Creating and Scheduling InstallScript Custom Actions that Call InstallScript Event Handlers for InstallScript MSI Projects

InstallShield 2016

Several built-in InstallScript-related custom actions were eliminated in InstallShield 12 for InstallScript MSI projects. If you upgrade an InstallScript MSI project from InstallShield 11.5 or earlier to InstallShield 2016, InstallShield removes these built-in custom actions from your project. Because these custom actions have been removed, some existing InstallScript events that were previously called by the custom actions are now called directly from InstallScript. This article identifies the eliminated custom actions and explains how add custom actions that call these InstallScript events so that the scheduling is similar to the scheduling used in InstallShield 11.5 and earlier.

The eliminated custom actions also may affect your InstallScript MSI installation if you allow the installation to run without the Setup.exe file so that the packages can be deployed through technologies such as Active Directory. The procedure for implementing this is described in Knowledge Base article Q108166 - HOWTO: Deploying an MSI Wrapped with an InstallShield Script-Based Setup.exe. Note that if you follow the procedure that is described in that article and end users launch the .msi file directly, some of the InstallScript events are never called. The reason that they are not called is that some of the InstallScript event handler functions that were previously called by built-in InstallScript-related custom actions are not called, since the InstallScript-related custom actions have been removed. If you configure your installation according to the Q108166 article, you may also need to follow the instructions below to add custom actions that call the built-in InstallScript events.

The following built-in InstallScript-related custom actions were eliminated in InstallShield 12. They are removed from InstallScript MSI projects when they are upgraded from InstallShield 11.5 or earlier to InstallShield 2016:

Because these custom actions have been removed, some existing InstallScript event handlers that were previously called by the custom actions are now called directly from InstallScript. This includes the following InstallScript event handlers that are called immediately before file transfer:

It also includes the following InstallScript event handlers that are called immediately after file transfer:

These changes were made to make global variables and global pointers available for these InstallScript event handler functions. However, because previously the events were called from custom actions, the sequence of these events in relation to other custom actions that are called directly by Windows Installer has changed. Therefore, you may need to adjust your InstallScript code appropriately to account for these changes.

Except in the case of the feature event handlers, it is also possible to add custom actions that call these event handler functions so that the scheduling is similar to the scheduling used in InstallShield 11.5 and earlier. However, global variables and global pointers are not maintained between calls, as discussed in the Global Variables, Global Pointers, and SUPPORTDIR section.

Calling OnFeatureInstalling, OnFeatureUninstalling, OnFeatureInstalled, or OnFeatureUninstalled from a custom action during file transfer does not have any effect on the installation. This is because these functions are called from InstallScript just before file transfer, and they do not have any effect when they are called more than once.

To manually schedule an InstallScript custom action that calls a predefined InstallScript event handler function:

function MyOnGeneratingMSIScript(hMSI) begin end;

export prototype MyOnGeneratingMSIScript(HWND);

To match the previous functionality as closely as possible, set the in-script execution in step 3f and schedule the InstallScript custom actions in step 4b as follows:

Note the following:

OnCheckSilentInstall

In InstallShield 11.5 and earlier, the OnCheckSilentInstall custom action automatically called the OnMsiSilentInstall InstallScript event if the InstallScript MSI installation was being installed silently without using Setup.exe (for example, if the following command-line was used: Msi.exe /i<Package> /qn). In InstallShield 12 and later, this event is not called in InstallScript MSI installations. However, you can add a custom action that calls the OnMsiSilentInstall event handler function. To do so, use the aforementioned instructions, noting the following scheduling requirements in steps 3f and 4b:

Also, to require that the InstallScript event run only in the expected scenario, add the following code to the event:

cchValueBuf = MAX_PATH;

// Check whether Setup.exe is being used, if so just return.

MsiGetProperty(nHandle, "ISSETUPDRIVEN", szValueBuf, cchValueBuf);

if(StrLengthChars(szValueBuf)) then

   return ISERR_SUCCESS;

endif;

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