InstallOptionsEx

Introduction

InstallOptionsEx is a NSIS plugin which allows you to create custom pages for NSIS installers, to prompt the user for extra information. This is a expanded version of original InstallOptions, with additional controls, flags and options. This readme file contains the original readme + changes indicated by colors:

     Added
     Changed
     Removed

InstallOptionsEx will create a dialog which will be displayed inside the NSIS window. The controls on the dialog can be defined in an INI file.

NSIS 2 has a new page system, which allows you to add custom pages to your installer without messing with Prev/Next functions. With the new plugin system, you also don't have to worry anymore about extracting and deleting the DLL file. When you store the INI files in the plugins directory, NSIS will also delete them automatically.

This version of InstallOptionsEx has been designed for NSIS 2. It supports customized user interfaces and custom font and DPI settings.

INI File

The INI file has one section used for INI settings. This section includes general window attributes. The INI file also includes a variable number of Field sections which are used to create the controls to be displayed.

Any time when is mentioned "Default is" means that you can use the value mentioned or keep it blank, the result is the same.

The page settings section is named "Settings". It can contain the following values:

NumFields (removed) This is detected automatically by the .dll.
Title (input) If specified, gives the text to set the title bar to. Default is the current title bar text.
CancelEnabled (input) If specified, overrides NSIS settings and enables or disables the cancel button. If set to 1, the cancel button will be enabled. If set to 0, the cancel button will be disabled. Default is 1.
CancelShow (input) If specified, overrides NSIS settings and shows or hides the cancel button. If set to 1, the cancel button will be shown. If set to 0, the cancel button will be hidden. Default is 1.
BackEnabled (input) If specified, overrides NSIS settings and enables or disables the back button. If set to 1, the back button will be enabled. If set to 0, the back button will be disabled. Default is 1 except when the page is the first one to appear. In this case, default is 0.
BackShow (input) If specified, overrides NSIS settings and shows or hides the back button (except if NSIS already did it because there is not a previous page). If set to 1, the back button will be shown. If set to 0, the back button will be hidden. Default is 1 except when the page is the first one to appear. In this case, default is 0.
NextEnabled (input) If specified, overrides NSIS settings and enables or disables the next button. If set to 1, the back button will be enabled. If set to 0, the back button will be disabled. Default is 1.
NextShow (input) If specified, overrides NSIS settings and shows or hides the next button. If set to 1, the next button will be shown. If set to 0, the next button will be hidden. Default is 1.
CancelButtonText (input) Overrides the text for the cancel button. Default is the current button text.
NextButtonText (input) Overrides the text for the next button. Default is the current button text.
BackButtonText (input) Overrides the text for the back button. Default is the current button text.
Rect (input) Overrides the default rectangle ID to run over. This will make IOEx resize itself according to a different rectangle than NSIS's dialogs rectangle. Default is 1018.
RTL (input) If 1 is specified the dialog will be mirrored and all texts will be aligned to the right. Use NSIS's $(^RTL) to fill this field, it's the easiest way. Default is 0.
State (output) When a control calls the page validation function because it has a notification flag, this indicates which control done it. If you want to know what notification flag caused this call, see Notify (right below).
Notify (output) When a control calls the page validation function because it has a notification flag, this indicates which of them was made the control specified by State value to call it. The values can be one of the values supported by Notify INI value name used on a normal field, except that this can return as well ONNEXT, ONBACK, ONCANCEL depending if the used clicked "Next", "Back" or "Cancel", respectively.

Each field section has the heading "Field #" where # must be sequential numbers starting at 1. Each Field section can contain the following values:

Type Type of control to be created. Valid values are:
Label Used to display static text (i.e. a caption for a text box).
Text Accepts text input from the user.
Password Accepts password input from the user. The input is masked with * characters.
IPAddress Displays an edit box used for IP address input.
HotKey Displays an edit box used to get keyboard input.
UpDown Displays a pair of arrow buttons that the user can click to increment or decrement a number in a Text or ComboBox buddy controls, to change the selection upwards or downwards of a ListBox control, or to be used alone (without the user knowing what number he/she selected). See Text, State and Left Right Top Bottom commands for more information on how to use it on the specified situations.
Combobox Allows the user to type text not in the pop up list.
DropList Only allows selection of items in the list.
Listbox Shows multiple items and can optionally allow the user to select more than one item.
CheckBox Displays a check box with label.
RadioButton Displays a radio button with label.
FileRequest
DirRequest		 Use Text and Button controls to make one that fits your style.
Icon Displays an icon. Use no "Text" to use the installer icon.
Bitmap Displays a bitmap.
Animation Displays an AVI video. Has to be without sound.
ProgressBar Displays a bar that shows progress.
TrackBar Displays a bar where the user can select with the slider one of the options indicated by ticks. It doesn't include labels.
DateTime Displays a combobox where the user can pick or select a date or time he/she wants.

