Andrey.Burda
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:06 pm

Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Mon Dec 20, 2021 3:05 pm

Hi there,

I have been following this article to show "user friendly" installation log on the UI - https://www.advancedinstaller.com/user- ... on-summary

While installation, i have a sequence specific Custom Action (immediate run) - inline PowerShell script that runs EXE App (that in it's turn has Console.WriteLine commands), reads\sets installer variables.

I want to show the EXE output in installation log or at least show a text like "Call to <EXE name>".
I tried to convert the Custom Action to "When the system is being modified" to set "Action Text", but I still don't see inserted text in installation UI. Also, as far i understand, in this case i cannot get\set an installer variable inside the script.

Is there any way to achieve this - show Action text while installation or the EXE console program output (Console.WriteLine)?

Regards,
Andrey

Catalin
Posts: 6541
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Mon Dec 20, 2021 3:28 pm

Hello Andrey,

The "Action Text" field is actually used to retrieve the value of properties during the "deferred" stage.

Regarding writing to the log file, you can see the following thread which explains how to achieve that from a script custom action type:

viewtopic.php?t=44681#p114187

From what I can see, your custom action is a C# custom action (please correct me if I'm wrong). To be fully honest with you, I am not quite sure how to achieve that in C#.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

Andrey.Burda
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:06 pm

Re: Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Thu Dec 23, 2021 9:38 am

Hi Catalin,

Thanks for the reply.

The general behavior I want, is to show the Power Shell inline script Custom Action progress text in the Progress dialog with a Text Editor (that is subscribed to installation event).

Once the action executes, I want user to know about it by providing some message like "Action 1 is in progress". The message should be on the below UI:
23-12-2021 11-34-13.png
23-12-2021 11-34-13.png (23.19KiB)Viewed 4590 times

Catalin
Posts: 6541
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Fri Dec 24, 2021 1:17 pm

Hello Andrey,

It looks like I completely misunderstood your first requirement. Please accept my apologies for that.

I have tested this just now and I can confirm that the "Action Text" is not added to the dialog control.

I have created a ticket and hopefully this will be fixed in a future version of Advanced Installer.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

Andrey.Burda
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:06 pm

Re: Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:56 am

Hi Catalin.

Thanks for that.

It might be really useful feature, because currently if something "heavy" is called in background (like EXE or any custom action) it is not clear for user why the progress is not budging.

Catalin
Posts: 6541
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:18 am

You are always welcome, Andrey!

I will update this thread as soon as I will have more information regarding this.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

Catalin
Posts: 6541
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Add CustomAction text to Installation log

Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:39 pm

Hello Andrey,

This improvement has been added in version 19.2 of Advanced Installer, released on February 21st, 2022.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

Return to “Building Installers”