How to send custom messages through Advanced Installer Updater?

Written by Radu Popescu · October 21st, 2022 · 4min read

Sometimes, your end-users need quick updates to relevant information, such as software updates, discounts, or up-to-date documentation.

One way to do this is to implement push notifications and custom messages for your application.

To easily set up these custom messages, the Advanced Installer Updater includes a feature that allows you to create and send custom messages to be displayed on the end user’s machine.

Let’s take a look at how you can take advantage of Advanced Installer Updater:

1. First, we see how to enable messages in the notification area

2. Next, we’ll learn how to configure the Updater to send custom messages

3. And, in the end we’ll need to adjust the settings in the main application

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1. Enable Messages in the Notification Area

All notifications that are pushed through the Advanced Installer Updater are going to be displayed in the Windows notification area (as shown in the picture below).

Notification displayed in Windows Notification Area

So, for users to receive notifications, make sure to enable the “Get notifications from apps and other senders” option. You can find it in the “Notifications & actions settings” section.

Enable notifications from apps

NoteThis feature is available starting with Windows 7.

2. Configure the Updater to send custom messages

As we mentioned, notifications will be pushed via the Updater. To send custom messages, you must first enable the auto-update capability in your installer. You can find all the steps you need to take in the How to Use Advanced Updater to Configure Auto-Updates for Your Application article.

After going through all the steps:

  1. Open your Updater project.
  2. Navigate to the Notifications tab.
  3. Check “Enable notifications” and fill in the fields with your preferred preferences.
Configure notifications in Advanced Installer

Now, your configuration file will be updated, adding a new entry: the [General] section containing the data that we previously defined.

;aiu;
[General]
MessageTitle = This is the notification text title
MessageBody = This is my display notification
MessageExpirationDate = 28/02/2021
MessageURI = https://www.advancedinstaller.com/release-17.9.html
MessageButtonText = Read more here
[Update]
Name = Demo App
ProductVersion = 2.0.0.0
URL = https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MsS96kSPYFnFXQvnFE4XBaryS5aQvGv4/view?usp=sharing
Size = 4933062
MD5 = 51e001ff7091e1231f1f1d9411900b5d
ServerFileName = Demo App 2.0.0.exe
RegistryKey = HKUD\Software\Demo Company\Demo App\Version
Version = 2.0.0.0
Description = Version 2 is available. Update now
Feature = New feature added in version 2. Explore more	 
Enhancement = New enhancements added in version 2
BugFix = All bugs have been fixed in version 2

You can edit this updatesFile.txt file and add a new message at any time.

So, if you want to add a new message, just add a new [General] entry and upload the file to your server. When the Updater gets triggered, it will recognize that a new message is available and will display it.

NoteA notification will be displayed (only once) when the Updater is triggered, whether automatically from a scheduled task or manually from a desktop shortcut (updater.exe).

3. Configure the main package

After updaterFile.exe is configured, we also need to adjust settings in the main application.

A specific setting that is recommended for the Updater is to add the AppID. The AppID field is mandatory for update notifications. On some Windows 10 versions, the notifications will not be displayed if an AppID is missing.

You can easily configure the AppID from the Updater page under the Display section.

Configure AppID

The most convenient way to find the AppID is by installing the application and then running the following command line in PowerShell:

get-StartApps -Name "Your application name"

Conclusion

As you can see, sending custom messages through the Advanced Installer Updater is an effortless process that guarantees your end-users receive important information about new releases or updates.

We hope you found this article helpful. Have you used Advanced Installer Updater to set up notifications for end-users? Let us know in the comments.

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