A list of controls that can be used on a installer dialog.
- Static Text
- Edit Box
- Push Button
- Image Button
- Command Link Button
- Check Box
- Radio Button Group
- Radio Button
- Group Box
- Path Edit
- Masked Edit
- Scrollable Edit Box
- Icon
- Bitmap
- Horizontal Line
- Vertical Line
- Combo Box
- List Box
- List View
- Check List
- Directory List
- Volume Cost List
- Directory Combo
- Volume Select Combo
- Selection Tree
- Quick Selection Tree
- Prerequisite Selector
- Progress
- Billboard Host
- Hyperlink
- HTML Host
- Tab Host
Edit Box
Regular edit field for string or
integer. If you use the Password flag you will create an
edit control for entering passwords. If the "Default Value" field is
empty, the default edit control's value will be set to the value of
the property defined in the "Property Name" field.
Command Link Button
Command links
have a clean, transparent appearance making them suitable in many
situations. These buttons can be used when you have to provide a long
explanatory description about the action it does. You can read more
about this control in Enhanced User Interface
page.
Check Box
A two-state check box.
The check box is used to establish one of two possible states (checked
and unchecked). The check box's property will be empty until the check
box is checked (the property's value is set to the value specified in
the "Value" field). If you specify a value in the "Default Value"
field then the check box will be checked by default.
For a check box control you can set the "Push Like" flag which will transform it into a button with two states: pressed and unpressed.
Group Box
The control displays a
rectangle, possibly with caption text, that serves to group other
controls together on the dialog box.
Path Edit
This control displays
an edit field that enables a user to select the end section of a path.
It supports entering the selected folder name or the entire path in
the edit field. A user can also enter a Universal Naming Convention
(UNC) path to a drive that has no drive letter. If the user enters an
invalid end segment for the present volume, Path Edit control can not
transfer the focus to the next control.
Masked Edit
An edit field with
a mask in the text field. The masked edit can receive only a digit
where "#" is used and a digit or a character where "?" is used. In the
"Text" field from the “Properties” pane, you can set your
own custom format for the data entered in the masked edit
box.
Scrollable Edit Box
Displays a RTF text.
A common use for this control is displaying the license
agreement.
Vertical Line
Displays a
vertical line.
If you want to use this control, you must configure you project to
use Enhanced User
Interface.
Combo Box
The control displays a
drop-down list of predefined values and an edit field into which the
user can enter a value. In order to set the combo box's values, you
can double-click it or from the context menu select Control Data Dialog and add your values. The final value
of the combo box (the one that is showed in the combo's edit field)
will be stored in the property specified in the "Property Name" field
from the “Properties” pane.
List Box
The control is a regular
list box that enables the user to make a single selection from a list
of predetermined values. These values can be set by double-clicking
the control or by selecting from the context menu the Control Data Dialog and adding them. The final value of
the list box will be stored in the property specified in the "Property
Name" field from the “Properties” pane.
The "Sort By Index" flag allows you to sort the values in the list
box by their index or alphabetically.
List View
The control that
displays a single column of values with an icon next to each item. It
enables the user to select a single string or integer value for a
property from a predetermined list. These values can be set by
double-clicking by double-clicking the control or by selecting from
the context menu the Control Data Dialog and adding
them. The final value of the list view will be stored in the property
specified in the "Property Name" field from “Properties”
pane.
Check List
The control is a
regular list box with check-boxes, that enables the
user to make a multiple selection from a list of
predetermined values. These values can be set by double-clicking by
double-clicking the control or by selecting from the context menu the
Control Data Dialog and adding them. When multiple
items are selected, their comma separated values will be
stored in the property specified in the "Property Name" field from the
“Properties” pane. You can customize the separator
token to be used for multiple selected values.
If you want to use this control, you must configure you project to
use Enhanced User
Interface.
Directory List
This control
displays a part of the path that is currently displayed in the Path
Edit control. The Directory List control displays the folders below
the directory currently displayed by the Directory Combo control. This
control is usually used in a "Browse" dialog (you can see an example
in the "BrowseDlg" dialog under "FolderDlg").
