Summary

Synopsis

This article discusses how to set additional information in the support information link in the Add/Remove Programs applet.

Discussion

Recently, Microsoft provided functionality in the Windows operating system that allows additional information to be set in the Add/Remove Programs applet. This functionality was added to Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, and later. This additional information can be viewed by selecting the Support Information link in the Windows Add/Remove Programs applet for your application. This additional information, such as the Product Version, Readme, and Contact information, can also be set from your InstallShield project.

The main location where this information is stored is in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\<PRODUCT_GUID>

where <PRODUCT_GUID> is the Product Code for your setup. This Product Code can be found under Step 1 - General Information view when your project is open.

Note: You can access this registry location directly by typing regedit in the Windows Run dialog to launch the Microsoft Registry Editor.

For example, the following InstallScript code sets the ProductID value for your product to be svSerial from the dialog SdCustomerInformationEx:

function MyFunction()
NUMBER nResult;
STRING szTitle, szMsg, svName, svCompany, svSerial;

begin
nResult = SdCustomerInformationEx(szTitle, svName, svCompany, svSerial, nUser);

// Set sKey to be the uninstall key for this product.
sKey = "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\" + PRODUCT_GUID;
RegDBSetDefaultRoot( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE );

// Set the InstallLocation value in the uninstall key.
RegDBSetKeyValueEx( sKey, "ProductID" , REGDB_STRING, svSerial, -1 );
if (nResult = BACK) goto Dlg_SdWelcome;
end;

To use this code in a InstallScript project, copy the entire block of code and paste it into your script. Then, call this function from one of your pre-existing events to run it.

To use this code in a Basic MSI project, copy the entire block of code and paste it into the 'MyFunction' function that is created by default when you insert a new setup.rul file in the InstallScript view.

Note: When using a Basic MSI project with this sample code, the dialog displayed may appear behind the previous dialog that is displayed. This may occur because MSI-based dialogs take precedence over InstallScript-generated dialogs. Therefore, it may be best to create a dialog in the Dialog Editor, so it is MSI-based, and use this sample code as a guide in creating your own dialog.

More Settings for Support Information for your Product

Additional information, other than the ProductID in the above example, can also be set via this same registry key. To set other values, replace the ProductID argument in the RegDBSetKeyValueEx function in the above code with a value listed in the first column of the table below. The following are the values you would have to write to the same key mentioned above, and the information they will fill in:

Additional Information

These registry values will not modify any information in the Add/Remove Programs dialog for any versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2000. This is because Microsoft did not provide this additional functionality in earlier versions of the Windows Operating System.

For further information about the registry functions available, refer to the InstallShield Help Library topic Registry Functions.