Folder Paths

[dmrick44]

I'm trying to create a delete.folder action in the On Pre Install.

When I do a delete.file, I can click the icon on the right and go browse to the file and it automatically adds the path.

The delete.folder doesn't seem to have a "browse to" option and in doing these scripts I am confused about writing the path considering it shows "\\" at the beginning ("C:\\MyFolder"). The examples don't help... For example, if I want to delete a folder and the path is... C:\users\dale\desktop\MyFolder\Images\Trains

do I enter that path as that or do I have to use "\\" instead of the "\" or what am I doing wrong? So far I can add/delete files, but can't seem to get it to delete a folder in a folder, etc.

Thanks.

[dmrick44]

Here's a screen capture showing the full setup...

http://www.siskurail.com/FolderDelete.jpg

Dale

[Ulrich]

Regarding the use of double backslashes in file paths, please read the explanations in the docs.

If you want to delete a folder like C:\users\dale\desktop\MyFolder\Images\Trains, then you can do it this way:

C:\users\dale\desktop\ is the Desktop folder for the Windows account "dale". The name of the folder may be dependent on the release of the operating system, so one shouldn't use a hard coded path, but a Session Variable, or get the path with Shell.GetFolder().

MyFolder\Images\Trains is the name of the sub folders, so this part of the path can be concatenated with the desktop folder.

-- see [URL="http://www.mindquake.com.br/en/articles/deployment?start=1"]http://www.mindquake.com.br/en/articles/deployment[/URL]
local sDesktopFolder = SessionVar.Expand("%DesktopFolder%");

local sFolderToDelete = sDesktopFolder .. "\\MyFolder\\Images\\Trains";

if Folder.DoesExist(sFolderToDelete) then
   local tContents = File.Find(sFolderToDelete, "*.*", true, true);
	
   if (tContents == nil) then
      -- folder is empty, so it can be removed
      Folder.Delete(sFolderToDelete);
   else
      -- folder is not empty or has children, so everything below must be deleted
      Folder.DeleteTree(sFolderToDelete);
   end
	
   -- test for error
   error = Application.GetLastError();
   if (error ~= 0) then
      Dialog.Message("Error", _tblErrorMessages[error], MB_OK, MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);
   else
      Dialog.Message("Info", sFolderToDelete .. " deleted.", MB_OK, MB_ICONINFORMATION);
   end
else
   Dialog.Message("Info", "Can't delete " .. sFolderToDelete .. ", it does not exist.", MB_OK, MB_ICONINFORMATION);
end

There are a few things to note. If you run this code from an elevated account instead of using "As invoker", I would determine the Desktop folder with

local sDesktopFolder = SessionVar.Expand("%LaunchUserDesktopFolder%");

Make sure that the option "Collect launch user information" is checked in the Build settings. I would do this to make sure that you find the logged user's desktop (the account who started the setup), not the administrator's.

Ulrich

[dmrick44]

If all of the files and folders that I want to delete are inside my %AppFolder% can't I use relative addressing?

My AppFolder is c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator

If I want to delete the folder: c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\Routes\Killme

Can't I use use: %AppFolder%\Routes\Killme

Dale

[Ulrich]

You can, if you expand the Session Variable as I showed, and escape the backslashes properly. What you describe is pretty common.

Ulrich