INNO and Environment Variables

[David Fileccia]

Hi,

 

I am trying to launce the program I just installed and it requires one environment variable. I set the environment variable in my install script, I set the variable in the “BeforeInstall:” section of my run command and I also issue a “refresh” of the environment.

 

As far as I can debug, the variable gets set properly using the following code:

[Code]

#ifdef UNICODE

   #define AW "W"

#else

   #define AW "A"

#endif

 

function SendTextMessageTimeout (hWnd : HWND; Msg : UINT; wParam : WPARAM; lParam : PAnsiChar;

      fuFlags : UINT; uTimeout : UINT; out lpdwResult : DWORD) : LRESULT;

   external 'SendMessageTimeout{#AW}@user32.dll stdcall'; 

 

procedure RefreshEnvironment;

var

   S: AnsiString;

   MsgResult: DWORD;

begin

   S := 'Environment';

 

   SendTextMessageTimeout (HWND_BROADCAST, WM_SETTINGCHANGE, 0,

         PAnsiChar (S), SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 5000, MsgResult);

end;

 

function SetEnvironmentVariable (lpName : String; lpValue : String) : Boolean;

   external 'SetEnvironmentVariable{#AW}@kernel32.dll stdcall';

 

procedure SetDataPathEnv;

begin

   SetEnvironmentVariable ('I3K_DATAPATH', ExpandConstant ('{#MyJobDst}'));

   RefreshEnvironment;

end;

 

[Run]

Filename: "{app}\{#MyAppName}.exe"; Parameters: "{code:MyParameters}"; Description: "Launch {#MyAppName}"; BeforeInstall: SetDataPathEnv; Flags: nowait postinstall skipifsilent

 

 

The app will launch but it tells me the environment is not set. This only happens for the first install because the value has not been set yet.

 

Are there any known ways to solve this problem? It would be nice to launch the app for our customers.

 

Best Regards,

 

David Fileccia

Senior Systems Engineer | HEMISPHERE GNSS

Office: 6860 Little Twin Road, Germantown, OH 45327, USA

Corporate: 8515 E. Anderson Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85255, USA

M: +1 404 579 4391

dfil...@hgnss.com | www.hgnss.com

 

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[Bill Stewart]

On Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at 2:28:19 PM UTC-6 David Fileccia wrote:

Hi,

I am trying to launce the program I just installed and it requires one environment variable. I set the environment variable in my install script, I set the variable in the “BeforeInstall:” section of my run command and I also issue a “refresh” of the environment.

As far as I can debug, the variable gets set properly using the following code:

...

[Run]

Filename: "{app}\{#MyAppName}.exe"; Parameters: "{code:MyParameters}"; Description: "Launch {#MyAppName}"; BeforeInstall: SetDataPathEnv; Flags: nowait postinstall skipifsilent

The app will launch but it tells me the environment is not set. This only happens for the first install because the value has not been set yet.

Are there any known ways to solve this problem? It would be nice to launch the app for our customers.

Best Regards,

David Fileccia

Senior Systems Engineer | HEMISPHERE GNSS

See the Windows documentation for the SetEnvironmentVariable Windows API call:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winbase/nf-winbase-setenvironmentvariable

Note the description of the function: "Sets the contents of the specified environment variable for the current process."

Also note the sentence in the Remarks section: "This function has no effect on the system environment variables or the environment variables of other processes."

In other words this function is not going to make an environment variable appear system-wide. It will only set the variable in the current process (i.e., the installer that's running). When the installer finishes, the variable will disappear.

Instead, I would recommend taking a look at the Inno Setup FAQ, which has a heading about this:

https://jrsoftware.org/isfaq.php#env

Bill

[Jernej Simončič]

On Thursday, July 8, 2021, 19:56:10, Bill Stewart wrote:

Also note the sentence in the Remarks section: "This function has no effect on the system environment variables or the environment variables of other processes."

I think the problem here is that while SetEnvironmentVariable will set the environment for the current process and all children started from the current process, Inno does not start [Run] entries (other than those with runascurrentuser flag) from the same process that runs [Code], so those environment changes will not be visible.

-- 
< Jernej Simončič ><><><><>< https://eternallybored.org/ >

Never decide to buy something while listening to the salesman.
       -- Berkeley's Third Law

[Martijn Laan]

Also the code is wrong, it sends an Ansi string to a Unicode function.

Greetings,
Martijn

> Op 8 jul. 2021 om 22:29 heeft Jernej Simončič <jernej|s-g....@eternallybored.org> het volgende geschreven:

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