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Visual Installer now supports EV code signing

Nowadays it is very important to code sign installation packages. This increases the security and gives less warning messages in Windows and in web browsers.

Since many years back our setup tool Visual Installer has supported standard digital certificates, but in the last update of Visual Installer we have also added support for EV digital certificates. EV digital certificates increases the security even more and the risk for warning messages in Windows and in web browsers (for example in Chrome, Edge and Internet Explorer) is reduced to almost zero. EV digital certificates are more trusted by Windows and web browsers than standard digital certificates.

Updated ‘Setup Options’ dialog box in Visual Installer
The Code Signing tab in the Setup Options dialog box in Visual Installer has been updated to also support EV code signing. An EV digital certificate is always distributed on a USB token and we have added a new option to the Code Signing tab that handles digital certificates on USB tokens. The name of the new option is My digital certificate is located on a USB token and if you select this option, Visual Installer will get the digital certificate from the USB token when a setup package is created.

You can see the new My digital certificate is located on a USB token option in the dialog box picture below:

Visual Installer - Setup Options

Alla binary files that are distributed are EV code signed
As an addition to the above, all SamLogic’s binary files that are distributed to end-users has been code signed with an EV digital certificate. This reduced the risk that Windows reacts (gives a warning message) after a setup package has been unpacked and all files extracted.

See also
> Article: Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing in Windows 8 / Windows 10
> Blog: The file information window now displays info about digital certificates

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Visual Installer: The XRUN command now also supports OS and bitness

SamLogic Visual Installer LogotypeThe XRUN script command in Visual Installer has been updated and extended to handle two more parameters: %OS and %Bitness. These two parameters are optional and allows you to specify in which Windows version and with which Windows bitness (32 bit/64 bit) the program file that XRUN starts can be run in. Below are some more information about the two parameters:

%OS
The %OS parameter is an optional parameter that specifies in which operating system (Windows version) the program can be run in. You can specify if the program can be run in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or in any Windows. If you omit this parameter the program will be run in any Windows version.

%Bitness
The %Bitness parameter is an optional parameter that specifies which bitness (32 bit or 64 bit) the operating system (Windows version) must have to let the program start. The program will only be run if the Windows bitness match the bitness that you specify via this parameter. If you omit this parameter the program will be run in a Windows of any bitness (both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows).

Syntax
The definition of XRUN, with all of its parameters, is now:

XRUN %Filename, %Flag, %Param, %OS, %Bitness

The Filename parameter specifies the filename of the executable file. The Flag parameter informs Visual Installer how to start the program. The Param parameters specifies command line parameters to the executable file (if used). And the OS and Bitness parameters are described above

Examples of usage
The example below starts MyWin7App.exe if the operating system is Windows 7. If the operating system is anything else, for example Windows 10, the program is never run.

XRUN  %DESTDIR\MyWin7App.exe, 1, “”, 7

The example below starts MyWin7App.exe if the operating system is a 64 bit Windows 7. If the operating system or bitness is anything else the program is never run.

XRUN  %DESTDIR\MyWin7App.exe, 1, “”, 7, 64

More information about the XRUN command and the %OS and %Bitness parameters is available in Visual Installer´s User Guide.

See also
> Visual Installer’s Scripting Language

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CD-Menu Creator: Creation date of a menu is automatically saved

A date field has been added to the Version tab in CD-Menu Creator’s editor. This new field will be automatically updated with the date of the last creation of the menu. Every time you create a menu, this field will be automatically updated with current date.

The picture below shows an example of how it may look (in the Version tab):

Last Created

You can now see in an easy way when you last created or updated a menu interface.

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The ‘User Options’ setup dialog now also supports radio buttons

The User Options setup dialog box in Visual Installer has been updated to also support radio buttons. So you can now choose if you want to use check boxes or radio buttons in the installation dialog box. When you use radio buttons, only one option at a time can be selected. The options are mutually exclusive.

Below is a basic example of how the updated User Options dialog box may look like when using radio buttons:

The 'User Options' setup dialog box

As before, you can set the text for the dialog box title, the information area and the options freely. Switching between check boxes and radio buttons is done via a new setting in the editor:

The 'Settings' dialog box

More information about the ‘User Options’ setup dialog
In this blog post from 2016 you can read more about the User Options setup dialog. There is also a long tip available in this tip page.

