Wise Installation Studio/Express Getting Started Guide
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Chapter 3
Advanced Tutorial: Using MSI Script in a
Windows Installer Installation
This chapter includes the following topics:
z
About the advanced tutorial
z
Call a .DLL With a Custom Action
z
Set a Directory With a Custom Action
z
Call an .EXE With a Custom Action
z
Performing Advanced Tasks
About the advanced tutorial
This tutorial guides you through the basics of creating custom actions in a Windows
Installer installation. Because this tutorial builds on the installation you create in the
basic tutorial, you must first complete the basic tutorial.
See
About the basic tutorial
on page 16.
This tutorial takes about 30 to 45 minutes to complete. If you stop before finishing this
tutorial, save the installation and resume the tutorial at a later time.
This tutorial contains examples of how to:
z
Call a .DLL With a Custom Action
z
Set a Directory With a Custom Action
z
Call an .EXE With a Custom Action
These exercises demonstrate the power and versatility that custom actions add to the
installation-building process.
This section also describes some of the advanced tasks you can perform using Setup
Editor in Windows Installer Editor.
See
Performing Advanced Tasks
.
Call a .DLL With a Custom Action
In this section, you create a custom action that displays a dialog box during the
installation of files. The dialog box shows the value of the property INSTALLDIR, which
contains the default installation directory. To do this, you call a standard Windows .DLL
that already exists on the destination computer.
This exercise demonstrates calling a .DLL, not displaying a message dialog box. There is
an easier way to display a message dialog box—use the Display Message action in MSI
Script.
