Using Orca to edit the MSI

[TBA_Dave]

Hi

My company has boughyt enough licenses so that everyone in the company can have the suite of PDF exchange (finally! ) however the techincal lead wants us to roll out the program using the MSI and an accompanying MST.

I've dutifully got Orca and opened up the MSI and then got very lost trying to find which fields I should edit to input the licenses key and user details, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Dave

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Dave,

Please have a look at the Property table, and if you want to change any of the values there - do so.

Additionally any parameters that are not already in the list there you will need to add manually.
e.g. if you want to install just some of the components - add a new row ADDLOCAL and as value for it list the components you want. to enter the Serial Key you have - add another row with name KEY and value your full serial key:


The full list of standard and application specific properties can be seen when you launch the .msi file manually and press the help button (a copy of the full text displayed when you press that help button is attached - so check page 2 of the PDF)

Best,
Stefan

p.s. I also did a KB article of your question Dave - How do I use Orca and mst to deploy your products

[TBA_Dave]

Thanks Stefan - I completely missed that KB article.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Dave,

I actually made it after replying to you so you could not have found it anyway

Hope my tips would work for you.

Cheers,
Stefan

[PolyFXT]

Thank you for the information in this thread and the KB article. I could use some clarification, though.

If I add the KEY row, what do i do with the KEY_REG and the KEYACCEPTED rows? Delete them or change their values?

If i wish to install in german, can i set ProductLanguage to 1031?

Is the position of the newly created rows (KEY and ORGANIZATION) relevant? I've been adding them at the bottom.

When I set LOGINSTALL to 1, where will the log end up?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello PolyFXT,

Leave the other entries intact, and just add the KEY as a new one.

I am not sure for changing the locale to 1031 - need to check with the guys but if you are willing to make a test - do let us know if that works.

Also the order should not matter - just add the new rows at the end.

LOGINSTALL will usually record the log in the main C: directory

Best,
Stefan

[PolyFXT]

Thank you for your answer.



I managed to add the KEY and ORGANIZATION rows successfully, and have the software deploy on the test OU.

USERNAME row gets ignored completely.
Using these settings everything but the Viewer itself will install in german, using the system language.

Changing the ProductLanguage setting to 1031 has no effect.

What can i do to get the Viewer to install in Deutsch? Does it matter whether the machines are Deutsch(Deutschland) or Deutsch(Österreich)?

Is there a registry setting i can modify via GPO to set the language in a separate procedure after successful installation?

Speaking of which, with which registry key do I tick the "Hide AD bar" checkbox? Can it be done at installation time? Another hidden row?

If someone is eable to shed some light on this, it would help me no end.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Poly,

You can add any of the properties listed on page two in the attached file as a new row in the Property table.
(This is actually a printout of the window that opens when you launch the .msi package in a GUI environment and press the Help button)

If adding ADDLOCAL - the key name should be ADDLOCAL - and the value the coma separated list of options you would like installed.

Best,
Stefan

[PolyFXT]

So the "Hide AD bar" and language setting can not be specified at all.
Why does the ad bar thing even exist when installing a paid-for version?

Right now a rollout would mean I'd have to ask users to change the language themselves. Surely this is not by design?
Why is it not installing in german?

I'm running a 2k8 R2 server with Win7 64bit clients, if that helps. Every other piece of software rolled out like a charm up until now.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Poly,

the hide AD bar cannot be specifiied during install - not all settings can be set during install. We are doing a lot of work for V3 to improve the installation options especially through Active Directory and MSI installations, though I cannot say if this particular item will be included.

What you can do with the present version is to create a profile on a single machine and export those settings to file, make that file available to all users then use runonce or a script to launch the Viewer once with the command line switch /importp (section 1.8 of the Viewer manual [Help --> Contents]) to import your custom settings. Subsequent launches of the application will then use these settings.

Setting the installation to German is supported in the MSI. If you are installing the full PDF-XChange 4 Pro bundle then there are some dependencies to fill. In the ADDLOCAL section there are language files available to localize the installation.

F_Langs_Drv - Localization files for the Driver, OfficeAddin and Office2PDF. Note: F_Office2PDF, F_OfficeAddin, F_Help_Drv and F_Langs_Drv requires F_Drivers feature to be installed.

