ipc - Inno Setup Get progress from .NET Framework 4.5 (or higher) installer to update progress bar position

Question

I am currently installing .NET Framework 4.6.2 as a prerequisite in the PrepareToInstall event function so that I can obtain the exit code, set the NeedsReboot status, or abort if installation fails. My code is below and this is all working fine.

var
  PrepareToInstallLabel: TNewStaticText;
  PrepareToInstallProgressBar: TNewProgressBar;
  intDotNetResultCode: Integer;
  CancelWithoutPrompt, AbortInstall: Boolean;

function InitializeSetup(): Boolean;
begin
  Result := True;
  OverwriteDB := False;
  CancelWithoutPrompt := False;
  AbortInstall := False;
end;

function PrepareToInstall(var NeedsRestart: Boolean): String;
var
  intResultCode: Integer;
  strInstallType: String;
begin
  if not IsDotNet45Installed and IsWindows7Sp1OrAbove then
    begin
      HidePrepareToInstallGuiControls;
      PrepareToInstallLabel.Caption := 'Installing Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2...';
      ShowPrepareToInstallGuiControls;
      ExtractTemporaryFile('NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe');
      if WizardSilent = True then
        begin
          strInstallType := '/q';
        end
      else
        begin
          strInstallType := '/passive';
        end;
      Exec(ExpandConstant('{tmp}NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe'), strInstallType + ' /norestart', '', SW_SHOW,
        ewWaitUntilTerminated, intDotNetResultCode);
      if (intDotNetResultCode = 0) or (intDotNetResultCode = 1641) or (intDotNetResultCode = 3010) then 
        begin
          Log('Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 installed successfully.' + #13#10 + 'Exit Code: ' + IntToStr(intDotNetResultCode));
          CancelWithoutPrompt := False;
          AbortInstall := False;
        end
      else
        begin
          if WizardSilent = True then
            begin
              Log('Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 failed to install.' + #13#10 + 'Exit Code: ' + IntToStr(intDotNetResultCode) + #13#10 + 'Setup aborted.');
            end
          else
            begin
              MsgBox('Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 failed to install.' + #13#10 + #13#10 +
                'Exit Code: ' + IntToStr(intDotNetResultCode) + #13#10 + #13#10 +
                'Setup aborted. Click Next or Cancel to exit, or Back to try again.',
                mbCriticalError, MB_OK);
            end;
          PrepareToInstallProgressBar.Visible := False;
          PrepareToInstallLabel.Caption := 'Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 failed to install.' + #13#10 + #13#10 + 'Exit Code: ' + IntToStr(intDotNetResultCode) + #13#10 + #13#10 + 'Setup aborted. Click Next or Cancel to exit, or Back to try again.';
          CancelWithoutPrompt := True;
          AbortInstall := True;
          Abort;
        end;
    end;
end;

procedure InitializeWizard();
begin
//Define the label for the Preparing to Install page
  PrepareToInstallLabel := TNewStaticText.Create(WizardForm);
  with PrepareToInstallLabel do
    begin
      Visible := False;
      Parent := WizardForm.PreparingPage;
      Left := WizardForm.StatusLabel.Left;
      Top := WizardForm.StatusLabel.Top;
    end;
//Define Progress Bar for the Preparing to Install Page
  PrepareToInstallProgressBar := TNewProgressBar.Create(WizardForm);
  with PrepareToInstallProgressBar do
    begin
      Visible := False;
      Parent := WizardForm.PreparingPage;
      Left := WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Left;
      Top := WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Top;
      Width := WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Width;
      Height := WizardForm.ProgressGauge.Height;
      PrepareToInstallProgressBar.Style := npbstMarquee;
    end;
end;

procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
begin
  if CurStep = ssInstall then
    begin
      if AbortInstall = True then
        begin
          Abort;
        end;
    end;
end;

At the moment, I am setting the installation type to either silent or unattended using /q or /passive to control the amount of visible GUI the .NET Framework installer displays, depending on how Inno Setup is running and using a Marquee style progress bar to indicate that something is happening. However, from the Microsoft documentation here, it appears that it is possible to get the .NET Framework installer to report it's install progress back, using the /pipe switch, which might allow it to interactively update a normal style progress bar on the actual progress. This would mean that the .NET Framework installer could be hidden completely and Inno Setup used to indicate the relative progress, which is a much tidier solution. Unfortunately, I do not know C++ and am only a novice programmer. Therefore, can anyone confirm if this is possible to do with Inno Setup and, if so, how it might be attempted?

