file association issue

[alexius.luke]

Hi All,

We allow MyProduct 1.0 and MyProduct 2.0 install as individual products by creating different product codes.

I have a problem with the file association of .myext

When MyProduct 1.0 is installed myfile.myext opens using MyProduct 1.0\MyProgram.exe
When MyProduct 2.0 is installed after MyProduct 1.0 is installed, it overwrites the file association and myfile.myext opens using MyProduct 2.0\MyProgram.exe
All fine till here.

Now I uninstall My Product 1.0. It removes the file association completely. So though I have My Product 2.0, windows does not open myfile.myext using that.

Can anyone point to me any different way of configuring file association where-in the association to multiple software's are retained when one is removed.

-Alex

[giaviv]

Hi Alex,

Unfortunately, this is a Windows thing.

You might want to try to manually add the extension before the Apply Changes (uninstall) call.

[alexius.luke]

Thanks. But visual studio based setup project creates Setup files which seems to be more intelligent in this aspect.

If I have the same scenario. The installer there would add an additional key in the registry under the main file association key and store the history of associations in an encrypted string.
When MyProduct 1.0 is uninstalled, the one association is removed from that list and the latest association from that list is copied to the registry key that is meant for feeding the current file association.
Then when MyProduct 2.0 is uninstalled, the remaining association is removed from the list and since there is no more, it removes the complete file association related keys.

Any idea if InstallAware is missing this logic in its file association related script building logic.

-Alex

[giaviv]

Alex,

The problem is that there is only one association - which is removed upon uninstallation. Therefore, try creating the association again after the uninstallation.

[alexius.luke]

Hi,

the problem is that now we are into the 2.0 version and we have already released our 1.0 version. We can make intelligent scripts in the 2.0 installers. But anything that happens due to uninstalling of 1.0 version is based on the old installers that wont have these intelligent scripts to recreate the file associations.

If you can confirm that there is not other settings in the InstallAware that can notify windows about other associations for the same file type, then I will have to think of alternatives. Any suggestions are welcome.

-Alex

[giaviv]

Alex,

Unfortunately, other than manually writing these entries if deleted, there is no option to make sure that they are persistent.

[alexius.luke]

Thanks. I'll leave it there.