Customize updater error message

[Fernandes]

Hello

Is it possible to customize (change) the error message displayed inside the updater, when its not able to connect to the download link?

The error message I get sometimes is Error: The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it.

[Dan]

Hello,

We don't have predefined support for this but you can change the related string in the internal resources of Advanced Installer.

For this, please locate the Updater-res.dll resource from the installation folder of Advanced Installer.
e.g. the default path is:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files (x86)\Caphyon\Advanced Installer 11.9\stubs\res

Open the String Table from the Updater-res.dll and locate the related string (its ID value is 211). Change the message caption and save the .dll

Please note that you should backup first the .dll.

If you have other questions, please let us know.

Best regards,
Dan

[Fernandes]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the prompt reply,

1) I'm new to programming, how do I edit the dll. I tried to open the dll using notepad, however I was not able to find the string table. Do I have to use visual studio or some other editor to edit the dll.

2) Also is there a way to add a mirror to the download (i.e add secondary download link in case the first link fails).

[Dan]

Hi,

1) I'm new to programming, how do I edit the dll. I tried to open the dll using notepad, however I was not able to find the string table. Do I have to use visual studio or some other editor to edit the dll.

Indeed, to edit a .dll file you can use Visual Studio or any other .dll resource editor (e.g. Resource Tuner).

2) Also is there a way to add a mirror to the download (i.e add secondary download link in case the first link fails).

We don't have support for this. I have added this improvement on our TODO list and it will be available in a future version of Advanced Installer. Thank you for your suggestion.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

Best regards,
Dan

[wiebe333]

I have tried to edit a string in the string table from Visual Studio 2013, but I'm running into several issues:

1) I have editted the string table in Visual Studio, saved the dll, and closed it. If I re-open the .dll, Visual Studio claims that "[path]\Updater-res.dll appears to be corrupted. Displaying recovered resources. It is recommended that you not save this file!". Is this a problem? What is wrong?

2) Although #1 above may be the problem, I couldn't figure out how to get the edits I made in the string table into my updater. I tried closing and re-opening the Advanced installer project, rebuilding the installer and the updates txt file, etc, and I don't see the changes when I run Updater.exe. Is there anything else I need to do here?

[Daniel]

Hello,

We apologize for our delayed reply.

I'm not sure why this happens. Can you please try to use another DLL resource editor tool (for instance, like the one my colleague Dan mentioned - Resource Tuner) and see if this is more useful?

All the best,
Daniel

[wiebe333]

I was able to get it to work in Resource Tuner. Thanks for your response on that- it is still kind of strange that Visual Studio couldn't do it properly.

Another question though: I have now editted some select bits of text in English. We do not have the means to create our own translations of these edits into other languages. Since our client base is entirely english-speaking (even if some of them are not native english speakers and reside in other countries), we would like everyone to see the updater messages in English, no matter what language their computer is set to. I presume I can do this by just deleting all the non-english resources from the dll, correct? Then the "Neutral" resource would be the one used by the Advanced Installer Updater?

Additionally, will I need to re-do my edits to Updater-res.dll from scratch every time that I update my installation of Advanced Installer? Or only for certain updates?

[Daniel]

Hello,

Another question though: I have now editted some select bits of text in English. We do not have the means to create our own translations of these edits into other languages. Since our client base is entirely english-speaking (even if some of them are not native english speakers and reside in other countries), we would like everyone to see the updater messages in English, no matter what language their computer is set to. I presume I can do this by just deleting all the non-english resources from the dll, correct? Then the "Neutral" resource would be the one used by the Advanced Installer Updater?

If you want the Updater use only the English strings, then all you have to to is to build an English project type. From "Start" page create your project type by using the "English" language. Also, you should not include afterwards other languages into your project. When building a multilingual project type the Updater will use at run time the OS language of the machine it is running from.

Additionally, will I need to re-do my edits to Updater-res.dll from scratch every time that I update my installation of Advanced Installer? Or only for certain updates?

Yes, for security reasons you should redo this edits on every Advanced Installer version.

All the best,
Daniel

[wiebe333]

Sounds good- thanks!

[Daniel]

You're always welcome.

All the best,
Daniel

[Daniel]

Hello,

2) Also is there a way to add a mirror to the download (i.e add secondary download link in case the first link fails).

This improvement has been added in version 12.2 of Advanced Installer released on June 10th, 2015.

All the best,
Daniel