Answer 1

The following shows Pascal Script implementation of the code from
How to: Get Progress from the .NET Framework 4.5 Installer

[Files]
Source: "NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe"; Flags: dontcopy

[Code]

// Change to unique names
const
  SectionName = 'MyProgSetup';
  EventName = 'MyProgSetupEvent';

const
  INFINITE = 65535;
  WAIT_OBJECT_0 = 0;
  WAIT_TIMEOUT = $00000102;
  FILE_MAP_WRITE = $0002;
  E_PENDING = $8000000A;
  S_OK = 0;
  MMIO_V45 = 1;
  MAX_PATH = 260;
  SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS = $00000040;
  INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1;
  PAGE_READWRITE = 4;
  MMIO_SIZE = 65536;
  
type
  TMmioDataStructure = record
    DownloadFinished: Boolean; // download done yet?
    InstallFinished: Boolean; // install done yet?
    DownloadAbort: Boolean; // set downloader to abort
    InstallAbort: Boolean; // set installer to abort
    DownloadFinishedResult: Cardinal; // resultant HRESULT for download
    InstallFinishedResult: Cardinal; // resultant HRESULT for install
    InternalError: Cardinal;
    CurrentItemStep: array[0..MAX_PATH-1] of WideChar;
    DownloadSoFar: Byte; // download progress 0 - 255 (0 to 100% done)
    InstallSoFar: Byte; // install progress 0 - 255 (0 to 100% done)
    // event that chainer 'creates' and chainee 'opens'to sync communications
    EventName: array[0..MAX_PATH-1] of WideChar; 

    Version: Byte; // version of the data structure, set by chainer.
                   // 0x0 : .Net 4.0
                   // 0x1 : .Net 4.5

    // current message being sent by the chainee, 0 if no message is active
    MessageCode: Cardinal; 
    // chainer's response to current message, 0 if not yet handled
    MessageResponse: Cardinal; 
    // length of the m_messageData field in bytes
    MessageDataLength: Cardinal; 
    // variable length buffer, content depends on m_messageCode
    MessageData: array[0..MMIO_SIZE] of Byte; 
  end;

function CreateFileMapping(
  File: THandle; Attributes: Cardinal; Protect: Cardinal;
  MaximumSizeHigh: Cardinal; MaximumSizeLow: Cardinal; Name: string): THandle;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

function CreateEvent(
  EventAttributes: Cardinal; ManualReset: Boolean; InitialState: Boolean;
  Name: string): THandle;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

function CreateMutex(
  MutexAttributes: Cardinal; InitialOwner: Boolean; Name: string): THandle;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

function WaitForSingleObject(
  Handle: THandle; Milliseconds: Cardinal): Cardinal;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

function MapViewOfFile(
  FileMappingObject: THandle; DesiredAccess: Cardinal; FileOffsetHigh: Cardinal;
  FileOffsetLow: Cardinal; NumberOfBytesToMap: Cardinal): Cardinal;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

function ReleaseMutex(Mutex: THandle): Boolean;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

type
  TShellExecuteInfo = record
    cbSize: DWORD;
    fMask: Cardinal;
    Wnd: HWND;
    lpVerb: string;
    lpFile: string;
    lpParameters: string;
    lpDirectory: string;
    nShow: Integer;
    hInstApp: THandle;    
    lpIDList: DWORD;
    lpClass: string;
    hkeyClass: THandle;
    dwHotKey: DWORD;
    hMonitor: THandle;
    hProcess: THandle;
  end;

