verify an active connection to the internet

[dms]

Hi

Having now got to grips with server side validation and a couple of other things it occured to me that it would be nice if AI could have a built in check for internet connection. At present if one includes serverside validation and someone installs a piece of software that incorporates it the first that they will know about needing an active internet connection is when the validation process fails. It would look much better if AI could effectively prevent the installation process from running if there was no viable connection to the internet.

I envisage some sort of check box in the first page (Product Details) which one could check if one wanted AI to do a check for an active connection prior to running the installation and provide a suitable error message if one was not found.

Dom

[Cosmin]

Hi,

I have added this feature on our TODO list and it will be available in a future version of Advanced Installer. Thank you for your suggestion.

Regards,
Cosmin

[NSentinel]

You added this functionality recently. Can you give some light or probably code how this detection is performed.

I added this check to new installation of our program, and one of our clients has trouble. His description:

Updater notifies that new update available, download it and run install, after that install fails with "No internet connection available".
Same time he can browse sites and use internet as usually. And there are no problem because Updater just download new update.

What can I do to investigate this?

Setup build with 6.7.1 version

Thank you in advance

[Cosmin]

Hi,

Can you give some light or probably code how this detection is performed.

The Internet connection is detected by using the WinINet API (Internet Explorer API), the same as the Updater.

Since this behavior is encountered by only one user, most likely the problem is caused by the target machine. Perhaps the internet connection doesn't work anymore after the update is downloaded. Can you please specify the exact error shown by the installer?

Regards,
Cosmin

[NSentinel]

Since this behavior is encountered by only one user, most likely the problem is caused by the target machine. Perhaps the internet connection doesn't work anymore after the update is downloaded.

I think so when talking with him and ask to try did all steps again choosing download again. He reproduced this error 3 times. After that I decided to make setup build without this check and he able to update successfuly by using updater. This was very strange behaviour for me so I decided to get more info.

Can you please specify the exact error shown by the installer?

Sorry, I didn't ask to take screenshot for me (we talking by phone), but his description was similar to "This program required Internet Connection in order to run". Is there can be different messages with similar start but different error description? I can pay attention in future.

As I understand you use bool InternetGetConnectedState(ref ConnectionState lpdwFlags, int dwReserved) for checking and verify whenever it returns true

I try to enable this detection in future release and let you know if problem persists. Thank you for information.

[Cosmin]

Hi,

Is there can be different messages with similar start but different error description?

The launch condition text is: "[ProductName] requires an active Internet connection for installation. Please check your network configuration and proxy settings.". I asked about the message to make sure that it was shown by the launch condition and not by something else.

Let me know if the problem is encountered by other users.

Regards,
Cosmin

[NSentinel]

Hi,

As we decided before I put this check again and got error from one of our customers. It exactly as you say: "[ProductName] requires an active Internet connection for installation. Please check your network configuration and proxy settings." but in my native language (Russian).

Error description

inet_check_err.png (8.06 KiB) Viewed 9979 times

I ask our customer about network details. He has high security evironment i.e. proxy auth (without NAT) and strict rules where and which traffic can be sent/receive. As for our program they just opened only ports our software must have to work (non-standard) and for selected destination only.

May be we can avoid this problem by using configuration in installer, for example: we can choose to use default inet check or installer will try to open connection to specified url/port combination?

Regards,

[Cosmin]

Hi,

May be we can avoid this problem by using configuration in installer, for example: we can choose to use default inet check or installer will try to open connection to specified url/port combination?

We will consider adding this improvement in a future version of Advanced Installer. Thank you for your suggestion.
The Internet connection attempts uses the Internet Explorer configuration. Therefore, the user may try as a workaround allowing Internet Explorer to connect.

Regards,
Cosmin

[NSentinel]

The Internet connection attempts uses the Internet Explorer configuration. Therefore, the user may try as a workaround allowing Internet Explorer to connect.

Internet Explorer work normally but proxy require user auth thru additional web-form (instead of usually "transparent" config with NAT and NTLM auth). So maybe this is problem for correct detection via WinInet API.

I don't think that force user to allow IE to go thru their proxy in a simpler way just for installing our program is a good idea. I resend them new setup and check this condition after first start. I want this check during installation just as user's reminder.

Thank you for quick response.

I'll wait when you have time for more versatile version of detection. Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Nick