Make Inno Setup Installer report its installation progress status to master installer

Question

I currently have two Inno Setup installers working around. I need one of them to report its status as a sub installer to another installer even it running with VERYSILENT command.

I need this to display a progress bar in my main installer according to sub installer's installation progress because I don't want any infinite (marquee) progress bars for this.

I also read about IPC Mechanism in Delphi. How can I add this communication abilities like pumps to Inno Setup source code? Any tips for starting?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I do not think you need to code fancy IPC stuff for this. Just exchange the information via a temporary file.

Child installer code:

[Code]

function SetTimer(
  Wnd: LongWord; IDEvent, Elapse: LongWord; TimerFunc: LongWord): LongWord;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

var
  ProgressFileName: string;
  PrevProgress: Integer;

procedure ReportProgressProc(
  H: LongWord; Msg: LongWord; Event: LongWord; Time: LongWord);
var
  Progress: Integer;
begin
  try
    Progress :=
      (WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Position * 100) div WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Max;
    if PrevProgress <> Progress then
    begin
      if not SaveStringToFile(ProgressFileName, IntToStr(Progress), False) then
      begin
        Log(Format('Failed to save progress %d', [Progress]));
      end
        else
      begin
        Log(Format('Saved progress %d', [Progress]));
        PrevProgress := Progress;
      end;
    end;
  except
    Log('Exception saving progress');
  end;
end;  

procedure InitializeWizard();
begin
  // When run with /progress=<path> switch, will report progress to that file
  ProgressFileName := ExpandConstant('{param:progress}');
  if ProgressFileName <> '' then
  begin
    Log(Format('Will write progress to: %s', [ProgressFileName]));
    PrevProgress := -1;
    SetTimer(0, 0, 250, CreateCallback(@ReportProgressProc));
  end;
end;

Master installer code:

#define ChildInstaller "mysetup.exe"

[Files]
Source: {#ChildInstaller}; Flags: dontcopy

[Code]

function SetTimer(
  Wnd: LongWord; IDEvent, Elapse: LongWord; TimerFunc: LongWord): LongWord;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';
function KillTimer(hWnd: LongWord; uIDEvent: LongWord): BOOL;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

var
  ProgressPage: TOutputProgressWizardPage;
  ProgressFileName: string;

procedure UpdateProgressProc(
  H: LongWord; Msg: LongWord; Event: LongWord; Time: LongWord);
var
  S: AnsiString;
  Progress: Integer;
begin
  try
    if not LoadStringFromFile(ProgressFileName, S) then
    begin
      Log(Format('Failed to read progress from file %s', [ProgressFileName]));
    end
      else
    begin
      Progress := StrToIntDef(S, -1);
      if (Progress < 0) or (Progress > 100) then
      begin
        Log(Format('Read invalid progress %s', [S]));
      end
        else
      begin
        Log(Format('Read progress %d', [Progress]));
        ProgressPage.SetProgress(Progress, 100);
      end;
    end;
  except
    Log('Exception updating progress');
  end;
end;

procedure InstallChild;
var
  ChildInstallerPath: string;
  ChildInstallerParams: string;
  Timer: LongWord;
  InstallError: string;
  ResultCode: Integer;
begin
  ExtractTemporaryFile('{#ChildInstaller}');
  
  ProgressPage := CreateOutputProgressPage('Running child installer', '');
  ProgressPage.SetProgress(0, 100);
  ProgressPage.Show;
  try
    Timer := SetTimer(0, 0, 250, CreateCallback(@UpdateProgressProc));

    ChildInstallerPath := ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#ChildInstaller}');
    ProgressFileName := ExpandConstant('{tmp}\progress.txt');
    Log(Format('Expecting progress in %s', [ProgressFileName]));
    ChildInstallerParams :=
      Format('/verysilent /progress="%s"', [ProgressFileName]);
    if not Exec(ChildInstallerPath, ChildInstallerParams, '', SW_SHOW,
                ewWaitUntilTerminated, ResultCode) then
    begin
      InstallError := 'Cannot start child installer';
    end
      else
    if ResultCode <> 0 then
    begin
      InstallError :=
        Format('Child installer failed with code %d', [ResultCode]);
    end;
  finally
    // Clean up
    KillTimer(0, Timer);
    ProgressPage.Hide;
    DeleteFile(ProgressFileName);
  end;

  if InstallError <> '' then
  begin 
    // RaiseException does not work properly,
    // while TOutputProgressWizardPage is shown
    RaiseException(InstallError);
  end;
end;