Minimum OS: Win 95 w/ IE 3.0, Win NT 4.0 w/ IE 3.0.
MonthCalendar Displays a month calendar where the user can select a date he/she wants.

Minimum OS: Win 95 w/ IE 3.0, Win NT 4.0 w/ IE 3.0.
GroupBox Displays a frame to group controls.
Link Displays a static hot text. State value name determines if ShellExecute should be used instead of the validation function return from a notification to run programs, open folders or URLs (e.g. http://...). See Notify value name below for more information on notifications.
Button Displays a push button that can be used in the same way as the "Link" control above.
 
Text Generally specifies control caption, but this can depend on the control type:
Text
Password		 (Input) Specifies the password mask character. The control state is imediately hidden by the character specified.
UpDown (Input) Specifies the buddy control field number (where the UpDown attaches itself into another). Recommended types of buddy controls are: Text, ComboBox and ListBox. If you don't want to have a buddy control, you have to leave this as blank.
Label
Checkbox
RadioButton		 (Input) Specifies the control caption.

Note: For Label controls, \r\n will be converted to a newline. To use a back-slash in your text you have to escape it using another back-slash - \\. Described below.
Icon (Input) Specifies the path to a icon file (.ico), an executable (.exe) or a plugin (.dll). For executables and plugins, see State INI value for more information.
Bitmap
Animation		 (Input) Specifies the path to a file for its type.
ComboBox
DropList		 (Input) Specifies the bitmap file to load containing a slot for each item in the list specified by "ListItems". Each bitmap slot (for each list item) is 16x16 pixels long, with transparent color set to #FF00FF (format #RRGGBB). Limit of 256 bitmap slots for now. The slots have to be ordered as the list items.
DateTime (Input) Specifies the format to show State. Default is the date format specified by the user in the Regional and Language Options from Control Panel. The format basic explanation can be found there.
Button (Input) Specifies control's text. If ICON or BITMAP flags are associated with a button control, this specifies the path where the icon or bitmap is.
 
State Specifies the state of the control. This is updated when the user closes the window, so you can read from it from NSIS. The input/output depends on the control type:
Edit
Password
IPAddress		 (Input/Output) String to appear (or last appeared).
HotKey (Input/Output) String to appear (or last appeared). Each key has to start with each word first letter capitalized, except stand alone keys which have to be in lower case (like Ctrl + Alt + Shift + c). Each combination has to be separated by " + ", so the key "+" is not supported yet.
UpDown (Input/Output) Specify the number of the option selected. NOTE: If a UpDown control has its buddy control a Text control, it will replace its state for UpDown's.
RadioButton (Input/Output) '0' or '1' (for unchecked or checked).
CheckBox (Input/Output) '0' or '1' (for unchecked or checked). When the flag 3STATE is used, '2' is the indetermined (grayed) state of the control.
Icon (Input) Specifies the icon index number for an executable or a dll if the Text INI value is used. 0 or an empty value means that the first icon inside the file will be used.

If Text INI value is not used, this specifies what Windows default icon will be used. See the list below:
Value                              Meaning                              
APPLICATION Show the default icon for a DOS application without a customized icon on explorer.
EXCLAMATION Show the default icon for a warning: An exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle.
INFORMATION Show the default icon for information: An exclamation mark inside a white balloon.
QUESTION Show the default icon for a question: A question mark inside a white balloon.
STOP Show the default icon for an error or unauthorized access: A white "X" inside a red circle.
WINLOGO Show the default icon for an application without a customized icon on explorer.

Windows XP: Same as APPLICATION.
ListBox (Input/Output) Selected items separated by pipes ('|').
ComboBox
DropList		 (Input/Output) Selected item name.
ProgressBar (Input/Output) Specify at what point the progress is. Maximum limit is 100 when MaxLen is not specified.
TrackBar (Input/Output) Specify the number of the option selected.
DateTime (Input/Output) Specify the date and time to show. Has to be based on this format:

d/m/yyyy h:m:s w (w = day of the week as a number -> Sunday = 0, Monday = 1...)

The separators can be:

"/", "\", "-", ":" or " ".

If you don't want to specify all those numbers, you can just keep it empty, i.e.:

27//2003

Only will be used the day and the year.
Link (Input) Specify something to be executed or opened (like "Exec" command from NSIS).
Button (Input) Specify something to be executed or opened (like "Exec" command from NSIS). If you specify FILEREQUEST or DIRREQUEST flags this specify to what control field number the result value will be returned. Recommended controls are: Text and ComboBox controls.
 
ListItems (Input) A list of items to display in a "ComboBox", "DropList" or "Listbox".
This is a single line of text with each item separated by a pipe character '|'
Button (Input) When "DIRREQUEST" flag is used, this specifies the text above the TreeView control of directories on "Browse For Folder" dialog.
 
