Category: Information – Products

In this blog post we explained how to use variables in Visual Installer. Many variables get their values automatically from known locations in Windows Registry, but there are also some variables in Visual Installer that can obtain their values from locations in Windows Registry that you specify.

The %REG1 to %REG5 variables
There are five variables in Visual Installer that can obtain their values from keys and value names in the Windows Registry that you specify. They have the following names: %REG1, %REG2, %REG3, %REG4, and %REG5.

How to specify a location in Registry to read
To specify a key and value name in the Registry for any of these variables, you must first open the Variables dialog box in Visual Installer’s editor. You can do this by first opening the Registry or INI files tab in Visual Installer’s editor, and then click on the Variables button, that is located at the bottom right of the editor:

The following dialog box will be opened if you click on the button:

If you scroll to the bottom of the list, you will find the User variables section:

As default, these variables are empty but you can specify a key and value name for them by clicking on the Change values button (in the bottom left), and then specify the information in the Change contents for variables dialog box that is opened:

To specify a key and value for example for the %REG1 variable, you need to enter the information at the %REG1 text box in the User variables section. For example like this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SamLogic\Visual Installer\10.5 :: Path

“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SamLogic\Visual Installer\10.5” is the key and “Path” is the value name. You can read more about this format in Visual Installer’s User Guide.

In the picture below we have specified keys and values for both the %REG1 variable and the %REG2 variable:

You can click OK to save the keys and value names. In the Variables dialog box you will now see the information that you entered in the previous dialog box in the Contents column of the variable list. You can also see the current value for the variable (that is read from the Registry) by hovering the mouse pointer over the variable name, as shown in the picture below:

During the installation, the %REG1 to %REG5 variables will read its contents from the end-users Registry. If no contents is available, the variables will be empty.

See also
> Your project’s bitness affects where the %REG1 to %REG5 variables get their values
> Variables in Visual Installer

As explained in this blog post, the %REG1 to %REG5 variables in Visual Installer get their values from the Windows Registry. But you should be aware of that there are two Registry in Windows – a 32 bit Registry and a 64 bit Registry – and your project settings will decide which of these Registry to use.

If you start Visual Installer’s editor and open the Setup options dialog box and the 32/64 bit tab, and look in the Bitness (32 or 64 bit) frame, you will see that there are two options that decide if the installation project is a 32 bit project or a 64 bit project (see the picture below):

If you install 32 bit files you should select the first option (The program that will be installed is 32 bit) and if you install 64 bit files you should select the second option (The program that will be installed is 64 bit). The first option is always selected as default.

These options will also affect where the %REG1 to %REG5 variables get their values. If you have selected The program that will be installed is 32 bit, the variables will get their values from the 32 bit Registry and if you select The program that will be installed is 64 bit, the variables will get their values from 64 bit Registry.

There are two Registry editors in Windows
You should also be aware of that there exist two Registry editors in Windows. One of them handles the 32 bit Registry and one of them handles the 64 bit Registry. The filename of the Registry editor is always the same, regedt32.exe, but you can launch the different versions from different folders in Windows:

32 bit version: C:\Windows\SysWOW64
64 bit version: C:\Windows\System32

See also
> The %REG1 to %REG5 variables in Visual Installer
> The ‘Program Files (x86)’ and ‘SysWOW64’ folders explained

In CD-Menu Creator you can add a video clip or a movie to a menu interface. You can show the video directly in a menu window, or you can show the video in a separate window that is opened when the end-user clicks on a menu button.

Supported video formats
Using a video in a menu interface may improve the end-user´s first impression of your product, but when you select a video to a menu you should be aware of the following two things:

– Not all video formats are supported by CD-Menu Creator
– Not all CODECs are supported by default in Windows

We recommend you to choose a video that is saved in the MPEG or WMV format. Or an AVI video that you know uses a basic CODEC (coder-decoder) that all Windows support. Be aware of that many AVI videos has been created with a CODEC that not all end-user´s Windows support by default. The end-user must have same CODEC installed in the computer that was used when the video was created, otherwise the video can not be shown.

Avoid MPEG-4
Today many create videos in the MPEG-4 (MP4) format, but it is not recommended to select a MPEG-4 video to a menu created with CD-Menu Creator. Although many end-users will have a media player that can play the MPEG-4 video, the necessary CODEC is often not available for other software without a separate installation of the CODEC. So therefore, to reduce the risk for problem, we recommend you to avoid MPEG-4 files with CD-Menu Creator.

We recommend you to test the menu in an empty Window
To be sure that the video you added to a menu will be played without any problem, we recommend you to test the menu in a computer with an empty Windows (a computer where only Windows but no other software has been installed). It can be a virtual computer or physical computer.

