How to read a response file for silent installation on Basic MSI

[georgito]

I am new to InstallShield and not a developer so please forgive my ignorance but I have not found this topic on the community forums.
We have created a standard 'Basic MSI project' and the installer does what we need now and all the dialog boxes pop up for the user to enter the information needed.
We now have the need to use the same installer (executable) and run it in silent mode, BUT, we would like for the installer to read the input from a response XML or ini file that has all the values in it already. I have been reading that Installscripts can create a response file setup.iss , but that feature is not available on basic msi projects.

We will be providing our executable to another installer, they will call our installer to run in silent mode from within their installer...
By the way, the DOS command line option to run it in silent mode may not work for us since there seems to be a limitation on how long it can be and we have about 25 or more input values that need to be read from the response file.

Is there a way run the installer on silent mode and have it read the response / input from an XML or ini file on a basic MSI project.
.. any help , guidance an assistance will be really appreciated.

[#2]

You could still run a silent setup via the command line and pass a parameter indicating the path to your INI or XML file.

You coud then write a CA that only gets triggered during a silent install to read the path and parse your parameters as required into properties.

[georgito]

Thank You , I was able to write a CA and it seems to work......I only need to figure out how to make the CA work ONLY during a silent install......any tips?....
Thanks again.....

[RobertDickau]

Please see the help for the UILevel property. The condition UILevel=2 checks for a silent installation, for example.

[georgito]

Thank You for your assistance, I will look into it.