MaxLen (Input) Causes validation on the selected control to limit the maximum length of text (or options).
If the user specifies more text than this, a message box will appear when they click "OK" and the dialog will not be dismissed.
Text (Input) If the control has FILEREQUEST or DIRREQUEST flags, this should be set to 260.
ComboBox (Input) You should not use this with this control since the user can not control what is selected.
Animation (Input) Is the ending frame of the animation. -1 is the last frame animation.
ProgressBar
TrackBar		 (Input) This limits the number of maximum progress/options.
 
MinLen (Input) Causes validation on the selected control to force the user to enter a minimum amount of text.

If the user specifies less text than this, a message box will appear when they click "OK" and the dialog will not be dismissed.
ComboBox (Input) If you set this to "1" the program will force the user to select an item.
Animation (Input) Is the starting frame of the animation. 0 is the first frame.
ProgressBar (Input) Is the value when the progress starts. If State is lower than this value, the progress won't show up.
TrackBar (Input) Is the starting option number.
 
ValidateText (Input) If the field fails the test for "MinLen" or "MaxLen", a messagebox will be displayed with this text.

Note: \r\n will be converted to a newline. To use a back-slash in your text you have to escape it using another back-slash - \\. Described below.
 
Left
Right
Top
Bottom
Width
Height		 (Input) The position on the dialog where this control appears. Width and/or Height can be specified instead of Right and/or Bottom. All sizes should be set in dialog units. To get the right dimensions for your controls, design your dialog using a resource editor and copy the dimensions to the INI file. If the control size is bigger than the rectangle size, the plugin will automatically make it smaller so it appears correctly on the screen.

Note: You can specify negative coordinates to specify the distance from the right or bottom edge. This doesn't work for Width and Height.
ComboBox
DropList		 (Input) The Bottom value is not used in the same way.
In this case, the bottom value is the maximum size of the window when the pop-up list is being displayed. All other times, the combobox is automatically sized to be one element tall. If you have trouble where you can not see the combobox drop-down, then check the bottom value and ensure it is large enough. A rough guide for the height required is the number of items in the list multiplied by 8, plus 20.
ProgressBar (Input) When using XPStyle on, the minimum height (or width if using VERTICAL flag) has to be above 5 dialog units or the ProgressBar will not be redrawn right.
MonthCalendar (Input) Recommended size: 131x95.
 
Filter (Input) Specifies the filter to be used in the Button or Link controls that use FILEREQUEST flag.
This is constructed by putting pairs of entries together, each item separated by a | character.
The first value in each pair is the text to display for the filter.
The second value is the pattern to use to match files.
For example, you might specify:
Filter=Text Files|*.txt|Programs|*.exe;*.com|All Files|*.*
If not specified, then the filter defaults to All Files|*.*

Note: you should not put any extra spaces around the | characters.
 
Root (Input) Used by Button or Link controls that use DIRREQUEST flag to specify the root directory of the search. By default, this allows the user to browse any directory on the computer. This will limit the search to a particular directory on the system.
 
Flags (Input) This specifies additional flags for the display of different controls. Each value should be separated by a | character, and you should be careful not to put any spaces around the | character.
Value                              Meaning                              
All Controls
NOTIFY Removed. See Notify value name below.
DISABLED Causes a control to be disabled.

Doesn't affect Bitmap, Icon and Animation controls.
GROUP Add this flag to the first control of a group of controls to group them. Grouping controls allows you to create multiple groups of radio button and makes keyboard navigation using arrow keys easier.

Doesn't affect Label, Bitmap, Icon, Animation and ProgressBar controls.
NOTABSTOP Do not stop on the control when the user pressed the Tab key. Add NOTABSTOP to all controls of a group except the first one to allow navigation between groups with the Tab key.

Doesn't affect Label, Bitmap, Icon, Animation and ProgressBar controls.
Text
Password
ONLY_NUMBERS Forces the user to enter only numbers into the edit box. Doesn't allow negative numbers to be entered. Text can still be pasted normally.
MULTILINE Causes the control to accept multiple-lines.
WANTRETURN Specifies that a carriage return be inserted when the user presses the ENTER key while entering text into the text box.

MULTILINE flag required.
NOWORDWRAP Disables the word-wrap that occurs when long lines are entered. Long lines instead scroll off to the side.

MULTILINE flag required.
HSCROLL flag disables this flag.
HSCROLL Show a horizontal scroll bar.
VSCROLL Show a vertical scroll bar.
READONLY Prevents the user from entering or editing text in the edit control, but allow the user to select and copy the text.
PASSWORD Same as using the control Password.

Doesn't affect Password controls.
UpDown
LEFT Makes the control to position to the left of its buddy control.