You can use the InstallChild like below, or on any other place of your installer process:

function NextButtonClick(CurPageID: Integer): Boolean;
begin
  Result := True;

  if CurPageID = wpReady then
  begin
    try
      InstallChild;
    except
      MsgBox(GetExceptionMessage, mbError, MB_OK);
      Result := False;
    end;
  end;
end;

Another good solution would be to use the PrepareToInstall event function. For an example see my answer to Inno Setup torrent download implementation.

---

For CreateCallback function, you need Inno Setup 6. If you are stuck with Inno Setup 5, you can use WrapCallback function from InnoTools InnoCallback library.

---

It might be better to use the TFileStream instead of the LoadStringFromFile and the SaveStringToFile. The TFileStream supports read sharing. With the LoadStringFromFile and the SaveStringToFile, the progress reporting may occasionally temporarily fail, if both sides happen to try to read and write at the same time.

See Inno Setup LoadStringFromFile fails when file is open in another process.

---

This shows how the child and master installer progresses are linked (if the child installer is not running with the /verysilent switch, but with the /silent only):

---

If you want to display the progress on the primary progress bar of the main installer, you can use the following master installer code:

#define ChildInstaller "mysetup.exe"

[Files]
Source: {#ChildInstaller}; Flags: dontcopy

[Code]

function SetTimer(
  Wnd: LongWord; IDEvent, Elapse: LongWord; TimerFunc: LongWord): LongWord;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';
function KillTimer(hWnd: LongWord; uIDEvent: LongWord): BOOL;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

var
  ProgressFileName: string;

procedure UpdateProgressProc(
  H: LongWord; Msg: LongWord; Event: LongWord; Time: LongWord);
var
  S: AnsiString;
  Progress: Integer;
begin
  try
    if not LoadStringFromFile(ProgressFileName, S) then
    begin
      Log(Format('Failed to read progress from file %s', [ProgressFileName]));
    end
      else
    begin
      Progress := StrToIntDef(S, -1);
      if (Progress < 0) or (Progress > 100) then
      begin
        Log(Format('Read invalid progress %s', [S]));
      end
        else
      begin
        Log(Format('Read progress %d', [Progress]));
        WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Position :=
          Progress * WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Max div 100;
      end;
    end;
  except
    Log('Exception updating progress');
  end;
end;

procedure InstallChild;
var
  ChildInstallerPath: string;
  ChildInstallerParams: string;
  Timer: LongWord;
  ResultCode: Integer;
begin
  ExtractTemporaryFile('{#ChildInstaller}');

  try
    Timer := SetTimer(0, 0, 250, CreateCallback(@UpdateProgressProc));

    ChildInstallerPath := ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#ChildInstaller}');
    ProgressFileName := ExpandConstant('{tmp}\progress.txt');
    Log(Format('Expecting progress in %s', [ProgressFileName]));
    ChildInstallerParams :=
      Format('/verysilent /progress="%s"', [ProgressFileName]);
    if not Exec(ChildInstallerPath, ChildInstallerParams, '', SW_SHOW,
                ewWaitUntilTerminated, ResultCode) then
    begin
      MsgBox('Cannot start child installer', mbError, MB_OK);
    end
      else
    if ResultCode <> 0 then
    begin
      MsgBox(Format(
        'Child installer failed with code %d', [ResultCode]), mbError, MB_OK);
    end;
  finally
    // Clean up
    KillTimer(0, Timer);
    DeleteFile(ProgressFileName);
  end;
end;

procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
begin
  if CurStep = ssInstall then
  begin
    InstallChild;
  end;
end;