MAKEMSI quickly and reliably creates MSI files in a non-programmatic way\Tips and TricksFile and DirectoryTrailing Slash Removal

---

Trailing Slash Removal

The following custom action shows how you could get the value of the "INSTALLDIR" directory and create a version which does not have the trailing backslash.

A similar process could be used for determining 8.3 names etc.

;--- VBSCRIPT to read "INSTALLDIR" and create to "INSTALLDIR_NTS" -----------
<$VbsCa Binary="RemoveSlashFromINSTALLDIR.vbs">
   <$VbsCaEntry "RemoveTrailingSlash">
        ;--- Define any VB variables ----------------------------------------
        dim InputValue, OutputValue

        ;--- Get the properties current value -------------------------------
        InputValue = session.property("INSTALLDIR")
        CaDebug 0, "INSTALLDIR = """ & InputValue & """"

        ;--- Manipulate the value -------------------------------------------
        if  right(InputValue, 1) <> "\" then
            OutputValue = InputValue                          ;;Already "slashless"
        else
            OutputValue = left(InputValue, len(InputValue)-1) ;;Remove last character (slash)
        end if

        ;--- Return the value -----------------------------------------------
        CaDebug 0, "INSTALLDIR_NTS = """ & OutputValue & """"
        session.property("INSTALLDIR_NTS") = OutputValue
   <$/VbsCaEntry>
<$/VbsCa>

;--- Call the above script during install and uninstall ---------------------
<$VbsCaSetup Binary="RemoveSlashFromINSTALLDIR.vbs" Entry="RemoveTrailingSlash" Seq="InstallValidate-" CONDITION=^<$CONDITION_INSTALL_ONLY>^ Type="IMMEDIATE">

;--- Test the value we created above ----------------------------------------
<$Component "TestValues" Create="Y" Directory_="INSTALLDIR">
    <$Registry HKEY="LOCAL_MACHINE" KEY="software\testmsi\WithSlash"  VALUE="[INSTALLDIR]"     MsiFormatted="VALUE">
    <$Registry HKEY="LOCAL_MACHINE" KEY="software\testmsi\NoSlash"    VALUE="[INSTALLDIR_NTS]" MsiFormatted="VALUE">
<$/Component>

While this is a generic example which just uses slash removal for the example if this is actually all you wish to do then you may have a workaround which doesn't need a custom action and that is to terminate the value with a "." (for example "[INSTALLDIR].").

Please email me any feedback, additional information or corrections. See this page online (look for updates) MAKEMSI© is (C)opyright Dennis Bareis 2003-2008 (All rights reserved). Wednesday June 25 2008 at 7:16pm Visit MAKEMSI's Home Page