State INI value required.
HSCROLL Used by UpDown controls. Makes the arrows of the control to point left and right instead of up and down.
WRAP Used by UpDown controls. Makes the position to "wrap" if it is incremented or decremented beyond the ending or beginning of the range.
ComboBox
DROPLIST Same as using the control DropList.
ListBox
MULTISELECT Used by ListBox controls. Turns string selection on or off each time the user clicks or double-clicks a string in the list box. The user can select any number of strings.
EXTENDEDSELECT Used by ListBox controls. Allows multiple items to be selected by using the SHIFT key and the mouse or special key combinations.

MULTISELECT flag disables this flag.
VSCROLL Shows a disabled vertical scroll bar when there is no need for one.
CheckBox
RadioButton
RIGHT Realocates the control text to the left of the selection box/circle.
3STATE Makes the control to have an additional "indetermined" state. This is generally used when some items are selected from another controls, but not all of them. State can input and output the number 2 as that state.

Doesn't affect RadioButton controls.
Bitmap
RESIZETOFIT Resizes the image to the size of the control. Also useful to support custom DPI settings.
ProgressBar
SMOOTH Makes the progress bar smooth.
VSCROLL Makes the progress bar to appear as a vertical progress bar with the indicator bar starting from bottom.
TrackBar
TOOLTIPS Makes the control show tooltips when the user changes the slider position.
NO_TICKS Makes the control to don't show ticks on the control which mark the options.
VSCROLL Makes the control to be vertically orientated.
DateTime
UPDOWN Makes the control like UpDown control, but using date and time.
MonthCalendar
NOTODAY Makes the control to do not display the "today" date at the bottom of the control and its red circle. Recommended control height is 75.
WEEKNUMBERS Makes the control to display week numbers (1-52) to the left of each row of days. Week 1 is defined as the first week that contains at least four days. Recommended control width is 134.
Button
OPEN_FILEREQUEST Makes the control to display a common dialog requiring a file for input to open. See State option for more details on how to output it to another control.
SAVE_FILEREQUEST Makes the control to display a common dialog requiring a file for input to save on. See State option for more details on how to output it to another control.
DIRREQUEST Makes the control to display a common dialog requiring a directory for input. See State option for more details on how to output it to another control.
FILE_MUST_EXIST Determines if the selected file must exist.

FILEREQUEST flag required.
REQ_SAVE flag disables this flag.
Affects only FILEREQUEST dialog.
FILE_EXPLORER Enables new file request look (recommended).

FILEREQUEST flag required.
FILE_HIDEREADONLY Hides the "open read only" check box.

FILEREQUEST flag required.
REQ_SAVE flag disables this flag.
WARN_IF_EXIST Displays a warning message if the selected file already exists.

FILEREQUEST flag required.
Affects only FILEREQUEST dialog.
PATH_MUST_EXIST Prevents the user from typing a non-existent path.

FILEREQUEST flag required.
Affects only FILEREQUEST dialog.
PROMPT_CREATE Displays a warning if the selected file does not exist. However, it still allows the user to select the file.

FILEREQUEST flag required.
REQ_SAVE flag disables this flag.
Affects only FILEREQUEST dialog.
BITMAP Makes the control to show a bitmap instead of text.
ICON flag disables this flag.
ICON Makes the control to show an icon instead of text.
 
Notify (Input) Used by all controls except GroupBox controls. Causes InstallOptionsEx to call your NSIS custom page validation/leave function whenever the control's selection changes.

Your validation/leave function can read the State value accompanied with Notify value from the Settings section to determine which control caused the notification resp. what notification did it receive of those you chose in the control section Notify value, if any, and perform some appropriate action followed by an Abort instruction (to tell NSIS to return to the page).

Each notification flag should be separated with a | character, and you should be careful not to put any spaces around the | character.
Value Meaning
ONSETFOCUS Used by Text, Password, IPAddress, ListBox, ComboBox, DropList, RadioButton, CheckBox, Button and Link controls. Notifies when a control gained focus.
ONKILLFOCUS Used by Text, Password, IPAddress, ListBox, ComboBox, DropList, RadioButton, CheckBox, Button and Link controls. Notifies when a control lost focus.
ONLISTOPEN Used by ComboBox, DropList and DateTime controls. Notifies when a control received a click on the arrow on the right of the control (or left if its in RTL mode).
ONLISTCLOSE Used by ComboBox, DropList and DateTime controls. Notifies when the user clicked outside of listbox(ComboBox, DropList) or monthcalendar (DateTime) which are inside these controls.
ONSELCHANGE Used by IPAddress, ComboBox, DropList, ListBox, DateTime, MonthCalendar and UpDown controls. Notifies when the user changed control state.
ONTEXTCHANGE Used by Text, Password, IPAddress and ComboBox controls. Notifies when the user changed control state of the text (for example, when writing) before it appears on screen.
ONTEXTUPDATE Used by Text, Password, IPAddress and ComboBox controls. Notifies when the user changed control state of the text (for example, when writing) after it appears on screen.
ONTEXTVSCROLL Used by Text, Password controls. Notifies when the user clicked on the vertical scroll bar or when the user scrolls the mouse wheel over it.
ONTEXTTRUNCATE Used by Text and Password, controls. Notifies when the user tried to enter more characters than the limit. ValidateText does the same thing, except that now you can use the validation function for that.
ONCLICK Used by Label, Image, RadioButton, CheckBox, Button and Link controls. Notifies when the user clicked on the control.
ONDBLCLICK Used by Label, Image, ComboBox, DropList, ListBox, RadioButton, CheckBox, Button and Link controls. Notifies when the user double-clicked on the control or on one item of ListBox, ComboBox or DropList.
ONSTART Used by Animation control. Notifies when the control started playing an animation. An exception is when it starts for the first time. Not tested.
ONSTOP Used by Animation control. Notifies when the control stopped playing an animation.
 
