Creating an Entry Point

[Mr__Package]

Hey guys I'm trying to get my repackaged (setup capture) app to self repair without adverstising the shortcut.

I believe that I need to create an entry point and that the entry points are :
An entry point can be:
- an advertised shortcut
- a line in any of the followin Windows Installer database tables:
Extension, Verb, TypeLib, MIME, Class, ProgId and AppId

Could anyone help me create any one of those tables please? I'm not sure what values to input if I manual add a table.

Also shouldn't doing a setup capture on an application create one of those entries by default?

Thanks in advance.

[LeslieEaster]

Hey Mr Package.... Just so I can understand where you're headed, why do you need it to auto self-repair? Usually this is done to set up HKEY_CURRENT_USER keys for a different logged on user. If that's the case there may be another way of doing this....

[Mr__Package]

I want to set up my package with a standard registry key under HKLM. And then set that as a key path. So if that registry key gets deleted it runs the self-repair when a user clicks on the shortcut.

[LeslieEaster]

Ah. In that case, it's easier than you'd think. Using the Editor, find the component that contains your registry key. Since you're making this the KeyPath, you should move the registry key into a component by itself. Expand the Component and select Registry Data. Browse to your registry key, right-click on the relevant value name and select Set Key Path.

That's it....

[Mr__Package]

humm... it's still not working. I don't have an advertised shortcut because we need the software to be installed upon pushing it. So if I delete the key under HKLM then run the program again it doesn't repair. 😞 Any ideas?

[LeslieEaster]

Let's look at some other options. If you're installing to XP, you can trigger a self-repair by adding an HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key to your package.

The key is

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{ProductCode}.

And the value data pair is:

StubPath=msiexec /fauvs {ProductCode} /qb

This will work for all users that log into the system.

Hope that helps,