Hi

Sorry if this is horribly OT, but I can't find a suitable NG at
Embarcadero for my question - and their NGs time out when I try and
access them anyway.  Hoping the good folk who inhabit the elevate
community can help.

I'm writing an installer program because it seems like the obvious thing
to do.  I'd normally head for Inno Setup (or rather my colleague
would!), but since the setup involves so much SQL to set up the
databases, create users, roles, stores etc.  It seemed simpler to write
something that just does what I want.

All is well in the ElevateDB part of the job, the problem I've hit is in
creating the shortcuts on the desktop and startup menu.

I have burgled some code that runs OK, but the shortcuts never appear.
I've posted the code under my signature.

Single stepping through the code, I think the problem is in the variable
LinkName.  It ends up with a value something like this:-
--------------------------------------------------
C:\Users\MyUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs\Startup

then a bunch of gobble-de-gook, followed by:-

\MyProgramName.lnk
--------------------------------------------------

I think that the problem lies in my lack of understanding how to handle
arrays of characters.

The Length of LinkName is 261 before the program name is added. MAX_PATH
is 260 so an array[..MAX_PATH] would have 261 elements.

So it looks like I have to trim off the garbage before adding the
MyProgramName.lnk to LinkName OR not have it there to start with.

Any pointers as to how to do this and get my shiny new ElevateDB app
installed?

TIA

Cheers

Jeff
--
procedure MakeShortCut(aTarget: WideString; aFolder: Integer;
  // aFolder is e.g. CSIDL_STARTUP,  CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY
  aShortCutName: WideString);
var
  IObject: IUnknown;
  ISLink: IShellLink;
  IPFile: IPersistFile;
  PIDL: PItemIDList;
  InFolder: array [0 .. MAX_PATH] of Char;
  TargetName: string;
  LinkName: WideString;
begin
  TargetName := aTarget;
  IObject := CreateComObject(CLSID_ShellLink);
  ISLink := IObject as IShellLink;
  IPFile := IObject as IPersistFile;
  with ISLink do
  begin
    SetPath(pChar(TargetName));
    SetWorkingDirectory(pChar(ExtractFilePath(TargetName)));
  end;
  SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(0, aFolder, PIDL);
  SHGetPathFromIDList(PIDL, InFolder);
  SetString(LinkName, pChar(@InFolder[0]), Length(InFolder));
  LinkName := LinkName + '\' + aShortCutName + '.lnk';
  IPFile.Save(PWChar(LinkName), False);
end;

Jeff


I wanted to do something similar recently and found the code below - its very similar to yours and it seems to work here (D2006 & W7) - it may help



{###############################################################################}
{#     COMPONENTS + TUTORIALS + SAMPLES + PROGRAMS + FORMS + TIPS + TRICKS     #}
{###############################################################################}
{#
{#     Name.........: Create_Shortcuts
{#     Unit.........: Unit1.pas
{#     Released.....: 11-1-2009 20:29:14
{#     Author.......: Nullified
{#
{###############################################################################}
{#   RATE MY SITE IF YOU THINK I DESERVE IT I WOULD APPRECIATE IT THANKS!!     #}
{###############################################################################}
unit Shortcuts;

interface

uses
Windows, SysUtils, Registry, ShlObj, ActiveX, ComObj, StdCtrls;

procedure CreateShortcut(Executable, Parameters, LinkName, Location: string; uninstall: boolean);

implementation

procedure CreateShortcut(Executable, Parameters, LinkName, Location: string; uninstall: boolean);
var
LPUnknown: IUnknown;
pShlLnk: IShellLink;
pszFileName: IPersistFile;
Dir: string;
FullPath: WideString;
R: TRegIniFile;
begin
LPUnknown := CreateComObject(CLSID_ShellLink);
pShlLnk := LPUnknown as IShellLink;
pszFileName := LPUnknown as IPersistFile;
pShlLnk.SetPath(PChar(AnsiQuotedStr(Executable, '"')));
pShlLnk.SetArguments(PChar(AnsiQuotedStr(Parameters, '"')));
R := TRegIniFile.Create('Software\MicroSoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer');
try
 if Location = 'Start Menu' then
  Dir := R.ReadString('Shell Folders', 'Start Menu', '')
 else
  if Location = 'Desktop' then
  Dir := R.ReadString('Shell Folders', 'Desktop', '')
 else
  if Location = 'Startup' then
  Dir := R.ReadString('Shell Folders', 'Startup', '');
 if Dir <> '' then begin
  FullPath := Dir + '\' + LinkName + '.lnk';
  if uninstall then begin
   if FileExists(FullPath) then DeleteFile(FullPath);
  end else
   pszFileName.Save(PWChar(FullPath), False);
 end;
finally
 R.Free;
end;
end;

end.







Roy Lambert

Jeff


PS - I have no idea how it works - I just found the code and tried it without attempting to enhance my knowledge!


Roy Lambert

Jeff,

<< I'm writing an installer program because it seems like the obvious thing to do.  I'd normally head for Inno Setup (or rather my colleague would!), but since the setup involves so much SQL to set up the databases, create users, roles, stores etc.  It seemed simpler to write something that just does what I want. >>

Just a quick note: we launch applications with a UI from Inno Setup during installation, and it works fine.  So, you can still use Inno Setup, but just add a specific installer .exe to launch that will do the database-specific stuff and show a progress bar, etc.  Then, just make sure to add an equivalent uninstaller .exe to undo anything that you want undone during the uninstaller.

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

On 28/10/2015 9:21 p.m., Roy Lambert wrote:
> Jeff
>
>
> PS - I have no idea how it works - I just found the code and tried it without attempting to enhance my knowledge!
>
>
> Roy Lambert
>
Thanks Roy and Tim

Roy

I have no idea how it works either, but it works just fine with Delphi
XE and Windows 8.1.  Unlike the code that I found!

Cheers

Jeff

Jeff

>I have no idea how it works either,



Roy