Category: Information – Products

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:

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

The 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

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:

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:

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.

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.