mtomsak
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 10:32 pm

Potential bug with URL shortcuts

Tue Jul 11, 2017 4:32 pm

I have a version 1.5.0 installer package that includes a desktop URL shortcut named 'Spare Parts', pointing to .../SpareParts.HTML.

The URL was changed, so I created a 1.6.0 installer package that changes the 'Spare Parts' shortcut so it now points to .../SparePartsNew.HTML.

While installing version 1.6.0, I watch it uninstall version 1.5.0 and the 'Spare Parts' shortcut, then I watch it install version 1.6.0 and reinstall the 'Spare Parts' shortcut.

After version 1.6.0 is installed, I click on the desktop 'Spare Parts' shortcut, and it tries to load .../SpareParts.HTML, not .../SparePartsNew.HTML. This is not the correct URL.

After logging off and back on, and then clicking on the desktop 'Spare Parts' shortcut, it now loads .../SparePartsNew.HTML.

This occurs on both a Windows 7 Professional PC and a Windows 10 PC where Google Chrome is the default browser.

Is this a bug in Advanced Installer or is it a caching issue in Windows?

Eusebiu
Posts: 4931
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2012 2:04 pm

Re: Potential bug with URL shortcuts

Wed Jul 12, 2017 11:24 am

Hi,

Indeed, we are aware of this problem which we were able to partially reproduce. Here is the test case we've used:
1. install the setup and set the URL field to first value
2. remove and reinstall the setup by setting the URL field to second value
3. after second installation, right click on created URL shortcut and choose "Properties"
4. on the "Web Document" tab the URL field is set to the first value
5. on "Details" tab the URL field is set to the second value
6. when I launch the URL shortcut, the IE browser try to access (as expected) the second value
7. I've opened the installed "Test_Url.url" file in a text editor tool (e.g. drag and drop it in Notepad++) and the shortcut file had the expected content like this:

[InternetShortcut]
URL=https://<new_domain>:<new_port>/management
WorkingDirectory=<working directory>

However, I have no clue why the "Web Document" tab displays the first value. It seems like this value is somehow cached and preserved by Windows.

Basically, our "Creating URL Shortcut" support creates an INI file (with .url extension) with the following entries:

[InternetShortcut]
URL=<url_location>
WorkingDirectory=<working_directory>

What you can try is to remove the added shortcut to URL file from "Files and Folders" page, create your own custom action which will create an INI file like the above and see if the behavior still persist?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1290 ... -icon-in-c

Let us know if this helped.

Best regards,
Eusebiu
Eusebiu Aria - Advanced Installer Team
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prakashguru
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2021 6:09 am

Re: Potential bug with URL shortcuts

Sun Oct 10, 2021 6:13 am

Your steps helped me to find the root of the problem .

Can you please at least document this behavior in the internet shortcut documentation. I have almost wasted couple of hours.

Thanks,
Prakash

Catalin
Posts: 6509
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Potential bug with URL shortcuts

Mon Oct 11, 2021 2:53 pm

Hello Prakash and welcome to our forums,

I am glad to hear the workaround offered by my colleague Eusebiu helped.

I have forwarded this to our Technical Writing team to be added in our documentation in the future.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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