Thanks for the helpful pointers. I've since written a C# program that does the check for the old InstallShield install, runs it if found and cleans up the leftover garbage.
Now I would like to follow your suggestion of putting this utility in a custom bootstrapper for the new MSI so I can be sure the check happens. But I am unsure how to implement this scenario. The product in question requires several third-party products such as Adobe Acrobat and Flash, and I have successfully been able to create a bootstrapper which sets these products up using the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator. But I'm not quite sure how I would add my cleanup utility to the setup bootstrapper using BMG or a MSBuild GenerateBootStrapperTask . The utility is a "prerequisite" in the sense that I want it to be sure it runs whenever the product setup is run, but its not really "providing" anything on the target machine, in the same sense that Acrobat or Flash is. This is where I'm getting stuck-- figuring out where this piece fits in the overall bootstrap process. Chris Painter made the suggestion of including a launch condition in the MSI which checks whether or not the cleanup utility has run, and that is a totally acceptable solution because it will meet the requirement of not allowing the MSI to install until that has been done. I was just hoping I might be able to make it more all-in-one by embedding the utility into the bootstrapper. Thanks again for your help, and Chris too! Richard-45 wrote: > > > In article <1240352013685-2672846.p...@n2.nabble.com>, > lesterbangs <datapa...@gmail.com> writes: > >> In this case, is it ok to run this cleanup procedure as an immediate >> action? >> What are the potential pitfalls of authoring the MSI in this way? Do I >> have >> any other alternatives apart from manually requiring the cleanup to be a >> separate step uninstall-old/reinstall-new process? > > I would handle this in a custom bootstrapper that: > > i) identifies if the previous version is installed and if installed: > a) backs up any data needed from the previous version > a) runs the uninstall of the previous version > b) performs the cleanup after the uninstall completes > ii) runs the install of your new version > > That way you get a solution that works if they are upgrading or if > they are installing fresh. > > I've dealt with these sorts of scenarios before and they are always > difficult to get right. The main suggestion I have for getting it all > completely correct is to test the hell out of it with some sort of > virtual machine software (Virtual PC, VMWare, Virtual Box, etc.) so > that you can reliably and repeatably test the process. > -- > "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download > <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> > > Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and > around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save > $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. > 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. > Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/Cleaning-up-a-messy-InstallShield-tp2672846p2824844.html Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
