Setting up the Windows Installer ComboBox can be hard to understand, but once mastered, you can use some flexible methods to create the list entries.
Here, I show a basic interior dialog “ISI_ComboBox” created with a Combo Box dropped onto it. The MSI Property associated with the Combo Box is “ISI_COMBOBOX”
To supply some fixed entries for the Combo Box, I switch to the Direct Editor, and select the ComboBox table.
I create three entries for the same MSI Property “ISI_COMBOBOX”, ensure the Order for display is in the sequence that I want and supply unique values. Now to specify the default value, I switch to the Property Manager and specify the default value for the MSI Property “ISI_COMBOBOX”
Here is the finished dialog – upon initial display the default instructor “Mike” is displayed:
And when the user selects the drop down, the other instructors are displayed:
But what if the entries in the Combo Box are dynamic – say you want to supply the user with a list of Client ODBC entries that should be linked to your Client installation.
Obviously this list is very dynamic , and will change for each user. Here is some InstallScript code that allows you to take as input a list “ODBC_CLIENTS” and inject these entries into the MSI table before the dialogs are displayed:
//** Open view into ComboBox table
//*****************************************************************
MsiDatabaseOpenView(ISMSI_HANDLE,”SELECT * FROM `ComboBox` WHERE `Property`=’ODBC_CLIENTS’”, hViewlist);
MsiViewExecute(hViewlist, NULL);
r = 0;
// Get the first string in the list.
nResult = ListGetFirstString (sKeys, szODBClients);
MsiSetProperty (ISMSI_HANDLE, “ODBC_CLIENTS”, szJODBClients);
// Loop while list items continue to be retrieved.
while (nResult != END_OF_LIST)
szODBClientsTemp=szODBClients;
StrReplace ( szODBClientsTemp, “_”, “”, 0 );
StrReplace ( szODBClientsTemp, “.”, “”, 0 );
StrToNum (szODBClientsNum, szODBClientsTemp);
if szODBClientsNum > 14200 then
r = r + 1;
hRecordlist = MsiCreateRecord(4);
MsiRecordSetString(hRecordlist, 1, “ODBC_CLIENTS”);
MsiRecordSetInteger(hRecordlist, 2, r);
MsiRecordSetString(hRecordlist, 3, szODBClients);
MsiRecordSetString(hRecordlist, 4, “”);
// can only temporarily modify running .msi database
MsiViewModify(hViewlist, MSIMODIFY_INSERT_TEMPORARY, hRecordlist);
// Get the next string in the list.
endif;
nResult = ListGetNextString (sKeys, szODBClients);
endwhile;
Note: It is up to you to create and populate the String list “ODBC_CLIENTS”, then select a string to populate the MSI Property ISI_COMBOBOX for the default value.
Here is additional reference from Robert Dickau here:
Hope this helps!
ShieldMaster