By testing the menu and the video in a computer with an empty Windows, you will discover if the video is dependent of a CODEC that is not installed by default in Windows.

Summary – Supported video formats / filename extensions
When you select a video file to a CD-Menu Creator menu, you should select a file with one of the following filename extensions:

.MPG or .MPEG : (MPEG) Recommended format, works almost always.
.WMV : (WMV) Recommended format, works almost always.
.AVI : (AVI) Works if a proper CODEC has been chosen to the video.

If you have a video file with the .MP4 filename extension, we recommend you to convert it to one of the video formats above. There are many conversation programs that can be downloaded from the Internet that makes the conversion. Or even better, if it is possible, contact the source and try to get the same video in one of the video formats mentioned above.

If you have used a programming language before you are probably very familiar with variables. If not, you can read this Wikipedia article to get a basic knowledge about variables.

Also Visual Installer can handle variables. Most variables are automatically set during the setup process and are used to handle for example drive letters, system folders, application folders, date, time, license keys, version information etc. Variables can also be used to retrieve values from the Registry in Windows.

Variables can be used in many places in Visual Installer, for example in all main tabs in the editor (e.g. File list, Registry, INI files, Components tabs etc.). Variables can also be used with the most setup dialog boxes in Visual Installer and with the scripting language.

The %DESTDIR variable
One of the most used variables in Visual Installer is the %DESTDIR variable. This variable contains the main destination folder for the setup project. The contents is read from the Main folder text box in the File list tab.

In the main folder text box it is common to include the %PROGRAMFILES variable. The %PROGRAMFILES variable will be replaced with the current path to the Program Files folder in Windows during the installation. We explain more in this blog post:

> Visual Installer: How do I install files to the Program Files folder?

List with variables
You can open and view a list with all available variables in the Visual Installer editor. If you open for example the Registry tab in the editor and clicks on the Variables button, the following window is opened:

In the Variables window you can see a list of all available variables in Visual Installer. To get a description of each variable, you can press the F1 key.

(If you double-click on a variable name in the Variables window, the variable will be inserted at the cursors position, if a text editor was active before you clicked the Variables button.)

Environment variables
Visual Installer can also handle Windows environment variables. You can read more about this in the following blog post:

> Using environment variables in Visual Installer

Buttons are an important part of a menu interface that is created with CD-Menu Creator. By clicking on buttons the end-user can run programs, open documents, play videos, open web pages, open sub menus, and much more.

To every menu interface button you can select a command that will be executed when the end-user clicks on the button. You can select a command via the Command combo box in the Add Button or Edit Button dialog box.

Below we have listed all button commands that CD-Menu Creator supports. In some cases you can click on a link to read more about the button command and get an example of how to use the command.

Button Commands

Run Program
Choose this command if you want to run a program or start an installation when the button is clicked. This command can be used to run both an EXE file and an MSI file.

Run Program & Close
As above, but the menu interface is automatically closed when the button is clicked.

Show Document
Choose this command if you want to open a document when the button is clicked; for example open a PDF document, a word document, a text file or an HTML document.

Show Internet Page
Choose this command if you want to open a web site or web page on the Internet. It can also be used to open a PDF document on the Internet. If you want to open a HTML page that is distributed with your menu, you can use the Show Document command instead.

Play Movie
Choose this command if you want to play a video when the button is clicked. You can choose between playing the video in a menu window or playing the video using Windows Media Player.

Play Music
Choose this command if you want to play music or play a sound clip when the button is clicked.

Play Flash Animation
Choose this command if you want to show a flash animation. It can also be used to show a video that is saved in the SWF file format.

Show RTF Document
Shows a RTF document in a built-in window. This is useful if you want to show short formated text. No external document viewer needs to be opened.

Open Excel File
Opens an Excel file. Read more about this command here.

Open Picture Gallery
Opens a picture gallery when the button is clicked. If you have some photos or drawings that you want to arrange in a gallery you can use this command. This command can also be used to handle a video clip gallery.

Open Folder
If you want to open a folder on the same drive as the menu when the button is clicked, you can choose this command. The folder will be opened in Windows Explorer.

Send E-mail
If you choose this command and a user clicks on the button, his/her e-mail client will be opened. You can specify a receiver (an e-mail address) and a subject line that is pre-filled, when the e-mail client is opened.

Open New Menu
Opens a new menu with other buttons created with CD-Menu Creator, for example a sub menu.

Return To Previous Menu
Co-operates with the Open New Menu command. Returns to the previous menu, before this menu was opened.

Return To Main Menu
Co-operates with the Open New Menu command. Returns to the main menu. The main menu is typically the first menu that is shown when the CD/DVD or USB stick is inserted in the drive.

Exit
Closes the menu.