Billboards wont display PLEASE HELP

[FWI005]

Hello all, thank you for taking the time to read this post. I have been trying to enable the usage of billboards in my InstallScript MSI Project. Several days have past and I still have not found an answer :(. According to the documentation, to enable the usage of billboards, all you need to do is un-comment out Enable( BACKGROUND );, and SetColor(BACKGROUND,RGB (0, 0, 0));, at OnFirstUIBefore, which I have done. When I run the installer, it runs in fullscreen with a solid black background and no fullwindow mode options at the top as intended. I have even tried enabling fullwindow mode. No billboards are displayed. My billboards are labeled bbrd1.bmp-bbrd10.bmp. They are bitmaps all with a depth of 24-bit. They open with Photoshop CS4 and IrfanView just fine. Their resolutions are all 800x600. I have tried placing all the bitmaps in Language Independent, English (United States), and both, all under Billboards. I couldn't find anything in the documentation on how to create the small status/progress box that is placed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen while the billboards are being displayed, either. I have also tried placing the Enable ( BACKGROUND ) and SetColor code in other locations within the script. Still no luck :(. I have spent almost a week trying to enable these billboards, still with no luck or progress and they are needed... PLEASE HELP

Thanks in advance

[RobertDickau]

Right, the documentation section Creating Installations > Defining the User Interface > Displaying Billboards has detailed information.

Can you open the bitmap with Paint? Does it work with just one billboard image?

Searching the knowledge base for "billboard" might also help.

[FWI005]

Yes, I'm able to open all the bitmaps in paint without a problem.

EDIT: I have also used this code with OnShowUI:

[PHP]if ( LoadStringFromStringTable( "TITLE_MAIN", szTitle ) < ISERR_SUCCESS ) then // Load the title string.

szTitle = IFX_SETUP_TITLE;

endif;

SetTitle( szTitle, 24, WHITE );

Enable( FULLWINDOWMODE );

Enable( BACKGROUND );

SetColor( BACKGROUND, RGB( 0, 0, 0 ) );

[/PHP]

[FWI005]

OK, I managed to get a bitmap to display by saving the original bitmap in paint. I did this step for all my bitmaps. The code I used to show the bitmap is:

[PHP]//set the background picture
PlaceBitmap(SUPPORTDIR ^ "bbrd1.bmp", 1, CENTERED, CENTERED, CENTERED);
Delay(3);
PlaceBitmap(SUPPORTDIR ^ "bbrd1.bmp", 1, CENTERED, CENTERED, REMOVE);
PlaceBitmap(SUPPORTDIR ^ "bbrd2.bmp", 2, CENTERED, CENTERED, CENTERED);
Delay(3);
PlaceBitmap(SUPPORTDIR ^ "bbrd2.bmp", 2, CENTERED, CENTERED, REMOVE);
[/PHP]

The only problem is I cant seem to get the bitmaps to change :(. Any ideas?

EDIT: I managed to change the bitmaps, but how do I loop them until all the files have been copied?

[RobertDickau]

Billboards normally shouldn't need any script code for the individual images; they should automatically display during data transfer...

You might call PlaceWindow(BILLBOARD, 0, 0, UPPER_LEFT) to ensure the bitmaps aren't obscured by the progress dialog, though it doesn't sound as if that's the issue. (You can also change Enable(STATUSEX) to something else to use a smaller progress dialog, if you want; see the Enable help topic.)

[FWI005]

RobertDickau wrote:
Billboards normally shouldn't need any script code for the individual images; they should automatically display during data transfer...

You might call PlaceWindow(BILLBOARD, 0, 0, UPPER_LEFT) to ensure the bitmaps aren't obscured by the progress dialog, though it doesn't sound as if that's the issue. (You can also change Enable(STATUSEX) to something else to use a smaller progress dialog, if you want; see the Enable help topic.)

Interesting... If I remove the PlaceBitmap code from the script no bitmaps are shown. As for the status window, I've already figured out how to make it a small box placed to the lower left of the screen. So what you're saying is that my 10 billboards do not need any coding to make them display and change during file transfer? As long as the billboards are enabled in the script they should work? At this point I'm at a loss because I'm totally confused as to what to do next. But if you personally wanted to enable billboards in your installscript msi project how would you go about doing this?

[RobertDickau]

My test was:
[list=1]

Use MS Paint to create bbrd1.bmp and bbrd2.bmp (they say "Billboard one of two" and "Billboard two of two").

Create InstallScript MSI project, drop the two bitmaps into Support Files/Billboards > Billboards > Language Independent.

Create a component with a simple dynamic file link (C:\Windows\help\*.chm, no subdirectories, no best-practice components) to slow down file transfer enough that both billboards will be displayed.

In InstallScript, edit OnFirstUIBefore: uncomment the SetTitle-to-SetColor block, add PlaceWindow(BILLBOARD, 0, 0, UPPER_LEFT).

Build and run.

During first half of file transfer, bbrd1.bmp is displayed; during second half, bbrd2.bmp is displayed. (Of course, I'd personally change the font, background color, etc., but you get the idea.)

Maybe see if that works on a test project, and go from there?

[FWI005]

I got my billboards to work without any placebitmap code. Thank you very much. 🙂

[RobertDickau]

Great news---thanks for the update! (Out of curiosity, what fixed it?)

Robert

[FWI005]

RobertDickau wrote:
Great news---thanks for the update! (Out of curiosity, what fixed it?)

Robert

Heh, my patient did. You see, I'm very pressed for time for this project and rushed (d'oh) through testing, never allowing the installer to actually install anything. So I went back to my script, removed all the PlaceBitmap codes and just left Enable (BILLBOARD);. I added a few of my billboards and they displayed without problem :).