Installing an Adobe Illustrator CS3 script

[moniuch]

Hi,

I'm all fresh with Adv Installer, but I need to build the installer really quick, so please do not RTFM me.
I need to install an Adobe Illustrator CS3 script and its support files.

Problem #1
To be recognized by the AI CS3 script menu, the script has to reside in a fixed location, but Illustrator has to be restarted in order for the new menu item to appear. How can I detect if AI CS3 is running and either force user to quit it before installation or at least alert user to restart the app?

Problem #2
How can I detect in the installer whether AI CS3 has been installed on the app and make it a prerequisite for installing the script? Is it done via an env variable? If so, does anyone know what env var to test for?

I'm using the free version.
Thanks.
Art

[Cosmin]

Hi Art,

How can I detect if AI CS3 is running and either force user to quit it before installation or at least alert user to restart the app?

Windows Installer does not support a way to detect running applications. However, you can try using a custom action to see if an active process exists for the application. For more details please see the Detect and stop a process how-to. After you detect the running process, you can use the property set by the custom action as a custom launch condition (to stop the installation) or to condition another custom action which shows e message to the user.

How can I detect in the installer whether AI CS3 has been installed on the app and make it a prerequisite for installing the script?

This can be done by using a registry entry created by the Adobe Illustrator CS3 installation. I'm not sure what registry entries are created, but you can use the Process Monitor tool to find out. After you find a registry entry you can use, you can set up the prerequisite. Please note that the User Guide contains a tutorial which may help you.

Please note that what you need cannot be done by using the Free version. The custom actions and prerequisite features can be used only in a Professional, Java Application or Enterprise project. Also, Windows Installer is a complicated engine which doesn't support many custom features. So some solutions cannot be explained easily, they require a help article.

Regards,
Cosmin

[moniuch]

Thanks Cosmin, your clear reply saves me a lot of time that I would waste trying to figure out the solution.
Art