InstallShield 2010 on Windows 7

[Frenchy]

I recently got a new Windows 7 machine and have installed InstallShield 2010 on it. The problem that I am having is that if I checkout one of our projects from SourceSafe, open it up in InstallShield 2010.

Then WITHOUT making any changes export the .idt tables and compare to what is in SourceSafe it shows many changes. When I look closer at the changes some of the rows are in a different order. This maybe happens on 10 to 15 tables.

Although there are no REAL changes the fact that the rows are in a different order cause me to have to go through the 15 tables and visually compare them to make sure that they have not changed. this is not a problem on a Windows XP machine.

Can anyone tell me when I see a difference in the Export Tables when they are exported from a Windows 7 machine? this has been driving me crazy all day.

Also as a side note when I click on the tables from within the IDE I do not see the rows on my Windows 7 machine like I used to on my XP machine.

The major problem is that I can not go back because InstallShield made me uninstall on my old box before I could install in my new Windows 7 box. thank you in advance for any help....

[Catherine_Sea]

Hi Frenchy,

Does the problem happen every time you diff the local and server copy? Please make sure that the file was not edited by anyone else in your team.

__________________________________

Catherine Sea
Version Control Software | Software Configuration Management Solution

[Frenchy]

Here is a screen shot of what I am talking about. Why is there this difference between an Export on XP and an export on Windows 7? Any help?

[MichaelU]

I don't know why this happens, although a cursory examination suggests the export the left is sorted by the key, while the one on the right isn't (and is thus in database implementation order). Technically your method of comparison is flawed for the data your are comparing, for while the database is in fact stored in an order, this is considered to be an implementation detail that you should not rely on. If you want to avoid these false positives, the comparison must ignore order (or perhaps sort the data lines of the export).

If it did change from sorted output to unsorted output, perhaps dropping and reimporting the sorted table will fix things by changing the database order. Although for any standard table like this, you will have to use ORCA or Windows Installer automation APIs; our IDE helpfully prevents such table drops...

[Edit:] On second look, the one on the left looks sorted in a human order (MSG comes after MSa) and the one on the right in strict lexical ordering (MSG before MSa), so my theory about either being unsorted may be wrong, and the export/import wouldn't help.

[Frenchy]

Thank You for your reply. I think this might have to do with the MSI engine that is shipped with Wondows 7. Windows 7 ships MSI engine 5, while XP has an MSI version 3.1 or 4.5.

Now if you can just tell me why I do not see my table rows in the Direct Editor on a Windows 7 machine I will be all set.

[Frenchy]

after I uninstalled InstallShield 2010 and reinstalled without Sp1 I am now seeing the rows in the default editor.

[Frenchy]

Catherine Sea wrote:
Hi Frenchy,

Does the problem happen every time you diff the local and server copy? Please make sure that the file was not edited by anyone else in your team.

__________________________________

Catherine Sea
Version Control Software | Software Configuration Management Solution

Hi Catherine, thank you for your response. This happens after I do a fresh get from TFS (nobody made changes in between), open the project and without making any changes, export the tables. I think I figured it out the reason see my other reply below. Thanks
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I think this might have to do with the MSI engine that is shipped with Wondows 7. Windows 7 ships MSI engine 5, while XP has an MSI version 3.1 or 4.5.

[Catherine_Sea]

Hi Frenchy,

Thanks for your update. I'm glad to hear that the problem has been solved.

__________________________________

Catherine Sea
Version Control Software | Software Configuration Management Solution