F_Langs_Wiz - Localization files for PDF-Tools; Note: F_Help_Wiz and F_Langs_Wiz requires F_Wizard feature to be installed. F_Langs_Viewer - Localization files for the viewer (requires F_Viewer).

F_Langs_Viewer - Localization files for the viewer (requires F_Viewer).

Now that will force all languages to be available to the 3 components and by default your installation should use the localized language set in Windows so if it is German Windows you will get German languages in the PDFX installation.

You could force the language in the registry also:

Code: Select all

for driver:
path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange 4.0\Drivers
value: "CurrentLanguage", type: DWORD; value - LangID or -1 for automatic language selection, or 0 for no localization

for Tools:
path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFWizards4\Settings\Application\Localization
value: "CurrentLanguage", type: DWORD; value - LangID or -1 for automatic language selection, or 0 for no localization

for the viewer:
path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\International
value: "LocaleID", type: DWORD; value - LangID or -1 for automatic language selection, or 0 for no localization

You will need then to determine the LangID, German for example is 0x0407. One easy way to do that is to open the Driver `Printing Preferences, open the Language page, and you will see the list of available languages - second column in this list - corresponding LangID

Does that help?

[PolyFXT]

It's been a while since I posted, so I wanted to report back and say thank you.

Hi Poly,

the hide AD bar cannot be specifiied during install - not all settings can be set during install. We are doing a lot of work for V3 to improve the installation options especially through Active Directory and MSI installations, though I cannot say if this particular item will be included.

Thank you for the clarification, I ignored that setting for the moment, and the users so far don't seem to mind having to turn it off.

What you can do with the present version is to create a profile on a single machine and export those settings to file, make that file available to all users then use runonce or a script to launch the Viewer once with the command line switch /importp (section 1.8 of the Viewer manual [Help --> Contents]) to import your custom settings. Subsequent launches of the application will then use these settings.

Setting the installation to German is supported in the MSI. If you are installing the full PDF-XChange 4 Pro bundle then there are some dependencies to fill. In the ADDLOCAL section there are language files available to localize the installation.

F_Langs_Drv - Localization files for the Driver, OfficeAddin and Office2PDF. Note: F_Office2PDF, F_OfficeAddin, F_Help_Drv and F_Langs_Drv requires F_Drivers feature to be installed.

F_Langs_Wiz - Localization files for PDF-Tools; Note: F_Help_Wiz and F_Langs_Wiz requires F_Wizard feature to be installed. F_Langs_Viewer - Localization files for the viewer (requires F_Viewer).

F_Langs_Viewer - Localization files for the viewer (requires F_Viewer).

Now that will force all languages to be available to the 3 components and by default your installation should use the localized language set in Windows so if it is German Windows you will get German languages in the PDFX installation.

If I do not specifiy it in the transform via ADDLOCAL, all these components get installed anyway, correct? What happened to me was that all components, printer, tools, etc., correctly chose the german language, but the Viewer application did not.
The one app users interact with constantly, was in english.
The building is not yet fully populated, so i will just go ahead and roll out the way it is, and then use this:

You could force the language in the registry also:

Code: Select all

for driver:
path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange 4.0\Drivers
value: "CurrentLanguage", type: DWORD; value - LangID or -1 for automatic language selection, or 0 for no localization

for Tools:
path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFWizards4\Settings\Application\Localization
value: "CurrentLanguage", type: DWORD; value - LangID or -1 for automatic language selection, or 0 for no localization

for the viewer:
path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer\International
value: "LocaleID", type: DWORD; value - LangID or -1 for automatic language selection, or 0 for no localization

You will need then to determine the LangID, German for example is 0x0407. One easy way to do that is to open the Driver `Printing Preferences, open the Language page, and you will see the list of available languages - second column in this list - corresponding LangID

I will change this registry entry with a GPO.

Does that help?

Yes, it clarified things. Thank you.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi PolyFXT,

I'm not sure why the Viewer component remained in English. If you are happy changing the Viewer language using a GPO to push those reg values then we'll call this done.

Do be sure to let me know if there is anything more we can do for you.

