Summary

Synopsis

This knowledge base article discusses how to make sure that all dialog controls that are placed on top of a bitmap are visible.

Discussion

The Windows Installer paints controls in a certain order, starting with the control that is designated in the Dialog table as the Control_First attribute. This is the first control painted, after which each control in the tab order is painted in sequence. The key to making a control appear on top of a bitmap is to make sure that the controls on top of the bitmap have a higher tab order than the bitmap.

In a Basic MSI project, to make a dialog control placed over a bitmap visible, adjust the tab settings as follows:

• All controls plus the bitmap must have their Tab Stop properties set to True.

• The bitmap must be earlier in the tab order than any of the controls placed on the bitmap. You can arrange this using the Tab Index property. The simplest solution is to give the bitmap control a Tab Index of 0.

Workaround

To set the tab order, follow these steps:

1. Open the Dialogs view.

2. Expand the node of the dialog containing the control you want to make visible.

3. In the right dialog pane, click the Edit dialog layout link.

4. Select every control from the drop-down list and set its Tab Stop property to True.

5. Select the bitmap control from the drop-down list and set its Tab Index property to 0.

Additional Information

For more information on the Control table, see Windows Installer Help Library topic Control Table.