How to identify the Category for "Control Panel Applets"

[kambizt]

Hi,

I'm using AI Professional version 9.2 and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to change the Control panel applet settings. Here are the two issues I would like to workaround:

1- The shortcut name is very limited for Control Panel applets! is there a way to increase that limit?
2- In newer editions of Windows the Control Panel icons are organized under different categories. the shortcuts created by AI generally go under an unknown category called "Additional Options". Is there a way to configure them in AI so they get listed under other categories like "Hardware and Sound" or "Appearance" ? I found it extermely difficult to find those shortcuts unless Control Panel is set to Classic View.

I appreciate any guidance in this regards.

Thanks.
KT

[kambizt]

BTW, I know how to hack the registry and fix it after installation; but I would rather do it throush EXE/MSI installation process.

Thanks.

KT

[Daniel]

Hello,

1- The shortcut name is very limited for Control Panel applets! is there a way to increase that limit?

No, unfortunately this cannot be done. This is a limitation of the API that we are using.

2- In newer editions of Windows the Control Panel icons are organized under different categories. the shortcuts created by AI generally go under an unknown category called "Additional Options". Is there a way to configure them in AI so they get listed under other categories like "Hardware and Sound" or "Appearance" ? I found it extermely difficult to find those shortcuts unless Control Panel is set to Classic View.

I'm afraid we don't have a predefined functionality to achieve this. Thank you for your suggestion. We have added this on our TODO list and it will be available in a future version of Advanced Installer. However, in order to Assign Control Panel Categories for your applets you should take a look on Registering Control Panel Items article.

I've attached a sample project which implements the scenario.

SAMPLE.aip

(13.12 KiB) Downloaded 641 times

All the bet,
Daniel

[kambizt]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks much for your input as well as the sample project you posted.

I have also noticed that when I'm using the "Mixed 32/64-bit matching the platform" option, the Registry changes I have made don't take place in regular branches of registry and instead go under Wow6432Node which doesn't have the same effect. Is there anything I do wrong here? I also built your Sample project and got the same results.

Regards,

KT

[Daniel]

Hello,

Please keep in mind that on a 64-bit system the registry entries installed by a 32-bit application are created under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node" key. Please take a look on our "Wow6432Node registry key" article. In order to install a registry entry on a 64-bit system under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\" you should mark its component as "64-bit Component" from the "Organization" page. Just press F8 keyboard shortcut from the Registry page while having the registry value selected.

I also built your Sample project and got the same results.

Indeed, my previous sample works only on 32-bit operating systems. Here's attached a sample which works on both, 32-bit and 64-bit, operating systems.

SAMPLE.aip

(18.62 KiB) Downloaded 676 times

All the best,
Daniel

[kambizt]

Thanks a lot for your help.

KT