Making progress dialog Stay + Make Powershell output display on progress log

[davidcohen301]

Hi, I'm trying to create an installation for my application and I built a user friendly progress dialog.
first of all I would like to make the progress dialog stay on screen even when finished and only when the user clicks proceed to the next dialog.
second of all I would like to print the powershell script output into the dialog edit box in order to give a custom user friendly logs
thanks

[Catalin]

Hello and welcome to our forums,

In order to display the actions performed by the installation package in a friendly log, please follow this article:

List main actions performed during installation into a user friendly log-like fashion

Please let me know if you have any more questions and I will gladly assist.

Best regards,
Catalin

[davidcohen301]

Hi I followed the guide but it didn't answer my question.
I would like to show in the progress dialog edit box the Powershell script's output.

Let me explain,
My installation requires several Powershell scripts to run. some of them takes long time to complete.
In my scripts I'm using Write-Output in order to log some stuff to the user that he won't think the installation is stuck.
How can I display this output in the progress dialog?

and another question that I have is how can I make the dialog itself stay after the installation is finished - and not go to the finish dialog.

[Catalin]

Hello David,

In my scripts I'm using Write-Output in order to log some stuff to the user that he won't think the installation is stuck.
How can I display this output in the progress dialog?

Using the Write-Output cmdlet in your Powershell script is good, especially if you want that displayed in the log file.

Doesn't that work in combination with the article I offered above? That should display the log file and therefore the PowerShell script as well.

If it doesn't work, please let me know and I will look whether it is possible to display only the PowerShell script content (although I am inclined to think that it will not work).

and another question that I have is how can I make the dialog itself stay after the installation is finished - and not go to the finish dialog.

Regarding this, I'm afraid that it is not possible, as the ProgressDlg and ExitDlg are in sequence, meaning the latter one is spawned as soon as the previous one finishes.

Best regards,
Catalin

[davidcohen301]

Hey Catalin thanks for the reply
I followed the article that you attached but still can't see the Powershell script's output in the progress bar edit box.
I only see the custom actions titles and when they are activated.

I saw that there's an option to generate a log file but I really want to be able to keep track on the installation live so if the output of script could be displayed during the installation it would be great.

Regarding this, I'm afraid that it is not possible, as the ProgressDlg and ExitDlg are in sequence, meaning the latter one is spawned as soon as the previous one finishes.

No way! it would be great if we had this option in order to review the installation log before finishing it.

[Catalin]

Hey David,

You are always welcome!

I followed the article that you attached but still can't see the Powershell script's output in the progress bar edit box.
I only see the custom actions titles and when they are activated.

Unfortunately, this is the best we can do for now.

Screenshot_59.png (121.91 KiB) Viewed 21679 times

When the Windows Installer technology (that we are using) was trending, PowerShell did not even exist, so the integration between the two is not so easy. Everything you see regarding PowerShell is custom made by us (nothing comes out of the box).

I saw that there's an option to generate a log file but I really want to be able to keep track on the installation live so if the output of script could be displayed during the installation it would be great.

This is understandable, which is the exact reason I created a ticket for this so the dev team can further investigate if this would be possible and if so, add it in a new version of Advanced Installer.

No way! it would be great if we had this option in order to review the installation log before finishing it.

Unfortunately here, "yes way". We already have support to launch the log file at the end of the installation, if needed.

Usually, the log file option is only displayed if an error occured (who would want to check if everything worked as expected). However, if you want, you can let your customers open the log file if everything went well. For this purpose, I wrote the following article:

How to display a Show Log button on the ExitDlg

Hope this helps somehow!

Best regards,
Catalin

[davidcohen301]

Hey,
I would really like to show the user the output of the scirpt live. if there's not any option to do that with powershell so maybe with other script language? (batch/exe/python).
my whole installation is built on these scripts so I really need to user to keep track on the installation lively.

[Catalin]

Hey David,

Totally understandable.

if there's not any option to do that with powershell so maybe with other script language? (batch/exe/python).

I will look again into this and maybe I will be able to find a solution for you, until the dev looks over the ticket I created in our tracking tool.

For now, I'm afraid that I do not have a solution to this (be it BAT or any other format).

Thank you for your understanding!

Best regards,
Catalin