Installer size increase after AI upgrade

[LaughingJohn]

Hi,

I have an installation package for an Office add-in. I recently upgraded Advanced Installer from 18.9.1 to 19.7 and I noticed that my installer size has increased. I installed both versions and checked the files on disk and I don't think my actual software accounts for this increase so I can only assume it's something to do with Advanced installer. I have two builds in the same project, one an exe and one an msi and the sizes changed like this:

EXE: 7.65 MB -> 9.00 MB
MSI: 4.20 MB -> 5.29 MB

Just for reference once I install the size of the installed files changes only minimally:

11.6 MB -> 11.7 MB

I checked the difference between the old and new AIP files and I noticed that it had added the following two entries that weren't there before:

<COMPONENT cid="caphyon.advinst.msicomp.FragmentComponent">
<ROW Fragment="Themes.aip" Path="&lt;AI_FRAGS&gt;Themes.aip"/>

<COMPONENT cid="caphyon.advinst.msicomp.MsiBinaryComponent">
<ROW Name="SoftwareDetector.dll" SourcePath="&lt;AI_CUSTACTS&gt;SoftwareDetector.dll"/>


I understand that SoftwareDetector.dll may be related to the launch conditions, but I don't have any and haven't added any new ones.
I presume Themes.aip is related to the dialogs but again I haven't changed my dialog or theme. I'm using Style6Blue with a Frame type of "System".

Can you give me any idea what's going on here? I tried looking for SoftwareDetector.dll in the Advanced installer program files folder to see how big it was, but I couldn't find it.

Thanks,
LJ

[LaughingJohn]

I'm not sure if it's related to the SoftwareDetector.dll but it also added the following line:

<COMPONENT cid="caphyon.advinst.msicomp.MsiPropsComponent">
<ROW Property="AI_PREDEF_LCONDS_PROPS" Value="AI_DETECTED_ADMIN_USER"/>

If I was to remove SoftwareDetector.dll manually from the AIP file XML, would I also need to remove this line?

Thanks.

[LaughingJohn]

I tried manually removing all the following lines, which AI had added and then did a rebuild. The size of the installer remained the same and when I saved the file it reinstated them all.

<ROW Property="AI_PREDEF_LCONDS_PROPS" Value="AI_DETECTED_ADMIN_USER"/>

<COMPONENT cid="caphyon.advinst.msicomp.BootstrapperUISequenceComponent">
<ROW Action="AI_DetectSoftware" Sequence="151"/>
</COMPONENT>

<ROW Fragment="Themes.aip" Path="&lt;AI_FRAGS&gt;Themes.aip"/>

<ROW Name="SoftwareDetector.dll" SourcePath="&lt;AI_CUSTACTS&gt;SoftwareDetector.dll"/>

<ROW Action="AI_DetectSoftware" Type="257" Source="SoftwareDetector.dll" Target="OnDetectSoftware"/>

<ROW Action="AI_DetectSoftware" Sequence="102"/> (from MsiInstExSeqComponent)

<ROW Action="AI_DetectSoftware" Sequence="101"/> (from MsiInstallUISequenceComponent)

[Catalin]

Hello LJ,

First of all, please avoid manually modifying your .AIP file as this can put your project in a corrupt state, unable to revert it.

Regarding the reported issue, unfortunately I can not really say why that is happening. However, we are talking about a 1MB size difference, which I really do not think is to be of any concern.

If there is anything else I could help you with, please let me know and I will gladly do so.

Best regards,
Catalin

[LaughingJohn]

Hi Catalin,

Thanks for coming back to me.

Regarding the AIP file, I only modified it to see if removing the new lines would remove the DLL/theme that wasn't there before to try and establish if they were responsible for the file size increase.

Regarding the actual issue, I agree that the change in size isn't great, however this was reported to us by more than one of the clients we send the software to, so I guess it matters to them. My personal concern was that the installer may have picked up some malware or something so I needed to investigate why there had been a 'random' change in installer size.

It would also seem a shame to be including unnecessary files if they're not needed. I thought perhaps this had happened inadvertently and your developers might want to be made aware?

Kind Regards,
LJ

[Catalin]

Hello Lj,

It would also seem a shame to be including unnecessary files if they're not needed. I thought perhaps this had happened inadvertently and your developers might want to be made aware?

Thank you for your concern!

Most likely, the size difference comes from whatever new features have been added between the two mentioned versions.

For instance, if a new custom action will be added in Advanced Installer, the DLL that handles the custom actions (which is always embedded in your project, no matter if you use that specific custom action or not) will have an increased size.

This was just an example, of course, it might not be the case for you. But such a low increase of only 1MB makes me think that this is the reason.

If the increase would have been much higher (e.g. 50MB), then indeed it would have been a problem.

Best regards,
Catalin

[LaughingJohn]

Thanks for looking Catalin, I guess as long as I know what it is and it's not anything to be concerned about that's fine.

[Catalin]

You are always welcome, LJ!

If there is anything else I could help you with, please let me know and I will gladly assist.

Best regards,
Catalin