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You can now change font for Visual Installer’s and CD-Menu Creator’s editor

Using one and the same font in a software with all versions of Windows, graphic cards, displays and DPI settings, and expecting the result always to be perfect, is nearly an impossible mission. And then you must also take into account that people also prefer different fonts.

To handle this situation in the best way in our software we have updated Visual Installer and CD-Menu Creator to allow you to choose your own font for the editor. We have included some fonts that you can choose among, and we will increase the list with fonts with time.

Too large font size?
The new font handling in Visual Installer and CD-Menu Creator will also solve the problem with “too large font size” that sometimes happens when a system font with a requested size is not available in the system and the substitute font (chosen by Windows) is somewhat larger and the text will therefore not fit in the space that is reserved for the text. This is a rare condition, but will happen in special circumstances *.

In the latest version of Visual Installer and CD-Menu Creator this problem does not exists anymore because both editors will automatically search for a font that has the same size as the font that has a problem. So the editors will automatically switch font if this problem occur. But you can, of course, choose another font manually if you prefer to do this.

How to change font for the editor manually
In Visual Installer you can change font by choosing the Editor options menu item in the Special menu. In CD-Menu Creator you can change font by choosing the Options menu item in the File menu. In both cases there will be a new Font tab available in the dialog box that is shown. Via this new tab you can change the font for the editor.


*) This problem may occur if the connected display is over a certain resolution when Windows is first installed in the computer. Windows will then set the DPI to 120 instead of the usual 96, and the “MS Sans Serif” font that Visual Installer’s and CD-Menu Creator’s editor uses as default may be affected by this. The font may not be available in smaller sizes. If this problem happens, it does not help that you afterwards change the DPI from 120 to 96. The font size is still not available. More information about this problem is available in this blog post on Microsoft’s blog.

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Visual Installer 2018 has now been released

We have now released a new version of our setup tool SamLogic Visual Installer. The name of the new version is SamLogic Visual Installer 2018 and the version number is 11.5. Some new features in the new version are:

• Supports the latest version of Windows 10.
• Supports Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 and 4.7.1.
• Supports AutoCAD 2018.
• A new function makes it easier to add all files in a folder to Visual Installer’s file list.
• The ‘User Options’ setup dialog box has been updated to also support radio buttons.
• The code signing function now supports USB tokens and EV digital certificates.
• All redistributable binary files are now code signed with an EV digital certificate.
• New script commands has been added to the script language.
• The XRUN script command has been updated to handle more options.
• You can now change the font for Visual Installer’s editor.

A detailed list of new features in Visual Installer 2018 is available on this web page.

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CD-Menu Creator 2018 has now been released

A new version of our menu designer tool CD-Menu Creator has now been released. The name of the new version is SamLogic CD-Menu Creator 2018, and some of the new features in the new version are:

• Supports the latest version of Windows 10.
• You can now change font for CD-Menu Creator’s editor.
• Creation date of a menu is automatically saved in the Version tab of the editor.
• All redistributable binary files are now code signed with an EV digital certificate.
• Improved error handling.
• New menu interface examples have been included.

A more detailed list with the new features is available on this page.

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How to write-protect a file after installation

Sometimes it is necessary to write-protect a file after it has been installed on a hard drive. If you use Visual Installer to install your files, this is very easy done if you follow these steps:

1. Open your project file or create a new one.
2. In the File list tab, select the file that you want to write-protect.
3. Choose the List – File copy options menu item.
4. Select the Turn on write protection option:

The 'Copy Options' dialog box (1)

5. Click OK.

If you want to be able to update the write-protected file during a future update, you can also select the Replace also write protected file option:

The 'Copy Options' dialog box (2)

Now when you install your files, the file that you selected at step 2 above, will be write-protected after the installation. You can check that this really works as expected by right-clicking on the file in Windows Explorer and thereafter choosing the Properties menu item in the local menu that is shown. In the General tab in the Properties dialog box, the Read-only check box should be checked (as shown in the picture below):

The 'Properties' dialog box

See also
> How to set file copy options in Visual Installer
> The ‘Inst’ column in the ‘File list’ tab in Visual Installer