Advanced Dialogue Management Tools: The Ultimate Guide

Table of Contents

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Dialog Editor Page

This page allows you to customize the existing install dialogs or to create new custom dialogs.

The Dialog Editor is composed of four sections:

Install Sequence

In the left-side pane, you can see a list of all the dialogs to be used during your package installation, grouped into the following categories:

Pre-install UI
First Time Install
Maintenance
Patch
Resume
Special Dialogs
Administrative Dialogs
Unused Dialogs (contains user dialogs that are no longer used)

For more information on each category, please follow Predefined Dialogs article.

Testing the installation User Interface

Use the [Test Installation UI ] toolbar button or the “Test Installation UI” context menu item in the “Dialogs” page. This will create a temporary package in the Temp folder and run it without performing an actual installation. Since the package is not installed on your machine, only the installation UI sequence can be tested.

This option requires at least an Enterprise or Architect project type.

Testing the maintenance User Interface

Use the [Test Maintenance UI ] toolbar button or the “Test Maintenance UI” context menu item in the “Dialogs” page. This will create a temporary package in the Temp folder and run it without performing an actual installation. Your product is temporarily registered with Windows Installer so the maintenance UI sequence can be tested.

This option requires at least an Enterprise or Architect project type.

Creating a new dialog

Use the [New Dialog ] toolbar button, the “New Dialog” context menu item or press the Insert key while the “Install Sequence” panel is focused. This option is not always enabled as you can not add a new dialog anywhere in the sequence.

Adding a dialog

Use the Add Dialog toolbar button, the “Add Dialog…” context menu item or press the+ key while an existing dialog is selected. The newly created dialog will be inserted below the previously selected dialog. This option is enabled only if there are more available dialogs. The “Add Dialog” dialog box will prompt you to select an available dialog.

The are special dialogs after which a new dialog can not be inserted. For example, you can not insert a new dialog after “Ready to Install” (VerifyReadyDlg) dialog, because this would break the installation sequence.

Duplicating a user-defined dialog

Select a user-defined dialog then right-click it to access the “Duplicate Dialog” context menu item. The duplicated dialog will be added in the Unused Dialogs section, and you can add it later by using the “Add Dialog” option. All duplicated dialogs are listed in the Project tab fromAdd Dialog dialog.

Only user-defined dialogs can be duplicated, not predefined ones .

Creating a new dialog in sequence

Use the “New Dialog In Sequence” context menu item. This option creates a new dialog and schedules it to run in Install UI Sequence.

Adding a dialog in sequence

Use the “Add Dialog In Sequence” context menu item. The Add Dialog box will prompt you to select an available dialog. Only dialogs from the project can be added in sequence.

Exporting a dialog to the repository

Select the dialog you want to export and use the “Move To Repository” context menu option.

Removing a dialog

Use the [Delete ] toolbar button, the “Delete” tree context menu item or press the Delete key while a dialog is selected.

Because of their importance in the dialog sequence, the following dialogs cannot be removed: PrepareDlg, PatchWelcomeDlg,ResumeDlg, ProgressDlg, ExitDialog,MaintenanceTypeDlg, and UserRegistrationDlg.

To create a minimal setup you can follow our How do I create a lightweight setup with a single dialog? FAQ .

Moving a dialog between sections

Drag and drop the dialog to the new section.

To avoid disrupting the dialog sequence, the following dialogs cannot be moved:PrepareDlg, WelcomeDlg,MaitenanceWelcomeDlg, PatchWelcomeDlg,ResumeDlg, VerifyReadyDlg,VerifyRepairDlg, VerifyRemoveDlg,ProgressDlg, ExitDialog,MaintenanceTypeDlg, and UserRegistrationDlg.

Drag and drop the dialog to a new section, while the Shift key is pressed. The dialog will be present in both sections.

Show a dialog conditionally

To condition a dialog’s appearance use the “Show only if…” tree context menu item. During installation, the dialog will be displayed only if the specified condition is met.

Edit or remove a condition

Once a display condition is set for a dialog it cannot be edited. To change the condition, you will have to drag & drop the conditioned dialog above the previous dialog from the chain and manually delete the_DialogName__Cond entry. Once this is done, re-use the “Show only if…” context menu option and select the new condition.

For example, if you conditioned the FolderDlg dialog:drag & drop FolderDlg dialog overWelcomeDlg dialog and delete theFolderDlg_Cond entry.

The dialogs order in each section represents the order in which the dialogs will be displayed when the installer runs.

Editor

The Editor allows you to modify the currently selected dialog. You can add or remove controls, change the banner and image, change the displayed strings’ text style, etc.

When customizing the Spring theme dialogs, to add static text elements, the HTML source pages must be edited. Also, two types of dialogs are provided, one if HTML is present and enabled on the target computer and the “classic Windows Installer” type otherwise. So it is wise to customize both of these types to your needs. For more information, please read theAdd a new dialog when using Spring theme tutorial.

Control

In the Events Editor pane, you can specify events that will be associated with the controls. If the pane is not visible use the “Events” context menu item or press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys while the focus is on a control to display it.

Properties

In the Properties pane, all the selected dialog’s properties of the selected dialog or control are displayed, grouped in categories. You can modify some of them. If the pane is not visible use “Properties” context menu item or press the Ctrl + Enter keys while the focus is on a dialog or control, to display it.

Topics

Editor
Edit the selected dialog.
Events Editor
Add events to the controls.
Properties
Modify the properties of a dialog or control.

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Advanced Dialogue Management Tools: The Ultimate Guide