Sequential Setup Factory installs

[cmwright]

We use our own sequential installer program which automatically runs several installers (which we currently create using InstallShield) one after another.

We are currently evaluating Setup Factory 5.0 as a replacement for InstallShield (with which we are totally fed up). However, when a Setup Factory installer starts, it seems to run one program which then runs another and quits immediately. This means that our sequential installer program ends up running all the installers at the same time, rather than one after another, resulting in hundreds of error messages popping up.

Is there a way to make a Setup Factory installer block its caller until it has finished? We found a way to do it in InstallShield but I can't find any way of doing it in Setup Factory.

If Setup Factory is not capable of this behaviour, it's unfortunately not going to be very useful. This would be a shame, as we are otherwise very impressed with its features and usability, and it's top of our list at the moment.

If this behaviour is not currently supported by Setup Factory, would you consider adding it as a new feature? InstallShield has an option in the Setup.ini file (CmdLine=/SMS) which works for us.

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Chris Wright

[Mark]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

Hi,
I'm not exactly sure what functionality you need. Basically when you execute a SETUP.EXE created with Setup Factory the executable will extract all the compressed files into the users TEMP directory, launch the install executable that was extracted, and then quit. I believe that is the problem that you are having? That your sequential installer thinks that the Setup Factory install has completed with the EXE that extracts the files has quit, but the actual install is still occurring.
If this is your problem, then currently there is no way to "shut" this off, or "block its caller".
If I have misunderstood your request please clarify, otherwise I will pass what I understand on as a suggestion.

mark.

[cmwright]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

Yes, that's exactly the problem we're having. It would be really useful if you could include this "shut off" facility to stop the first program quitting until the installer has finished.

In our automatic installer program we wait for each installer to finish using WaitForSingleObject with a handle to the process obtained using OpenProcess. If the VC++ source code for this would be useful to your development team please let me know and I can e-mail it to you.

How quickly could this feature be implemented?

Thanks.

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Chris Wright

[Mark]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

Hi,
If it helps you at all, the second process that is started is called IRSetup, so perhaps you could wait for that to complete as well?
The ability to extract the setup files and not execute them should be available within about a month, so at that time you should be able to accomplish what you want.

mark.

[cmwright]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

I can't think of a way to wait for the IRSetup process to finish at the moment.

However, adding the option for the files to be extracted without IRSetup being started will be very useful, as I would then be able write a small program which runs the main Setup.exe, then runs IRSetup and waits for it to finish before quitting.

I look forward to this feature being available very soon!

Thanks for your help.

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Chris Wright

[simric98]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

I have a similar problem launching setup.exe from a batch file using start /wait. As I need to install 3 apps in a row with no user prompts, only static text messages displayed. If you could make setup.exe wait for irsetup to complete before exiting it would be great.

[cmwright]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

Yes, that would be the ideal solution. Come on IndigoRose, it can't be that difficult to do!

Anyway, since my last post we've bought Setup Factory and built several setups with it very quickly and easily.

To make them work properly with our sequential installer, I came up with the following procedure. It works for us and isn't as bad as it looks, so give it a go!

1. Build the setup and output it to "C:\Temp\Setup.exe".

2. Open a Windows Explorer window and make a new folder inside C:\Temp. Rename it "My Setup" (or whatever you want to call it).

3. Make a copy of the "Setup.exe" file into the new folder (make sure you copy it rather than moving it).

4. Run Setup.exe from its original location (C:\Temp). This extracts the setup files into the Windows temporary folder and starts the setup.

5. When the setup has started, press the Windows key on your keyboard and the task bar should appear. Activate the Windows Explorer window.

6. Go to your Windows temporary folder ("C:\Windows\Temp" on Windows 98). Display its contents in "details" view and click on the "Modified" column header to sort the files in date order, newest first.

7. Select your extracted setup files. They will probably be named as follows:

irimg1.bmp
irsetup.dat
irsetup.exe
irsetup.ini
irsetup.uni
suf5lng.0

There may be additional files in your setup, which you can identify by them having the same date and time as those above. Anyway, make sure you select ALL the files for your setup.

8. Copy (not move) the selected files into the new folder you created in C:\Temp.

9. In your new folder, double-click on "irsetup.ini". It should open in a new Notepad window.

10. In the line starting with "FileArc=", delete the path which preceeds the file name so you're left with this:

FileArc=SETUP.EXE

11. Close the Notepad window, saving the changes you made to the file.

12. Select all the files in your new folder. Right-click on them to display the Properties window.

13. In the Attributes area, switch on Read-only (so it has a black tick-mark). Close the Properties window. This stops the pre-extracted files being deleted when your setup program quits.

14. Re-activate your setup program and cancel it.

That's it. In your new folder in C:\Temp you should now have all the files needed to run your setup. You can move this folder wherever you like and it will still run.

IMPORTANT: To run this setup, execute irsetup.exe, NOT Setup.exe.

This procedure has to be done for each of your setups, and repeated each time you rebuild a setup. However, it allows you to execute multiple Setup Factory setups one after the other successfully.

I hope this helps everyone who has experienced this problem until IndigoRose make our lives easier!!

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Chris Wright

[This message has been edited by cmwright (edited 02-23-2001).]

[Mark]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

Hi,
I suggest that everyone goes and downloads the patch to the newest version of Setup Factory, v5.0.1.4, from: http://www.indigorose.com/setup/update.html, I believe you will be pleased with some of the changes made.
This is from the README.TXT:
- /W = Wait for setup to complete before shutting down the launcher. This option is useful if you are running the setup from another program and want to wait for the entire setup to complete before returning control to the calling process.
So now if you want to run multiple installations and use the "Wait For Program to end" option, you will simply have to start the second installation and pass it "/W".

mark.

[cmwright]

Re: Sequential Setup Factory installs

The v5.0.1.4 update solves my original problem. Thanks very much for adding this useful feature.

It's good to find a software company which responds positively to suggestions from customers!

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Chris Wright