Cyric
15th May 2002 00:43 UTC

Billboards - Anybody up for it?
Hey everybody,

Need a way to add billboards into the NSIS installer. Problem is I can only write VB which means I have to package another 1MB into the installer before the billboards can be used.

So what I really need is somebody who can write C and has too much time on their hands. Here is how I figure it would work...

1. .onInit would copy over the BillBoard.dll file

2. Then you would Put the HWND of the installer window onto the stack and CallInstDLL BillBoard.dll DisplayWindow()

3. DisplayWindow in the DLL would create a maximised form, with the same title as the installer window. It would then parent the installer window using API_SetParent and API_SetWindowLong. Then move the intaller window to the bottom right of the screen using API_SetWindowPos.

4. The installer would then run as it normally would. And whenever you wanted the billboard image to change you would copy over a picture (lets say bmp) and Put its location onto the stack. Then CallInstDLL BillBoard.dll ChangeBillboard() which would update the background image (based on the image on the stack) on the maximised form we created in step 3.

5. Once the installer has finished you'd just destroy the new form using CallInstDLL BillBoard.dll DestroyWindow()

Anybody got any comments on this? Like I said, Ive already implemented most of this using VB, but it needs 1mb of runtimes to work properly, which defeats the reason I chose to use NSIS in the first place :(

To preempt anybody commenting that including BMP billboards is going to pack out the size and stuff it up anyway... well :-P BMP was just a suggestion, obviously GIF or JPEG or something similar would be preferable... could always use 4bit BMP's which would only be 50k-ish

Anyhoo look forward to any comments... if somebody is up for the task great :) I'd be happy to help out as much as I can...

Why am I asking people in a forum for help, instead of hiring a C programmer? Well first I can't afford it, its just for a little project im working on at home. Secondly NSIS is free, InstallOptions is free and thus the Billboard feature would be open source and available to anybody else what wanted to use it...all for one... etc...

SQwerl
15th May 2002 07:19 UTC

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a Billboard. Aside from the large advertisments that you see, on the side of roadways. :)

Cyric
15th May 2002 07:33 UTC

Images that appear on the background of the installer application that advertise the products features and tells them what it can do..

Most of the M$ ones have them if you need an example to look at :)

kichik
15th May 2002 08:21 UTC

Splash.exe included with NSIS does half of the work for you. There are some modifications for it running around in the forum, search for them. I am sure one of them can achive what you are looking for.

Llynix
2nd March 2005 05:32 UTC

This is an old thread, but it is something I've been looking for. Perhaps there is an easy way to do this now that some time has passed.

Has anyone used splash.exe for this purpose? Or is there a better way to do it?

Thanks,
Llynix

kichik
3rd March 2005 19:21 UTC

You can use the BgImage plug-in.

talonx
31st January 2008 06:23 UTC

Originally posted by kichik
You can use the BgImage plug-in.