Files missing after installation, but feature is installed

[R.Mueller]

Hi Advanced Installer Support Team,

I have a weird problem with one of our installers: Previously we have had a web feature (lets call it "A") in our setup, which installs a larger amount of components. Internally, this feature consists of some components directly attached to "A", and it has two hidden sub features "A1" and "A2" with more components attached.

For the upcoming version of our product I have added a second web feature on the same level as "A" (e.g. "B"), which also installs some other components and shares some of the components with the feature "A". So, the user has the chance to decide, if he wants to install feature "A" or "B" or both.

Both features are child of a parent feature (this would be "C").

The weird problem I am faced with is: When the user selects during the installation, that all sub features of "C" are going to be installed, all files of feature "A1" and "A2" are missing on the target system (only "A" and "B" is installed).
If you modify the installation and remove all the features in "C" and finish the installation, then add feature "C" again - it works. If you leave out "A" and only add "B" on first time installation and later on add "A" during a modification it works also.

In the msi log file I see entries like this:
MSI (s) (10:34) [11:10:53:908]: Feature: A1; Installed: Absent; Request: Null; Action: Null

The hidden sub features are setup up like this:

2015-04-17 11_50_39-TheCommonSetup.aip (English US) - Advanced In.png (16.38 KiB) Viewed 15955 times

To summarize my experience:

• First time installation of setup, with "C" and sub features: only "A" and "B" is installed, but "A1" and "A2" is missing
• Modify installation: remove "C" again - "C" including all A's and B is removed
• Modify installation: add "C" again: "C" is properly installed, including all A's and B

Somehow I have a weird dependency between "A" and "B", which I don't want to have. Have you ever heard about a similar problem? How do I solve it?

I am using AI12 for building the installer. I have attached two log files and feature name description in a zip file. From my point of view, Features "A", "A1" and "A2" have not being changed since the last version.

Thanks for your help!

Regards,

Roland

[Dan]

Hi Roland,

Some issues have been fixed to the UpdateFeatureState action in the 12.1 version of Advanced Installer. Can you please contact us to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can sent you an RC version of the 12.1 version of Advanced Installer and see if this fix your issue too?

Best regards,
Dan

[R.Mueller]

Hi Dan,

this are good news. Email to support is already out.

I can test this asap, as soon as I receive the RC and can let you know, if it also fixes the issue.

Thanks

Regards,

Roland

[R.Mueller]

Hi Dan,

while using your provided hotfix since a while, I noticed that we have trouble now updating existing installations. The previously installed features are gone and always the default features are installed.

I assume, this correlates to the UpdateFeatureState action changed in this hotfix. Do you know this issue?

Regards,

Roland

[Dan]

Hi Roland,

while using your provided hotfix since a while, I noticed that we have trouble now updating existing installations. The previously installed features are gone and always the default features are installed.

I'm not sure I fully understand when this is happening. Can you please tell me if this is happening during the Maintenance (you are running for the second time the installation package after it has been successfully installed) or during an Upgrade(you install a higher version on a machine where there is a previous version)?

I assume, this correlates to the UpdateFeatureState action changed in this hotfix. Do you know this issue?

No, we are not aware of any issue regarding this scenario.
Can you please send us a sample project which replicate this behaviour and a detailed test case scenario to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can further investigate this?

Best regards,
Dan

[R.Mueller]

Hi Dan,

sorry for being not precise, I did an update from an older version (this was a major update). You need to go to maintenance mode afterwards and add the previously installed features again.

I will send some sample projects to the support.

Regards,

Roland

[ketteringkid]

Yeah... I updated advanced installer and now my folder sync file overwrites do not work. Same file built on the older toolchain worked fine. I desperately need a patch or the ability to download version: 11.6.1

[Dan]

Hello,

The next version of Advanced Installer is scheduled to be release next week. If you need this fix, you can send us an email to support at advancedinstaller dot com and we can send you an RC for the next version of Advanced Installer.

I need the ability to download version: 11.6.1

In order to download an older version of Advanced Installer, you can follow these steps:

• go to the Customer Information page
• enter your license key in the field and click on the "Go!" button
• select the desired version from the combo box at the bottom of the page

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

Best regards,
Dan

[R.Mueller]

Hi,

we are now using Advanced Installer 12.1. It seems, that features installation states are not considered, when I update a previous installation of our product, it does not uses the already installed features, instead the default features are installed. How can i fix that?

Regards,

Roland

[Daniel]

Hello Roland,

I've tested the scenario and I replicated the behavior. Please give me some time to forward this to our development team and I'll get back to you as soon as we have a conclusive reply.

All the best,
Daniel

[Daniel]

Hello Roland,

Indeed, this is caused by an Advanced Installer limitation. Our "UpdateFeaturesInstallStates" custom action ignores, during an upgrade, the feature states of the previous installed version. An improvement will be added in a future version of Advanced Installer, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We'll notify you as soon as the improvement will be out.

Until then, I'm afraid the only workaround will be to create your own custom actions to get the state of the old version features and set it accordingly to the new version features.

All the best,
Daniel

[R.Mueller]

Hi Daniel,

hence this is a very important bug, I need a way to fix it somehow. When is the next version scheduled or it is possible to get a hotfix solving this issue?

I guess, you agree, creating my own custom actions to cover this scenario cannot be the final solution.

Regards,

Roland

[mihai.petcu]

Hi Roland,

Our development team is currently working on this, but there is no hotfix available yet.

You'll get a notification when the next release will be out or as soon as we can send you something.

All the best,
Mihai

[ketteringkid]

12.2 seems to be broken too. My installers don't seem to write any files anymore on upgrades...

[Daniel]

Hello,

In order to have a clear view of the issue you are facing with, can you please send us the AIPs (project files) of the old version and of the upgraded version and a verbose log of the upgrade installation to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can investigate them?

Also, it will be really useful for us if you could isolate the behavior in a buildable sample (AIPs + their referenced files) and send it us alongside a test case so we can test and investigate in our side.

All the best,
Daniel