Please Help With File.Run I have Drawn a Complet Blank ...

[whirl]

Hello.

I have been trying for ages now and I have come to a dead end so I am turning to you chaps for help.

On my startup action, i am trying to uninstall the previous version of my program before installing the new one.

I know that the uninstall string is

"C:\WINDOWS\myapp\uninstall.exe" "/U:C:\Program Files\myapp\irunin.xml"

but I just cannot figure how to do it with File.Run

Any help would be appreciated pus an example would be even better so I can save it for further use.

Regards

[Brett]

Something like:

File.Run(_WindowsFolder.."\\myapp\\uninstall.exe", "/U:C:\Program Files\myapp\irunin.xml");

should work.

[whirl]

Hi

When I run that i get a message box saying Invalid Uninstall Control File

Any Ideas brett

[Absynthe]

Shouldn't that be

File.Run(_WindowsFolder.."\\myapp\\uninstall.exe", "/U:C:\\Program Files\\myapp\\irunin.xml");

[whirl]

Well this one really has me beat....

Any other suggestions

[Absynthe]

have you verified the existence of irunin.xml in the myapp folder?

[whirl]

Yes, if i run it from a dos cmd line its fine

[whirl]

I have just noticed that my folder where my app is has spaces

c:\program files\my app\bla

would this have anything to do with it ??

[Absynthe]

Yes, that would be why it is not working

[edit] Let me rephrase that, if you app folder name has spaces but your command line doesn't then that is why it is not working.

[whirl]

Can you tell me how or if it can be fixed ?

[Brett]

Shouldn't that be

File.Run(_WindowsFolder.."\\myapp\\uninstall.exe", "/U:C:\\Program Files\\myapp\\irunin.xml");

RIGHT! Try that. It should work. I forgot to escape the quotes in the second part.

[csd214]

whirl, I think you still will have the error message "Invalid Uninstall Control File".

The arguments to File.Run must be:

/U:"C:\\Program Files\\My App\\irunin.xml"

and has to be enclosed in quotes (string value), but you can't use:
"/U:"C:\\Program Files\\My App\\irunin.xml""

Either you have to escape the double quotes within the string:

"/U:\"\"D:\\Program Files\\plusAVSKRIV\\PD_Avinstall.xml\""

or you have to combine with single quotes:

'/U:"C:\\Program Files\\My App\\irunin.xml"'

I have attached a sample program; you can easily try the various arguments. (The default file names may be adjusted in 'On Startup'.)

I have worked a bit with the uninstall command by reason of
i) To be able to start an uninstall from a setup executable (your case)
ii) To be able to have the uninstall shortcut in a shortcut subfolder (then I have to create the shortcut manually) because "Uninstall" would be the first option on the Windows start menu when you live outside an English-spoken country (due to the Windows shortcut sort order).

[whirl]

Hello

Thank you very much, with your example, I have managed to get it to uninstall.

I didn't know about using the single quotes ' '

Thankyou for taking thre time to show me how to achieve this.

All the best.

[csd214]

No problems; in fact it is a pleasure to return something to the I.R. Forums. I have learned a lot from this source.

BTW, the combination of double/single quotes is a nice way to make the code more readable - in any language! The double quotes with escaped double quotes require that you have had your morning coffee…

[csd214]

On my startup action, i am trying to uninstall the previous version of my program before installing the new one

I ran into whirl's scenario before I expected. I thought that the easiest way was to read the 'UninstallString' in the Registry, rather the constructing the commandline as explained in postcount #12. A query might give results like this:

From SUF60:
C:\WINDOWS\iun6002.exe "C:\CompanyName\ProductName\irunin.ini"

From SUF70:
"C:\WINDOWS\SUF70 Program Flow\uninstall.exe" "/U:C:\Program Files\SUF70 Program Flow\Uninstall\uninstall.xml"

These strings can be entered at command prompt to start the uninstaller.

I intended to use
File.Run(sCommand, sArguments, "", SW_SHOWNORMAL, true);
where
sCommand = "C:\WINDOWS\SUF70 Program Flow\uninstall.exe"
sArguments = "/U:C:\Program Files\SUF70 Program Flow\Uninstall\uninstall.xml"

Naturally I had to replace the single backslash with double backslashes in both variables. In addition I had to remove the quotes in the command (sCommand = C:\\WINDOWS\\SUF70 Program Flow\\uninstall.exe)

I didn't expect this should work due to the spaces in the path, but the fact is: It works; and it is the only syntax that is usable. If I use sCommand = " C:\\WINDOWS\\SUF70 Program Flow\\uninstall.exe" I'll get Error 1013 File execution failed.

I try to understand and my question is:

Does File.Run() automatically add double quotes to the "Filename" = "(string) The path to the executable (.exe) file."?