TxtColor Label
Link
Text		 (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ListBox
DropList		 (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when an item is not selected. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ComboBox (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when an item is not selected and when not using the images feature. This is not drawn on the Text box part of ComboBox. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ProgressBar (input) Specifies the color of the indicator bar. This only is used when not using Windows themes. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
MonthCalendar
DateTime		 (input) Specifies the foreground color of the normal days text in the controls' calendar. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
BgColor Label
Link
Text		 (input) Specifies the background color of the control. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ListBox
DropList		 (input) Specifies the background color of the text when an item is not selected. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ComboBox (input) Specifies the background color of the text when an item is not selected and when not using the images feature. This is not drawn on the Text box part of ComboBox. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ProgressBar (input) Specifies the color of the background part of the bar. This only is used when not using Windows themes. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
MonthCalendar
DateTime		 (input) Specifies the background color of the month calendar. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
SelTxtColor ListBox
DropList		 (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when an item is selected. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ComboBox (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when an item is selected and when not using the images feature. This is not drawn on the Text box part of ComboBox. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
MonthCalendar
DateTime		 (input) Specifies the foreground color of the month calendar selected text and title text. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
SelBgColor ListBox
DropList		 (input) Specifies the background color of the text when an item is selected. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ComboBox (input) Specifies the background color of the text when an item is selected and when not using the images feature. This is not drawn on the Text box part of ComboBox. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
MonthCalendar
DateTime		 (input) Specifies the background color of the month calendar selected text and title text. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
DisTxtColor Label
Link		 (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ListBox (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when an item is not selected and the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
DisBgColor Label
Link		 (input) Specifies the background color of the text when the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ListBox (input) Specifies the background color of the text when an item is not selected and the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
DisSelTxtColor ListBox (input) Specifies the foreground color of the text when an item is selected and the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
DisSelBgColor ListBox (input) Specifies the background color of the text when an item is selected and the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
MonthOutColor MonthCalendar (input) Specifies the background color of the outside part of the month calendar. This is only used when you specify a bigger control size than the recommended one. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
MonthTrailingTxtColor MonthCalendar
DateTime		 (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the days from the last or next month being shown. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
TxtShwColor Label
Link		 (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
DropList
ListBox		 (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when an item is not selected. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ComboBox (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when an item is not selected and when not using the images feature. This is not drawn on the Text box part of ComboBox. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
SelTxtShwColor DropList
ListBox		 (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when an item is selected. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ComboBox (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when an item is selected and when not using the images feature. This is not drawn on the Text box part of ComboBox. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
DisTxtShwColor Label
Link		 (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
ListBox (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when an item is not selected and when the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
DisSelTxtShwColor ListBox (input) Specifies the foreground text color of the shadow when an item is selected and when the control is disabled. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
FontName All Controls (input) Sets the control font. It has to be a font name <= 32 characters.
ListBox
ComboBox
DropList		 (input) Sets the control font. It has to be a font name <= 32 characters. If the text cuts off, you can adjust the parameter ListItemsHeight.
 
FontHeight All Controls (input) Sets the control font height in points.
ListBox
ComboBox
DropList		 (input) Sets the control font height in points. If the text cuts off, you can adjust the parameter ListItemsHeight.
 
FontWidth All Controls (input) Sets the control font average character width in pixels.
 
ListItemsHeight ListBox
ComboBox
DropList		 (input) Specifies the height of each item contained into the control in pixels.
 
FontBold All Controls (input) If set to 1, this makes the text to become bold. Default is 0.
 
FontItalic All Controls (input) If set to 1, this makes the text to become italic. Default is 0.
 
FontUnderline All Controls (input) If set to 1, this makes the text to have an underline. Default is 0 except for Link controls, which is 1.
 
FontStrikeOut All Controls (input) If set to 1, this makes the text to have a strike out. Default is 0.
 
ToolTipText (input) Determines the text of a control tooltip. It is required to make show a tooltip for any control.
 
ToolTipFlags (input) This specifies additional flags specially for a control tooltip.