[allisonb]

I opened the msi with Orca and added the rows for the key and organization then generated the mst as described in KB317. I tested it using the command-line msiexec.exe /i PDFXCPro_x86.msi /passive /t PDFXCPro-x86.mst. The application installed but when I checked the product it says that it's not registered. What am i missing here?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi allisonb,

when you start any of the installed applications - the Viewer for example, what is in the text field where the serial key? If it is your key, what colour is the text, red or blue? If your key is in there can you send it to support@pdf-xchange.com.

Note! Don't post your key here or we will be forced to block it.

[allisonb]

When I open the viewer and look at help then about it says Free. If I go in to preferences and look at registration all fields are empty. I then opened PDF Tools and looked at preferences then about and it says unregistered. I emailed the key as requested.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks for that allisonb,

I have validated the key, it is good. Can you send us your MST file to examine please? Also send this by email rather than post here.

[allisonb]

Emailed the MST inside a zip file as requested.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thaks allisonb,

I should have something for you tomorrow.

regards

[AudioJam]

Hi Paul,

I'm using Orca to customise MSI file. That's works fine for USERNAME, ORGANIZATION, USERMAIL, KEY and ADDLOCAL.
I want also to disable SET_VIEWER_AS_DEFAULT, VIEWER_IN_BROWSERS and DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS with a default value define to "1" in MSI file. Setting each value to "0" don't take effect, checkbox remain active during installation. What's wrong ?

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

Please also set to 0 (zero) or remove the following properties: _SetViewerAsDefault, _ViewInBrowsers, _CreateDesktopShortCuts.

[supporter01]

Hello,
i´m trying to install the x-change viewer modified with a mst file.
I works, but ony the Programms Folder doesn´t work.
I want to install it on: Programs -> Tools -> PDF X-Change Viewer

I change the setting on directory -> ApplicationProgramsFolder to "0072yvhi|Tools|PDF-XChange"

Anyone got an idea `?

thanks

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi supporter01

thanks fr the report. I would like to see if thi sis reproducible running an install here. Can you help us with that? We would need

• your transform
• the OS environment (Win 7/Vista/XP)
• target system architecture (32/64 bit)
• the build of our Viewer you are using

If you are including the serial key in your transform then don't post it here as it is public and we'll be forced to block your key. In that case please email it to support@pdf-xchange.com and reference this thread in the body of that email.

Also - forgive my ignorance, but it's not clear to me why this in the path: 0072yvhi where you specified you want to use the folder Programs

thanks

[supporter01]

Hi Paul,

thanks for the quick reply.

I change the msi direct because i habe some problems with mst files.

We run Win 7 32 Bit and want to install the new 206 Build.

The path: 0072yvhi|PDF-XChange was already there, see the file:
http://s7.directupload.net/file/d/3044/5fflwcj2_jpg.htm

Should i change it to: Tools|Free-XChange ?

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

First of all, you have to add property INSTALLLOCATION to the Properties tables.

Please note, the viewer will be installed into "INSTALLOCATION\PDF Viewer" folder. to change "PDF Viewer", you have to change VIEWERDIR row in the Directory table (only part after | if it is there).

HTH

[supporter01]

The Installlocation Program Files\Tracker.... is ok,

i only want to change the start menu entry from Programs -> PDF X Change to Programs -> Tools -> PDF C Change

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi again supporter01,

OK - so there are a couple of changes you would need to make here. In essence you create an item for the "Tools" folder, make ProgramMenuFolder it's parent and then and change the parent folder for the Viewer from ProgramMenuFolder to your new folder.

You also need to refer to it for uninstall. Please find attached a transform, tested, that will modify your installer to use the new path you specified. Just load the MSI in Orca and browse to the attached MST transform in Orca using Transform --> Apply Transform.

The changes we made will be highlighted in Orca so you can easily see what we did. Look at the tables 'Directory' and 'RemoveFile'

hth

[supporter01]

great, it works. Thank you very much

One more thing: i set under property: Set_Viewer_As_Default: 0
But after installing the viewer is the default pdf viewer and after start the program there ist
the message "should pdf viewer the default viewer". Can i hide these window ?

Is there one more setting ?

thanks

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi supporter01,

I actually need to get Ivan's advice here, he is the MSI expert amongst us. I should have an answer tomorrow.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi again

Ivan tried to set this and says it can't be done. It will still prompt next time.

The users can check the box not to be prompted in future though.

hth