Cannot launch another install program from my InstallShield script

Question

I have to convert an old InstallShield script used to install a VB6 application from InstallShield 2008 to InstallShield 2011.

Unfortunately InstallShield 2011 no longer supports the deployment of the runtimes (using merge modules IIRC).

I am trying to replace this by an execution of the VB6 runtime installation program (vbrun60sp6.exe) from my InstallShield script (and possibly only when running on XP because the VB6 runtimes are apparently distributed with the OS for Vista and above).

Unfortunately for some reason my call to LaunchApplication fails and with my limited InstallShield script experience I do not know how to get a detailed error message.

What could I be doing wrong, how can I get a more detailed error message to help me track down my problem?

Thank you!

Nick

Answer 1

It turns out that there was a problem with the path I was passing to the LaunchApplication call.

Once I got the return code and passed it to FormatMessage to interpret it things started looking up...

I added a test to check the Windows version because I only wanted to install those runtimes if the program was running under XP and the resulting installation program now behaves pretty close to how I want it to behave.

Answer 2

It sounds like You have a need for what is called in the Install world a 'prerequisite' . Installshield, within both installscript and MSI project, allows You to install other applications that your application may need prior the start of your setup. As a matter of fact with MSI projects the prerequisites are much easier to manage and configure. It allows You to define conditions (platform, OS version, etc.) that will determine at runtime what supplementary apps are installed prior the start of your setup.