Each tooltip flag should be separated with a | character, and you should be careful not to put any spaces around the | character.
Value Meaning
NOALWAYSTIP Makes the tooltip to do not show up when the window doesn't have focus.
BALLOON Requires Internet Explorer 5

Makes the tooltip to look like a balloon with a steam pointing to the control. Enables the use of ToolTipTitle and ToolTipIcon.
NOANIMATE Requires Internet Explorer 5

Removes the tooltip sliding animation.
NOFADE Requires Internet Explorer 5

Removes the tooltip fade animation.
NOPREFIX Prevents the system from stripping the ampersand (&) character from a string.
 
ToolTipMaxWidth (input) Determines the maximum width of the tooltip. If the text passes from this limit it is automatically broken into multiple lines. This limit can be surpassed if a word is bigger than the maximum width indicated here. Default is 300 pixels.
 
ToolTipTxtColor (input) Specifies the foreground color of the tooltip text and the tooltip border. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
ToolTipBgColor (input) Specifies the background color of the tooltip text. Format: 0xBBRRGG (hexadecimal).
 
ToolTipIcon (input) Specifies the icon of a control tooltip that has the BALLOON flag. The value can be one of the following:

INFO - Display with information icon
WARNING - Display with exclamation icon
ERROR - Display with stop icon
 
ToolTipTitle (input) Specifies the title text of a tooltip with BALLOON flag. It appears as bold above the normal tooltip text.

How to use

Modern UI

As this is a different module than the original InstallOptions, none of the commands provided by Modern UI supports InstallOptionsEx.dll, but you can make a "trick" by renaming this dll to InstallOptions.dll. But remember, if you use mixed Modern UI with these commands below, you'll have to call like you would for the normal InstallOptions.dll. Both dlls calling are similar. If you do this above, you can normally see instructions from Modern UI documentation.

Extract the INI File

First, you have to extract the INI files for the dialogs in the .onInit function:

Function .onInit

  InitPluginsDir
  File /oname=$PLUGINSDIR\test.ini test.ini

FunctionEnd

Call the DLL

You can call InstallOptionsEx in a page function, check the NSIS documentation for information about the page system. Example:

Page custom SetCustom ValidateCustom

The InstallOptionsEx DLL has three functions:

  • dialog - Creates the dialog immediately
  • initDialog - Creates the dialog in memory, does not show it
  • show - Shows a dialog created in memory

Usually, you only need to use the dialog function:

Function SetCustom ;FunctionName defined with Page command

  ;Display the InstallOptionsEx dialog

  Push $R0

  InstallOptionsEx::dialog $PLUGINSDIR\test.ini
  Pop $R0

FunctionEnd

Get the input

To get the input of the user, read the State value of a Field using ReadINIStr:

ReadINIStr $R0 "$PLUGINSDIR\test.ini" "Field 1" "State"

Note:

Some InstallOptionsEx values are escaped to allow characters to be used that are not normally valid in INI file values. For new lines, carriage return and line feed, the affected values are:

  • The ValidateText field
  • The Text value of Label and Link fields
  • The State value of Text fields that have the MULTILINE flag
  • The DirRequest value of Button fields that have the DIRREQUEST flag

Every value of a value name is affected by variables which are updated to the time the page was reserved or showed without reserving.

Escape Characters and Variables:

$0-$9, $R0-$R9 Variables
\r Carriage return (ASCII 13)
\n Line feed (ASCII 10)
\t Tab (ASCII 9)
\\ Back-slash

Validate the input

If you want to validate the input on the page, for example, you want to check whether the user has filled in a textbox, use the leave function of the Page command and Abort when the validation has failed:

Function ValidateCustom

  ReadINIStr $R0 "$PLUGINSDIR\test.ini" "Field 1" "State"
  StrCmp $0 "" 0 +3
    MessageBox MB_ICONEXCLAMATION|MB_OK "Please enter your name."
    Abort

FunctionEnd

Return value

After you have called the DLL, InstallOptionsEx adds one string to the stack, with one of the following values:

  • success - The user has pressed the Next button
  • back - The user has pressed the Back button
  • cancel - The user has pressed the Cancel button
  • error - An error has occurred, the dialog cannot be displayed.

Usually, you don't need to check this value, but you still have to remove it from the stack (have a look at the example above).

You only have to check this value if you need something really special, such as doing something when the user pressed the Back button.

Reserve files

If you are using BZIP2 (solid) compression, it's important that files which are being extracted in init- or page functions function are located before other files in the data block, because this will make your installer faster.

