Response file is not created with Basic MSI project???
Hi, Im really stuck and needs help. I've got a massive basic msi . it has alot of dialogs that we created that also runs custom actions in UI Sqeuence. We need to run this installation silently. I've heard of iss response file that can be created with Setup.exe /r /f1"C:\Setup.iss" command. However no file is created! Do I miss anything?
OK I've read in the help topics that Response file is not supported for Basic MSI. Is there something similar to it in Basic MSI project in order to install silently? I have about 300 properties to pass and i think that doing it throught commend line or setup.ini is not the best answer... Anyone have alternative?
For that many properties, I'd agree, specifying them on the command line is asking for problems. Instead I'd look into creating a specific kind of transform called a response transform.
Can you please provide more information about what is a transform and give an example or relate me to a thread that explains about it a little bit more? Thanks!
I've tried myself to create the response transform file. However it lets me only to create it with Installshield which is installed on my development machine. When running the UI Dialog Sequence, there are actions that can be done only on VM that is similar to the Client machine. Because of that the dialog flow is stuck . How can I create the tranform if my development machine is not as the client machine and I cant install another InstallShield on the VM??
I would probably approach this by starting with the response transform you can create on your development machine. Then edit this to specify other properties. The only changes made by a response transform should be to the Property table, and reflect the properties you could set via the command-line. You don't necessarily have to run the exact case on your development machine.
I'm still eager to pass a text file that sets the proprties before installation. Is there no way to pass to an MSI/Setup that was created by Basic MSI project an ini or xml file with the wanted properties and their values?
Windows Installer doesn't bake in such a method, but you could approach it at least two different ways:
Implement a launcher which reads the file and passes the properties via the command line
Implement a custom action which figures out how to locate the file (perhaps via a single property on the command line, or via a known relative location to the .msi), and reads the file for overrides to properties; set all properties located
Note that either of these may not perform all that well during maintenance or uninstallation, so tread carefully if those properties must be set similarly at that time.
