Installer/GD

A better Windows software installer

Installer/GD FAQ

How do I add my application icon to the Start menu or Desktop?
How do I place Start menu icons into subfolders?
How do I register a new file type?
How do I register an ActiveX control?
I need to perform a custom action during installation. Is it possible?
Is licence management supported in Installer/GD?
How do I enable Installer/GD logging?
I need to execute another installer off my CD before running my installation

How do I add my application icon to the Start menu or Desktop?

To add your application icon to the Start menu or Desktop, do the following:

  1. Launch Layout and open your installation project.
  2. Switch to the File view by selecting the Files branch in the project tree (the left pane).
  3. In the File view, double-click on the file you want to add an icon for.
  4. When File Properties dialog appears, click on Make Shortcut button.
  5. In the Shortcut Properties dialog that appears, the Tag and Target fields will already be set for you. You will need to fill the rest of the fields. First, set File name field to be the actual name of the shortcut. This determines where the shortcut will appear in the Start menu. Note that this file name MUST have extension .lnk.
    • To place the icon in your application program group along with the Uninstall icon, enter:
      $(group)\My Application.lnk
    • To place the icon on the Desktop, enter:
      $(desktop)\My Application.lnk
    • To place the icon in the root of Programs menu, enter the following:
      $(programs)\My Application.lnk
  6. Enter any command line parameters, startup directory (optional), description (will appear in a tooltip under Windows 2000/XP+), and icon location (a file name and icon index). All these settings are optional.
  7. Build your installation. Layout sets the new shortcut to be dependent on the target file automatically, so that it gets installed/uninstalled together with the file it points to.

How do I place Start menu icons into subfolders?

To place your application icon in Start menu subfolders, do the following:

  1. Launch Layout and open your installation project.
  2. Switch to the Directories view by selecting the Directories branch in the project tree (the left pane).
  3. In the Directories view of your project define additional directory entries for each of your Start menu subfolders, basing them on the $(group) predefined entry. For example, let's say you want to place help and ReadMe files in Documentation subfolder of your Start menu group. You would then define a new user directory entry, name it documents and set its value to:
    $(group)\Documents
  4. When adding shortcuts for your documentation files (ReadMe.txt in this example), use the following syntax for the File name field in the Shortcut Properties dialog:
    $(documents)\ReadMe.lnk
    This will cause Installer/GD to place a shortcut to ReadMe.txt into the Documents subfolder of your application's Start menu group.
  5. Repeat this process for any additional subfolders and files you want to place in them.
  6. Build your installation.

How do I register a new file type?

Let's assume we are introducing a new file type which has the following characteristics:

  • type name: My Application Document (can be any string)
  • file extension: .mydoc
  • program ID, or ProgID (generally of form Vendor.Program.Version): MySoft.MyDoc.1
  • the file that handles this format is MyApp.exe, and has tag myapp in the project.

To register this or similar file type during installation of your application, do the following:

  1. Activate the Registry branch of your project.
  2. Add the extension default value:
    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.myext]
    (Default) = MySoft.MyDoc.1
  3. Add ProgID default value:
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MySoft.MyDoc.1
    (Default) = My Application Document
  4. Add default icon value (a negative value means the resource ID of the icon with minus sign, a positive value means the order number of the icon in the file). Note that the short name of the executable file is used, or alternatively it must be enclosed in double quotes. By using $(myapp,s) syntax instead of a file name you make sure Installer/GD substitutes this with the actual installed file name and uses a short file name.
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MySoft.MyDoc.1\DefaultIcon
    (Default) = $(myapp,s),-101
  5. Add the shell command handler entry for at least open command.
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MySoft.MyApp.1\shell\open\command
    (Default) = "$(myapp)" "%1"
  6. You should now see the following set of Registry entries in your project's Registry branch:
  7. Select myapp executable file in your project's Files branch and double-click on it to open the File Properties dialog. Click Dependencies button. In the Dependencies dialog place check marks against the Registry entries relevant to the executable file:
  8. Build your installation, and you should be set. The file type will be registered along with the file that handles it. When the file is uninstalled, the Registry settings dependent on it will be removed, too.

How do I register an ActiveX control?

  1. In the Files view of your project, select the file you want to register at installation time and double-click on it to open the File Properties dialog.
  2. Select COM Server option. Watch for Layout messages below. If you are registering a DLL or OCX, Layout determines if the file is capable of self-registration. If you are registering an EXE, Layout reminds you that the file must support command line options /RegServer and /UnregServer. During uninstall process Installer/GD will unregister all registered files before removing them.

I need to perform a custom action during installation. Is it possible?

If the action you need to perform is not supported by Installer/GD (this may include modification of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, NT service operations etc.), you may need to write a small program that does what you need, and run it during installation using Execute File action. You can pass any relevant parameters to the program via its command line.

Is licence management supported in Installer/GD?

No, licence management is not supported. However, by including a custom application and running it during installation you can perform the tasks necessary to register users and manage licences.

How do I enable Installer/GD logging?

You might get additional information out of an installation log if anything goes wrong, or you might want to send it to support for investigation along with your project file (the file you load into Layout, which has extension .ssi).

Steps to enable logging are different depending on the version of Installer/GD you are using.

  • Installer/GD v3.7.3 and earlier:
    The log should be enabled automatically and should be stored as c:\igdlog.txt. If the log is not there, try running your installation launcher setup.exe, or your self-extracting installer, with /trace parameter. You will need to launch command line prompt to do that.
  • Installer/GD v3.7.4 and newer:
    Installer/GD looks for thr folder c:\logs\installergd and places its logs in there. In case the folder does not exist, no logs are produced. So, in order to enable logging, simply create this folder, run the installation, and then look for the log files there.

I need to execute another installer off my CD before running my installation

This tip is courtesy of Bill McHugh

An example can be installing Java Run-Time onto the destination PC prior to installing a Java application. Do the following:

  1. Add a new action Copy Non-Compressed Files to copy the third-party installer from the CD to the temporary folder on the hard drive. In case of Java Run-time Environment, the source file name would be j2re-1_3_1_01-win.exe, and the destination name would be $(temp)\j2re-1_3_1_01-win.exe. Store the third-party installer in the root of the installation CD and don't make it a part of the Installer package. Installer/GD should find it there and copy it to the hard drive.
  2. Add a new action Execute File after the previous one. Set File name to $(temp)\j2re-1_3_1_01-win.exe (replace the JRE file name with the actual name of your third-party installer), set Directory to $(temp), set Show flag to SW_SHOW, select the Wait for completion option, and select Execute during installation option.
  3. Add a new action Remove File after the previous one, set File name to $(temp)\j2re-1_3_1_01-win.exe (replace the JRE file name with the actual name of your third-party installer), select Execute during installation option.

The above actions will copy the third-party installer on the user's disk, execute it, and then delete it. You can install several third-party components this way.