If there are File commands in your sections or functions above the init- or page functions, add ReserveFile commands above your sections and functions:

ReserveFile "test.ini"
ReserveFile "${NSISDIR}\Plugins\InstallOptionsEx.dll"

Fonts and colors

If you want to use custom fonts or colors on your InstallOptionsEx dialogs, you can use the value names or you use the initDialog and show functions. initDialog creates the dialog in memory, but does not show it. After calling initDialog, you can set the fonts and colors, and call show to show the dialog. initDialog pushes the HWND of the custom dialog to the stack. To get the HWND of the controls use:

GetDlgItem (output var) (hwnd of the custom dialog) (1200 + Field number - 1)

You can use this macro to do the job for you:

!define IOGetDlgItem '!insertmacro IOGetDlgItem'

!macro IOGetDlgItem Var PageHWND FieldNumber
  StrCpy '${Var}' '${FieldNumber}'
  IntOp '${Var}' '${Var}' + 1199
  GetDlgItem '${Var}' '${PageHWND}' '${Var}'
!macroend

To use it:

${IOGetDlgItem} (Var) (Page handle) (Field number)

Example of using a custom font using that macro:

Function FunctionName ;FunctionName defined with Page command

  ;Display the InstallOptionsEx dialog

  Push $R0
  Push $R1
  Push $R2

    InstallOptionsEx::initDialog /NOUNLOAD $PLUGINSDIR\test.ini
    Pop $R0

    ${IOGetDlgItem} $R1 $R0 1; Field 1

    ;$R1 contains the HWND of the first field
    CreateFont $R2 "Tahoma" 10 700
    SendMessage $R1 ${WM_SETFONT} $R2 0

