Still No Dynamic File Linking?

[rguggisberg]

I thought we were going to get dynamic file linking in Suite projects for 2012 Spring. It does not look like that is the case 😞
It is a pain when I add/remove/move files from my Basic MSI project and then rebuild the Suite.
My choices seem to be:
1. Edit .Suite file with Notepad (only viable if changes aren't too radical).
2. Remove and re-add the package. This really a pain... what with having to add all the settings back in. Is there a better, less error prone way?
Thanks.

[hidenori]

The dynamic file linking support for Suite projects is available in InstallShield 2012 Spring. Please check out the Creating a Dynamic Link in an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Project help topic.

[DebbieL]

Suite/Advanced UI projects (in the Premier edition of InstallShield) and Advanced UI projects (in the Professional edition of InstallShield) do have support for dynamic file links.

Here are links to help topics that describe the functionality:

• Static vs. Dynamic Files for Packages in an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Project
  
• Creating a Dynamic Link in an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Project
  
• Defining Filters for a Dynamically Linked Folder in an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Project
  

I hope that helps.

[rguggisberg]

My initial response was "THANKS!... Looks Great!".
However, my initial enthusiasm was somewhat tempered when I built the Suite. I suppose I may have done something wrong... but after getting dumped in the street by the error below, I am hesitant to proceed. This error is repeatable. What would you like me to do or try?

My ISBuild environment is IS 2012 Spring Premier on Windows 7 32 bit.
I created a Dynamic File Link After a Package Has Been Added as follows:
Opened my existing Suite
1. In the View List under Organization, click Packages.
2. In the Packages explorer, find the package that requires the additional files, and click its corresponding folder that should contain the dynamic link. The Files pane shows the list of current files and dynamic folders.
3. Right-click in the Files pane and then click Add Dynamic Link. The Browse for Folder dialog box opens.
4. Browse to the folder that contains the files that you want to include dynamically, and then click OK.
I did not do anything with filters.
At this point I built the Suite and got an 'InstallShield Error' popup telling me that IS needs to close.
VS JIT Debugger says "An unhandled win32 exception occurred in isdev.exe [5864]."


Exception ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005)
at address 0x64ef8aa2 trying to read address 0x00000000.

File : C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2012Spring\System\isdev.exe
Version : 19.0.0.160
Exception : c0000005
Address : 64ef8aa2
Access Type : read
Access Address : 00000000

Registers : EAX=041a2330 CS=001b EIP=64ef8aa2 EFLGS=00010206
: EBX=7261cc01 SS=0023 ESP=0012db14 EBP=00000000
: ECX=00000000 DS=0023 ESI=0012db68 FS=003b
: EDX=00000073 ES=0023 EDI=00000009 GS=0000

Stack Trace : 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

Thanks.

[MichaelU]

Probably the best thing we can do next is either to repeat it in house, or to get a dmp file from the crash. My initial attempt at following the steps you mention does not cause a crash for me, so I'm probably not doing it quite right. Take a look in the InstallShield system folder for files named *.dmp; find one that corresponds, and let's get that in house to look at. You can email it to me (flexerasoftware.com).

As a preemptive workaround, you might look at what gets created for a new package (possibly in a new suite), and copy that into your .issuite file by hand. But let's try to figure this out for real so you don't have to go through those kinds of steps.

[rguggisberg]

Thanks Michael. I just sent you a couple of dmp files. Send me a private message here if you did not get it... or I can attach it here. They are not too large.

Fortunately I am not in crisis mode. I will be glad to do anything else you want me to try to track this down. I can afford to leave things as they are right now... rather than brute force the correction, so we can figure this out.

[rguggisberg]

Many thanks to Flexera for jumping right on this and fixing this problem. Requires an updated dll. Seems to be working the way I expected now!