how to choose Dialogs according to features selected in installshield 2010

Question

I want to create a single installer for some web applications. Each application is a component of a feature. For each component I have some Custom Dialogs wich I created for save some configurations like connection string. My question is how to navigate through this dialogs according the features I selected to install. I think I have to edit the behavior of buttons in the dialog but I don't know what I have to write in Event, Argument and Condition. I try to find some informations in InstallShield User Guide but it didn't help me.

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

Windows Installer doesn't really support conditioning dialogs based on selected features or components. Instead, you can use some custom controls which conditions both your features and the dialogs:

• organize your installer into features (one feature for each application)
• create a custom dialog which contains some checkboxes or buttons that represent the features which will be installed
• write a custom action which modifies the feature states based on these custom controls (you can use MsiSetFeatureState function)
• use the same controls to condition your custom dialogs

Most controls have installer properties associated with them (they are like variables in code). You can use these properties in your custom action and to condition your dialogs. It's not simple, but it's doable.