    InstallOptionsEx::show
    Pop $R0

  Pop $R2
  Pop $R1
  Pop $R0

FunctionEnd

Version History

  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 11 (11/07/2004)
    • "Flags" INI value optimizations:
      • Removed the "not useful" BACK_RECT, NOTODAYCIRCLE, TRANSPARENT and CENTER flags. The second flag effect is implemented with NOTODAY and the last flag is implemented to the Animation control normal functionality.
      • Removed VERTICAL flag. Use VSCROLL instead.
    • Fixed ComboBox and DropList controls: Disabled controls now have their text on the right color by default.
    • Fixed ListBox controls: Focus boundary rectangle wasn't being drawn.
    • Font INI value names are now supportable by all controls.
    • Fixed Link controls: They are underlined by default except when FontUnderline=0 is set.
    • Changed importance level of Height and Width. Now if Right is specified, Width is ignored, and if Bottom is specified, Height is ignored.
    • Fixed "Back" button appearance: It should appear only after the first page.
    • Changed State and Notify INI value names from Settings INI section:
      • Fixed: State had the value of 0 and Notify didn't even appear when OPEN_FILEREQUEST, SAVE_FILEREQUEST or DIRREQUEST were used on a Button control.
      • As the appearance of these INI value names are imminent: If State = 0, the page returned a notification. If Notify = ONNEXT, ONBACK or ONCANCEL, the user clicked on next, back or cancel buttons, respectively.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 10 (10/29/2004)
    • Fixed VSCROLL flag: wasn't supported by ListBox controls.
    • Changed flag name: HORIZONTAL to HSCROLL.
    • Mentioned PASSWORD for Text and DROPLIST for ComboBox controls on the documentation.
    • Added new feature to Password controls: Password mask character (see Text INI value name).
    • Added new features to Icon controls:
      • Supports getting icons from executables, and dlls (see Text and State INI value names).
      • Supports default Windows icons (see State INI value). Options: APPLICATION, EXCLAMATION, INFORMATION, QUESTION, STOP and WINLOGO.
    • Added variables $0-$9, $R0-$R9 support before reserving or showing without reserving pages. It is supported on every value of a value name and can be used multiple times on the same value.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 9 (8/23/2004)
    • Fixed DISABLED Label controls: didn't draw shadow.
    • DISABLED Label and Link are now controls supported by DisTxtColor value name.
    • Fixed Label and Link controls: didn't draw background color on the entire control.
    • Shadow Text feature added. Added TxtShwColor, DisTxtShwColor, SelTxtShwColor and DisSelTxtShwColor.
    • First DLL optimizations: 0.5 kb smaller on decompressed build (no change for compressed build).
    • Fixed text positioning of ComboBox, DropList and ListBox controls. They are now closer to the control border.
    • Fixed focus rectangle not appearing on ComboBox and DropList.
    • ListBox, ComboBox and DropList controls have automatic word ellipsis.
    • FontOrientation and FontEscapement removed - because most of the drawing commands do not support this feature.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 8 (8/18/2004)
    • Added ToolTips feature -> Added ToolTipText, ToolTipFlags, ToolTipMaxWidth, ToolTipTxtColor, ToolTipBgColor, ToolTipIcon and ToolTipTitle value names.
    • Fixed DISABLED ComboBox and DropList controls bug: Didn't redraw right.
    • Fixed DISABLED ListBox controls bug: User specified colors didn't apply.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 7 (8/14/2004)
    • Rearranged control notification system:
      • Added Notify value name for "Settings" and "Field #" sections.
      • Added: ONSETFOCUS, ONKILLFOCUS, ONLISTOPEN, ONLISTCLOSE, ONSELCHANGE, ONTEXTCHANGE, ONTEXTUPDATE, ONCLICK, ONDBLCLICK, ONTEXTTRUNCATE, ONTEXTVSCROLL, ONSTART and ONSTOP notification flags.
    • Added BackShow, NextEnabled and NextShow for "Settings" section.
    • Fixed the control extension beyond the rectangle height and width addition of the last version removed.
    • Fixed Text controls: "black" color was being set even when you didn't.
    • Fixed ListBox controls: didn't appear as they were disabled.
    • Added missing features to the documentation which last version's didn't mention.
    • Added FontName for Label, Link, ListBox, ComboBox, DropList, Text and Password controls, DisBgColor, DisTxtColor, DisSelBgColor and DisSelTxtColor for ListBox control.
    • ListItems for Button controls w/ DIRREQUEST flag is the text which appears above the Tree-View control of directories.
    • Added a new flag to CheckBox controls, the old and famous "3STATE" flag that allows you to set additionally an indetermined (or grayed) state.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 6 (7/25/2004)
    • Added a wide range of commands for setting initial color and font formatting without using NSIS commands.
    • Fixed the control extention beyond the rectangle height and width. This makes the control to resize itself when necessary.
    • Added file verification before setting a bitmap or icon to DropList , ComboBox and Button controls.
    • Added Height and Width value names.
    • Fixed a stupid bug that made some controls flags to be set when you did not specify them.
    • Added 3STATE flag for CheckBox controls.
    • Fixed another stupid bug that made ProgresBar controls to do not show their indicator bar correctly.
    • Added one laking information about the stand alone keys for HotKey controls.
    • Fixed other minor bugs.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 5 (6/27/2004)
    • Added HotKey control.
    • Added support of NOTIFY flag for MonthCalendar, DateTime, UpDown and HotKey controls.
    • Added information to controls and options their minimum supportable OS.
    • C style escape characters restored again.
    • Fixed problems with new controls about the TabStop not working.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 4 (6/11/2004)
    • Added UpDown control.
    • Removed FileRequest and DirRequest controls. Use Text and Button controls instead.
    • Added FILEREQUEST and DIRREQUEST flags for Button controls and LEFT, HORIZONTAL and WRAP flags for UpDown controls.
    • NSIS $\n, $\r and $\t imported to remove the need for conversions between NSIS characters and plugin's.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 3 (6/7/2004)
    • Added DateTime and MonthCalendar controls.
    • Added UPDOWN flag for DateTime controls and NOTODAY, NOTODAYCIRCLE and WEEKNUMBERS flags for MonthCalendar controls.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 2 (5/31/2004)
    • Added TrackBar and IPAddress controls.
    • Added ability of Button controls of supporting an image or icon.
    • Added BACK_RECT, TOOLTIPS and NO_TICKS flags for TrackBar controls and BITMAP and ICON flags for Button controls.
    • Added support of NOTIFY flag for IPAddress control.
    • Removed TRANSPARENT and NOAUTOPLAY flags for Animation control.
  • Ex DLL version 2.41 beta 1 (5/24/2004)
    • Removed NumFields from INI File "Settings" section.
    • Added Animation and ProgressBar controls.
    • Added ability of ComboBox and DropList controls of supporting images for each item in their list boxes.
    • Added TRANSPARENT, CENTER and NOAUTOPLAY flags for Animation controls and SMOOTH and VERTICAL flags for ProgressBar controls.
    • Added support of NOTIFY flag for Text, Password and ComboBox controls.

Version History of original InstallOptions

  • Original InstallOptions DLL version 2.41 (5/8/2004)
    • Bitmaps are now automatically centered
    • Fixed a bug which prevented enabling the next button from
      • the leave function of InstallOptions pages
    • Fixed a rare freeze

Complete version history of Original InstallOptions DLL

Credits

Original IO version by Michael Bishop
IO DLL version by Nullsoft, Inc.
IO DLL version 2 by Amir Szekely, ORTIM, Joost Verburg
IOEx DLL (changed from original IO 2) by Diego Pedroso

Documentation for InstallOptions 2 by Joost Verburg
InstallOptionsEx Documentation (changed from InstallOptions') by Diego Pedroso

License

Original IO version Copyright © 2001 Michael Bishop
IO DLL version 1 Copyright © 2001-2002 Nullsoft, Inc., ORTIM
IO DLL version 2 Copyright © 2003-2004 Amir Szekely, Joost Verburg, Dave Laundon
IOEx DLL (changed from original IO 2) Copyright © 2004 by Diego Pedroso

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute
it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented;
   you must not claim that you wrote the original software.
   If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the
   product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered versions must be plainly marked as such,
   and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any distribution.