$INSTDIR removes the colon in path

Archive: $INSTDIR removes the colon in path

topshoeter
2nd January 2013 15:33 UTC

$INSTDIR removes the colon in path
Hi,

I retrieve a path from the registry to $INSTDIR. If the path is for example D:\Folder (sans quotes) then no problem. BUT, if the path is contained within quotes as in "C:\Program Files" then NSIS removes the colon!
Retrieving first to a variable (correct path) and then assigning it to $INSTDIR also removes the colon.
The path does exists and there is nothing before the quote. This must be a bug surely.
Please help?
Gerry.
NSIS 2.46

MSG
2nd January 2013 18:48 UTC

What is the exact string retrieved from registry?
ReadRegStr $0 HKLM foo\bar path
MessageBox mb_ok "$0"

Anders
2nd January 2013 20:22 UTC

Some of the path variables are special, use a register...

topshoeter
4th January 2013 10:59 UTC

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, but I still can't get it to work.
HKLM "Software\Folder" "Location" contains "D:\Temp" (with quotes)

ReadRegStr $R0 HKLM "Software\Folder" "Location"
$R0 contains D:\Temp

StrCpy $INSTDIR $R0
$INSTDIR contains D\Temp (sans colon)

Any ideas?
Thank you.

MSG
4th January 2013 11:04 UTC

Hmm. Could it be that the regstring contains a fullwidth colon, that the $INSTDIR variable sanitization code cannot handle? Try writing a new string D:\Temp to the registry before reading it.

topshoeter
4th January 2013 11:08 UTC

I get it now. Paths with imbedded spaces are never surrounded by quotes in the registry. NSIS sees a colon as an illegal character.

Sorry for wasting your time!
Gerry.

Anders
4th January 2013 11:31 UTC

Originally posted by topshoeter
Paths with imbedded spaces are never surrounded by quotes in the registry.

They are sometimes, depends on the key and which program wrote the entry. (Paths that can be executed are often quoted, HKCR\txtfile\shell\open\command etc)

Originally posted by topshoeter
NSIS sees a colon as an illegal character.

It is only legal as the second character when copied into the NSIS $*path variables...

topshoeter
4th January 2013 11:41 UTC

Spaces in file names! Come back DOS, all is forgiven :-)

Brummelchen
5th January 2013 17:52 UTC

a rare bug? i never ever had such issue here with : or spaces in path names - even quoted or not.
either your code or your environment is corrupted.

topshoeter
6th January 2013 14:07 UTC

Hi Brummelchen,

I don't think it is a bug, or that my code/installation is corrupt, more ignorance on my part. The situation was this. I was running a test and needed a path in the registry which I entered manually. The path was going to be used in a cmd file to be run subsequently with “ExecWait” so the quotes were necessary. Because there were spaces in the path I (wrongly) entered the path in the registry enclosed in quotes. This resulted in the colon being stripped when reading into $INSTDIR. After removing the quotes in the registry path $INSTDIR contained the correct path including the spaces. I now place the quotes around the path when building my command line.

Regards.

Brummelchen
6th January 2013 14:52 UTC

ok, i see. look this works if you dont have it

ExecWait '"$PATH\7zg.exe" x "$otherpath\data.7z" -o"$INSTDIR"' $R9

when i read out unknown path i trim them before working on them, example:

 ${If} $INSTDIR == ""

   ${registry::Read} "$UNINSTALLREG" "InstallLocation" $R9 $R7

   ${IfNot} $R7 == ""

   ${AndIfNot} $R9 == ""

      Push $R9

        Call Trim

      Pop $R9

      StrCpy $INSTDIR $R9

    ${EndIf}

  ${EndIf}


Trim

 ; Trim

 ;   Removes leading & trailing whitespace from a string

 ; Usage:

  ;  Push {var}

  ;     Call Trim

 ;   Pop  {var}


 Exch $R1 ; Original string

  Push $R2

  Loop:

   StrCpy $R2 "$R1" 1

    StrCmp $R2" "      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2"$\""    TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2"$\'"    TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 "\"      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 "/"      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 ";"      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 ","      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 "<"      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 ">"      TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 "$r"    TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 "$n"    TrimLeft

    StrCmp $R2 "    " TrimLeft ; this is a tab.

    GoTo Loop2

  TrimLeft:    

    StrCpy $R1 "$R1" "" 1

    Goto Loop


  Loop2:

    StrCpy $R2 "$R1" 1 -1

    StrCmp $R2 " "      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "$""    TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2"$\'"    TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "\"      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "/"      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 ";"      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 ","      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "<"      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 ">"      TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "$r"    TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "$n"    TrimRight

    StrCmp $R2 "    " TrimRight ; this is a tab

    GoTo Done

  TrimRight:    

    StrCpy $R1 "$R1" -1

    Goto Loop2


  Done:

  Pop $R2

  Exch $R1

FunctionEnd 

>

this blows code a bit but i have several routines like that.

path in registry in quotes are in most cases only needed when a parameter is added, windows itself is capable to handle. if you work in a batch environment (commandline) you need to add always quotes eg. dir /on "c:\program files\" to avoid errors.

@="c:\my.exe"

@="\"c:\my.exe\" \"%1\""

$\" adds a quote within a string (nsis)

if you work with nsis commandline parameters you have to determine wether they are in quotes or not - nsis wiki contains some examples.

HTH