Summary

Synopsis

Windows Installer provides a standard for the user interface. All dialogs, controls, billboards, events, and conditions are saved in the database tables. Therefore, the behavior of any MSI setup user interface is limited to the built-in functionality of Windows Installer. This article discusses some of the limitations.

Discussion

The system menu icon cannot be changed

This icon in the upper-left corner of each MSI dialog box is provided by the Windows Installer Service.

Windows Installer suppresses edit-field-changed messages

You cannot disable controls on an MSI dialog box until all edit fields contain text. MSI evaluates control conditions only when the user changes the control's focus. A workaround might be to provide a Validate button that would run a custom action to ensure that the fields are set correctly.

Feature dependencies cannot be set up in the FeatureTree control displayed by the Custom Setup dialog

InstallScript MSI projects (formerly Standard projects) can define feature dependencies, using a feature's Required Features property. However, this is not available in Basic MSI projects. A control event can be used to verify that the required features are selected.

A context menu cannot be displayed when the user right-clicks in an edit field

Windows Installer does not display the clipboard context menu for controls. Instead, instruct users to use the hot key combinations: Ctrl+A (Select all), Ctrl+C (Copy), Ctrl+X (Cut), Ctrl+V (Paste), and Ctrl-Z (Undo).

Multi-Selection List Boxes are not supported

Windows Installer does not support the use of multi-selection list boxes in MSI dialogs. If this type of dialog control is needed, it's recommended that you use an InstallScript or InstallScript MSI project type which utilizes InstallScript dialogs.

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