to answer GlenG's question:

Is the help file available anywhere other than AFTER installing Installaware? A download link somewhere that I may have missed?

It sort of defeats the purpose when a company is trying to decide whether to update their machines if they can't find out what is in the update until after it's installed.

I'm moving on Candice - It seems I'm not getting anywhere with my questions. I'll just stick to emailing support everytime I want to know something - I usually get a good response and help from them.

For anyone that's interested, this is a cut and past as to what is in the Help file that came with 7.9. I presume you can download the installation file and could have got the chm that way. If there is any more information regarding the upgrade then you'll have to find it yourself:

InstallAware 7 Release 2 contains the following new features and enhancements for developing Windows Installer setups.

IDE

The IDE now substitutes pre-defined system folders with standard MSIcode variables when importing registry entries from COM objects or .REG files. You will still need to make sure that the MSIcode variables substituted by the IDE have been defined by your setup (in case they have not been previously defined).
The IDE now lets you connect directly to the InstallAware Community Center to download new application runtimes or new plug-ins which have been authored by InstallAware or third parties.
The Files and Registry design views now support recursive delete operations on the files, folders, and registry keys being installed.
The Shortcuts, Assemblies, File Associations, ODBC, Services, Environment Variables, Access Control, Drivers, IIS Sites, Shared Folders, SQL Databases, and Scheduled Tasks design views now allow creating and filtering design view elements by setup features.
The Assemblies design view now allows generating native images, registering assemblies for COM Interop, and invoking .NET installer classes on listed assemblies through conveniently located check-boxes.
Tools and Libraries

The underlying technology for connecting to SQL servers such as Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server has been updated.
The built-in update script has been updated to correctly remove previously downloaded update information upon application uninstallation.
The DIFx Driver Install plug-in now performs driver installations using Driver Installation Frameworks 2.1.
Setup Engine

The setup compiler features four new optimization switches for shortening setup build times and improving Windows Installer runtime performance. These switches are also accessible from the command line build tool.
The setup engine has now been optimized to scale for very large setups and provides an approximate 80%-90% runtime performance enhancement for projects involving a lot of MSIcode commands and variables.
The setup engine now waits until the Windows Installer service is available, instead of aborting installation with an error message, when another Windows Installer based setup is in progress. The wait can be cancelled by the end-user if so desired.
The setup engine now compresses its installer cache folder on NTFS volumes, saving disk space, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $MYAH_COMPRESS_INSTALLER_CACHE$.
The setup engine can now disable Windows Installer rollback to improve runtime setup performance, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $MYAH_DISABLE_ROLLBACK$.
The setup engine can now disable Windows Vista's Restart Manager to improve runtime setup performance, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $MYAH_DISABLE_VISTA_RESTART_MANAGER$.
The setup engine no longer aborts on missing variables (such as persistent variables which cannot be reloaded because of a missing installer cache) - instead, such variables are re-initialized on the fly with an empty initial value.
The setup engine now connect to remote IIS metabases, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $IISHOST$.
The setup engine can now use a custom installer cache location, as controlled by the new pre-defined variable $OVERRIDECACHE$.
The setup engine can now natively work with IIS 7 web servers without requiring the IIS 6 compatibility interface. However, remote IIS functionality is only available in IIS 6 mode.
Setup User Interface

When their Writes Values to Variable Object Behavior is empty, Memo and RichEdit controls now indicate if they have been scrolled all the way to the end by setting their MaxLength property to 2147483647 (the default value for this property is 0). This feature may be used when you need to build dialog boxes for your license agreement (and readme) files, and you require the end-user to read all of the information in the dialog (possibly in addition to checking an "I Agree" box) before moving to the next dialog.
The Panel dialog control now properly resolves variables used within its Caption property.
Updated Scripting Commands

The Generate Native Images command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the assembly being imaged. It also offers a flag to delete previously generated native images.
The Register Assembly command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the assemby being registered. It also offers a flag to unregister an assembly.
The Register Library command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the library being registered.
The Run Program command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the application being run. A custom startup folder may be specified using the Run Program As command.
The Run .NET Installer Class command now sets its startup folder to the same folder as the installer class being run.

You may want to attach the CHM itself (that is, unless you're trying to corrupt the forum ).

Nowhere does our 7.9 update notification mention the availability of any kind of details on our blog. This is the EXACT update text:

This is a recommended update for all InstallAware users. In addition to resolving issues reported for this version, this update provides enhancements to product features taken from top user requests. Note: This major new upgrade requires a current license for InstallAware 7.

The Windows Installer 4.5 update does indeed suggest visiting our blog - which is why you're probably still ranting. For your convenience, here's the EXACT update text of the MSI 4.5 update:

This free update includes a new Windows Installer 4.5 Application Runtime, as well as a new MSI Transaction MSIcode command. For more information, please visit the InstallAware blog.

Maybe a little more due diligence before your next rant would be in order...

7.9.1:

o You may now manually set an UAC elevation level - asInvoker, highestAvailable (the previous default), and requireAdministrator.

o When setup is running elevated, you may now use the Run Program As command to start your own application WITHOUT elevation (provided, of course, that the original invoker was not elevated).

o You may now check for process elevation state using the Get System Settings command. This will help you distinguish between pseudo-admin and elevated-admin states on Vista while setup is running (the regular admin check succeeds on pseudo-admin).