Volume Cost List
The
Volume CostList control presents information about the cost associated
with the selection on the different volumes. The control shows all the
volumes involved in the current installation plus all volumes that are
of the types specified in the attribute bits. If the required disk
space exceeds the amount available on some drive, the volume is
highlighted in the table. Clicking a column header sorts the volumes
according to the chosen column.
Directory Combo
This
control displays a part of the path that is currently displayed in the
Path Edit control. It does not show the last segment of the path, that
segment is displayed by the Directory List control. For this control
you can set the flags RemovableVolume, FixedVolume, RemoteVolume,
CDROMVolume, RAMDiskVolume, and FloppyVolume according to your
needs.
This control must use the same property used by the Path Edit
control.
Volume Select Combo
The
control enables the user to select a volume from an alphabetical list
of volumes. The types of volumes displayed in the list are specified
using bits associated with RemovableVolume, FixedVolume, RemoteVolume,
CDROMVolume, RAMDiskVolume, and FloppyVolume control
attributes.
Selection Tree
This control
enables a user to change the selection state of features listed in the
Feature table. The control is associated with a string valued property
that the user can set by a Browse dialog.
Quick Selection Tree
The Quick Selection Tree is an improvement to the simple
Selection Tree. The regular Selection Tree control offers a drop-down
menu for each feature where you select whether that feature will or
will not be installed. The Quick Selection Tree control replaces the
drop-down menu with checkboxes. You can read more about this control
in Enhanced User
Interface page.
Prerequisite Selector
The
Prerequisite Selector displays the feature-based
prerequisites states. It also allows the user to select
which prerequisite to install.
Prerequisites are displayed together with additional information like: required versions, versions found on target computer and action that will be performed.
If you want to use this control, you must configure you project to
use Enhanced User
Interface.
Progress
A bar that changes
its length as it receives progress messages. If you set the "Progress
95" flag then the bar is drawn as a series of small rectangles in
Microsoft Windows 95 style.
Billboard Host
This control
displays commonly used billboard controls.
The following controls can be placed on a billboard host control:
- Static Text
- Scrollable Text
- Line
- Group Box
- Icon
- Bitmap
Billboard host controls are most typically associated with progress actions.
You can add only one billboard host control on a dialog.
Adding a Billboard Host control
Use the
toolbar button or the
Toolbox.
The billboard host control is not actually visible on the dialog. It displays some "views" referred to as billboards that will contain the billboard controls. When the billboard host is added to the dialog it contains a view.
As billboards most common use is to display images or text during a long operation, the billboard host control is automatically subscribed to the SetProgress Event.
To switch among the billboards of the billboard host, select them in the “Billboards” list from the Properties pane.
Adding a new billboard to the project
Select the billboard host control on the dialog and from the context menu choose the “Edit Billboards” option. The Billboards will be displayed allowing you to create a new billboard or edit an existing one.
Hyperlink
The Hyperlink control
displays a HTML link to an address, which opens in the default browser
for the computer. Links are not supported for protocols other than
HTTP.
This control is available beginning with Windows Installer 5.0. If
you want to use this control on all Windows Installer versions, you
must configure you project to use Enhanced User Interface.
HTML Host
The HTML Host control
displays a HTML page from a given URL or a local file. The associated
HTML page can be static or dynamic
by using JavaScript (embedded or
external).
For more information about using the HTML Host control and its APIs read this article.
If you want to use this control, you must configure you project to
use Enhanced User
Interface.
Tab Host
The Tab Host control
includes a list of child dialogs. The child dialogs' titles represent
the tab's name in the control, whereas each dialog's content will be
displayed when the user selects its corresponding tab.
With this control the user can choose to navigate to the dialog's tab inside the Tab Host control, only if he wants to customize its associated settings.
The tabs content and visibility inside the Tab Host control can be defined and conditioned from the "Child Dialogs" Dialog. This dialog can be accesed from the Tab Host control's "Child Dialogs..." context menu or by double clicking it in the dialog editor.
If you want to use this control, you must configure your project
to use Enhanced User
Interface.