Multiple Instances with different versions

[urs.meili]

Hi,
I'm using Advanced Installer 7.7

I have the following scenario:
1. On Media => Multiple instances, i created 9 instances (INSTANCE2 to INSTANCE10)
2. On Product Details => Product Version, I entered 10.2.0009
3. On Upgrades, I checked "Allow side by side installation of different product version"
3. I Build the Setup
4. I install 2 instances, this works fine.
5. I change Product Version to 10.2.0010
6. I generate a new Product Code
7. I build the Setup again
8. When I start the setup.exe just built, I get a dialog where I can either "upgrade all installed instances", or "maintain or upgrade an already installed instance".
In the list below, I will only see my INSTANCE2, but not the default instance which I have set up first.
9. I select INSTANCE2
10. A question appears "An upgrade of the selected instance will be performed. Do you want to continue?". I answer yes
11. Now a dialog "Resuming the ... Setup Wizard" appears, with options "Install" and "cancel". I klick on "Install"
12. After a while, the installation is finished.
13. But when I check the files in the target folder, they haven't been upgraded.

A few things don't seem to work right here:
a) In point 8 in the list above, why am I not allowed to pick the default instance for upgrading? Why only INSTANCE2?
b) In point 11, why a "resume" dialog appears? The installer should not "resume" anything, it should instead just do a normal upgrade install
c) why is there actually nothing installed?

Note that I need to use "multiple instance" as well as "side by side" install, because I want to support the following scenario:
DEFAULT INSTANCE (production) with Version 1.0
INSTANCE 2 (education) with Version 1.0 as well, but needs to be in a separate folder because of different config files
INSTANCE 3 (test) with Version 2.0

Any help would be greatly appreciated

- Urs

[GabrielBarbu]

Hello,

Thank you for reporting this. It appears to be an issue. We will further investigate this and fix it in a future release.

Best regards,
Gabriel

[urs.meili]

Thanks for your reply. Do you have an idea when this will be fixed? It is quite urgent for me, as it prevents rolling out the new version of our product.

If required, I'm happy to assist you e.g. by sending you the project files.

Thanks
Urs

[GabrielBarbu]

Hello Urs,

Thank you for offering your assistance, we already have the data we need to replicate the issue.
I am not able to provide you with an approximate release date so it is advisable you proceed with your schedule.

We're sorry if this causes you any inconveniences. Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.

Best regards,
Gabriel

[urs.meili]

I am not able to provide you with an approximate release date so it is advisable you proceed with your schedule.

Please note that the multiple instances features is explicitly advertised as being a feature of the Enterprise version and the main reason we want to upgrade to it (we only bought the Professional edition so far). Since the feature seems to have many bugs at this time, it is not usable as advertised. This means you should give this bugfix a very high priority.

In the meantime I would be glad if you could inform me of any workarounds for the problems I stated in my first post.

[GabrielBarbu]

Hello,

I am afraid there are no workarounds for the above-mentioned issues.
We are working on fixing them, however our main developers on that feature are in vacation right now so it may take a little longer.
We're hoping to have a patch for you by next week.

Best regards,
Gabriel

[gigi]

Hi,

c) why is there actually nothing installed?

I'm afraid the combination between multiple instances and side by side installation is not supported by Windows Installer, this is not an issue of Advanced Installer.

a) In point 8 in the list above, why am I not allowed to pick the default instance for upgrading? Why only INSTANCE2?
b) In point 11, why a "resume" dialog appears? The installer should not "resume" anything, it should instead just do a normal upgrade install

a) Since the main "Product Code" is changed with newer version, the "Multiple Instances" dialog is unable to detect and display the old one. First instance cannot be upgraded individualy but only by using the option "Upgrade all instances" on "Multiple Instances" selection dialog. We have this as improvement on our TODO list and will be available in a future version.
b) This is the behaviour of Windows Installer minor upgrades. In order to upgrade instances one by one a minor upgrade is performed:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx

Best regards,
Gigi

[urs.meili]

It might be that it's not entirely your fault, but as it is now, the multiple instances features is quite useless if I'm not allowed to have multiple instances of different versions which can be independently updated.

In this case, I will look for another solution for my problem.

[rn-pro]

Hello,

I have exactly the same problem like “urs.meili” and I was really happy as I found this post. Gigi pointed that there seems to be a problem with the Windows Installer, however I couldn’t find anywhere an explanation which shows us in which conditions would work the instance-upgrade offered by your bootstrapper.
So in my case, I change the product version and code, the bootstrapper starts and offers me the option to update all instances or to update one existing instance. I choose the second option and it starts the Resume branch. However, how should I identify in an own dialog which instance is going to be updated?
In which scenario works your bootstrapper actually? Should I change the product-code? Should I change the version? Allow side by side installations?

Thank you very much,
Razvan