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I saw this excellent article: Inno Setup - Correct use of [Types], [Components] and [Tasks] on components and types.

I currently have three separate setup.exe projects (iss) to install:

  1. The program executable (default to: C:\ProgramFiles/ ) i.e. {pf}
  2. a setup of js/css/html (default to: c:\wwwroot\sherlock
  3. a setup to install image files (jpg/png) files (default to: c:\wwwroot\toby

I want the user it be able to redirect the default locations for each of these three "components" (i.e. perhaps his /wwwroot is on the G drive, or something like that. I don't see anyway in the Source: command other than to send this to {app}

Source: "Z:\EGPL Librarian Releases\Sample Installation\wwwroot\Sherlock\*"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs

Question: can this be done with components and types as the above article? Should I rather create an installer of installer programs and keep the three separate setups? (And can you show me an example of an installer of installer programs?)

I am looking for a simple solution, since I have other work to do.

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Dr.YSG
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    We all have other work to do! Please don't as others to do your work, your current question looks like that to me. – jachguate Dec 05 '12 at 19:41
  • Ah, it looks like another normal case of "remote distrust and obfuscation". All I was trying to do is give a reason for why I want the "simple" verison, as opposed to the correct. Beside, I differ from you about asking "newbie" design and approach questions, especially for poorly documented FOSS software. Adding a new thread in StackOverflow about the design approaches (which is what Miral did below) is very useful, and becomes part of a knowledge base that is simply not available at the inno setup site. Thank you Miral. – Dr.YSG Dec 07 '12 at 14:33
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    I'm not against asking _newbie_ questions here. I still think your last comment is superfluous as it was really not necessary. – jachguate Dec 07 '12 at 18:13
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    Inno is not poorly documented. – Miral Dec 08 '12 at 08:43

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See this page. Note that it was written for an older version of Inno, but it should be easy enough to adapt.

Components/Tasks are for optional things. If your items are not optional then there's not much point in using them.

As for whether to make a single installer or an installer of installers -- the main question there is what you want to happen at uninstall time. If you want the user to be able to uninstall each part separately then you must create separate install scripts with unique AppIds (and then optionally make an installer of installers for them). If you want them to always be uninstalled together then you can make a single script.

Miral
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  • Thanks Miral, The desired User Experience I was looking for is two have two mandatory components and one optional. With choices for the target folder for each component. You get this for free with three separate setup.exe. I was looking for a quick way to create a master version that did three #includes of the component ISS to get the same effect. AppID would still be the same to do a global uninstall. (I want to hide the fact that this is a modular install). – Dr.YSG Dec 07 '12 at 14:40
  • The downside of the "installer of installers" approach, when you leave the subinstallers interactive (in order to get them to prompt for a folder), is that the user might cancel one or more of them, or enter an inappropriate location -- either one might leave them with an incomplete install. You can get much greater reliability from making a single installer with a custom prompt page as shown in the link. – Miral Dec 08 '12 at 08:42
  • I went through all the inno setup documentation last night, but I am still missing something that I think should be simple, and have a simple example: A custom (additional) page that prompts the user for a text string, and where that text string is assigned a variable that can then be used a "path constant" (my terminology) in the [Files] section (e.g. FooVar = "c:/files/mine" and source: {var:FooVar}/subdir – Dr.YSG Dec 12 '12 at 15:22
  • See `{code:...}` constants. You can't use a variable directly, you have to access it via a function. – Miral Dec 12 '12 at 21:52