Possible to display alternate list in Shortcut Folder dialog?

[Jak Fearon]

During setup of our program, the user has to tell the installer the name of a folder that lies within another main folder on their drive. This sub folder name becomes a variable we use throughout the rest of setup. There may be any number of subfolders that they have to choose one from, and we have no idea ahead of time of knowing what these sub folders are named.

Right now, the only way we've figured out how to do this is to open an Explorer window for them and have them look at it, then have them type the exact name of the sub folder in question into a Single Edit box.

It would be much more elegant for them to simply choose from a screen that lists out all of the folders in the main directory. The one screen in Setup Factory that can do this is the "Select Shortcut Folder" screen, but I can not figure out a way to utilize this screen to list the folders we're interested in rather than the Windows Shortcut folders.

Is there a way?

Does anyone have any better ideas?

Thanks very much,
Jak Fearon

[Mark]

Re: Possible to display alternate list in Shortcut Folder dialog?

Hi,

Do you have any idea what the folders will be called?

If you already know the names of all the folders you could use a List Box screen to give the user the choice.

Perhaps with some more information from you (what the folders are, why the user has to pick one, does it matter which folder, etc.) I will be able to offer you a better solution or workaround.

mark.

[Jak Fearon]

Re: Possible to display alternate list in Shortcut Folder dialog?

Mark,

We are releasing an add-on for Microsoft Train Simulator.

With Train Simulator, there are 6 default routes included in the box, but users can download new routes made by other users on the web. Each route in the sim is stored in its own directory under a main directory called ROUTES.

Our add-on adds new weather effects to the routes. On installation, it puts all the files needed for use into the default route folders. We also include a utility (written with Setup Factory as well) that the user needs to run any time they add a new (downloaded) route to the sim.

During this "Route Adder" process, they must specify the exact name of the folder the new route is stored in, so that setup can place our files into that particular folder.

We would use a simple "Install To Folder" screen, but the variable from that screen includes the full path to the route, ie. C:\Microsoft Games\Program Files\Train Simulator\Routes\MyRoute and we really need to know only the last part of that path, the "MyRoute" part (for other operations of the add-on). Since I haven't figured out exactly how to pare that last part off of the full path, (ie. MyRoute) I have to resort to a different technique of getting just the route name they are adding. Thus the "Single Edit" screen we are using now.

So... the facts are:

We have no idea how many routes they might have installed.
We have no idea what the names of these routes are.

I tried last night to use a technique where I had a batch file run in the main Routes folder that listed out just the routes directories in an ini file with a comma delimited format listing of all the routes as a key (ie. Penn, Ohio, BNSF, Newone, testroute). I read this key into a variable called %Routes% at the start of installation. I then had Setup Factory open a "List Box" screen where instead of option1, option2, option3, etc. I simply inserted the %Routes% variable. I had my hopes up, but it didn't work, as it made the entire list of routes the first and only choice in the list.

So that's where I stand. I can have the user type in the name of the route they want to add, which is messy and confusing to the user, or...

I can figure out how to make the "Shortcut Folder" screen work with any folder I choose in the installation setup parameters, or...

Someone else has a better idea...

I hope that wasn't too confusing!

Thanks,
Jak Fearon
how in the world? http://www.howintheworld.com

[This message has been edited by Jak Fearon (edited 08-27-2001).]

[Jak Fearon]

Re: Possible to display alternate list in Shortcut Folder dialog?

Any ideas on this? I'm holding up release on the hopes that something comes up. If not, it's going to be sloppy.

Jak

[Mark]

Re: Possible to display alternate list in Shortcut Folder dialog?

Hi,

Sorry but I haven't been able to come up with anything, I was surprised that using a variable on the List Box screen did not work. This is probably an error, and will probably be fixed in the next release.

There is no way to reconfigure the Select Shortcut Folder Screen to 'look' at a different directory.

The only thing I could possible think of would be storing the entire path in your variable, and then modify the next ‘stage’ to use the full path.

Hopefully this helps, if you have anymore ideas or 'leads' please post and I will see if I can come up with anything.

mark.

[Jak Fearon]

Re: Possible to display alternate list in Shortcut Folder dialog?

Sorry but I haven't been able to come up with anything, I was surprised that using a variable on the List Box screen did not work. This is probably an error, and will probably be fixed in the next release.

Thanks Mark.

Any idea when the next release may be? I've gone ahead and released our add-on, and since the user has to manually type the name of the route they're trying to add, there have already been reports of people having trouble with this stage and typing the wrong name.

Having a list of all the folders in one directory as an option screen would be wonderful.

Thanks,
Jak Fearon
how in the world? http://www.howintheworld.com