function ShellExecuteEx(var lpExecInfo: TShellExecuteInfo): BOOL; 
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

function GetExitCodeProcess(Process: THandle; var ExitCode: Cardinal): Boolean;
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

procedure CopyPointerToData(
  var Destination: TMmioDataStructure; Source: Cardinal; Length: Cardinal);
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

procedure CopyDataToPointer(
  Destination: Cardinal; var Source: TMmioDataStructure; Length: Cardinal);
  external '[email protected] stdcall';

var
  FileMapping: THandle;
  EventChaineeSend: THandle;
  EventChainerSend: THandle;
  Mutex: THandle;
  Data: TMmioDataStructure;
  View: Cardinal;

procedure LockDataMutex;
var
  R: Cardinal;
begin
  R := WaitForSingleObject(Mutex, INFINITE);
  Log(Format('WaitForSingleObject = %d', [Integer(R)]));
  if R <> WAIT_OBJECT_0 then
    RaiseException('Error waiting for mutex');
end;

procedure UnlockDataMutex;
var
  R: Boolean;
begin
  R := ReleaseMutex(Mutex);
  Log(Format('ReleaseMutex = %d', [Integer(R)]));
  if not R then
    RaiseException('Error releasing waiting for mutex');
end;

procedure ReadData;
begin
  CopyPointerToData(Data, View, MMIO_SIZE);
end;

procedure WriteData;
begin
  CopyDataToPointer(View, Data, MMIO_SIZE);
end;

procedure InitializeChainer;
var
  I: Integer;
begin
  Log('Initializing chainer');  

  FileMapping :=
    CreateFileMapping(
      INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE, 0, PAGE_READWRITE, 0, MMIO_SIZE, SectionName);
  Log(Format('FileMapping = %d', [Integer(FileMapping)]));
  if FileMapping = 0 then
    RaiseException('Error creating file mapping'); 

  EventChaineeSend := CreateEvent(0, False, False, EventName);
  Log(Format('EventChaineeSend = %d', [Integer(EventChaineeSend)]));
  if EventChaineeSend = 0 then
    RaiseException('Error creating chainee event'); 

  EventChainerSend := CreateEvent(0, False, False, EventName + '_send');
  Log(Format('EventChainerSend = %d', [Integer(EventChainerSend)]));
  if EventChainerSend = 0 then
    RaiseException('Error creating chainer event'); 

  Mutex := CreateMutex(0, False, EventName + '_mutex');
  Log(Format('Mutex = %d', [Integer(Mutex)]));
  if Mutex = 0 then
    RaiseException('Error creating mutex'); 
  
  View :=
    MapViewOfFile(FileMapping, FILE_MAP_WRITE, 0, 0, 0);
  if View = 0 then
    RaiseException('Cannot map data view');
  Log('Mapped data view');

  LockDataMutex;

  ReadData;

  Log('Initializing data');  
  for I := 1 to Length(EventName) do
    Data.EventName[I - 1] := EventName[I];
  Data.EventName[Length(EventName)] := #$00;
  
  // Download specific data
  Data.DownloadFinished := False;
  Data.DownloadSoFar := 0;
  Data.DownloadFinishedResult := E_PENDING;
  Data.DownloadAbort := False;

  // Install specific data
  Data.InstallFinished := False;
  Data.InstallSoFar := 0;
  Data.InstallFinishedResult := E_PENDING;
  Data.InstallAbort := False;
  
  Data.InternalError := S_OK;

  Data.Version := MMIO_V45;
  Data.MessageCode := 0;
  Data.MessageResponse := 0;
  Data.MessageDataLength := 0;

  Log('Initialized data');  

  WriteData;

  UnlockDataMutex;

  Log('Initialized chainer');  
end;
  
var
  ProgressPage: TOutputProgressWizardPage;

procedure InstallNetFramework;
var
  R: Cardinal;
  ExecInfo: TShellExecuteInfo;
  ExitCode: Cardinal;
  InstallError: string;
  Completed: Boolean;
  Progress: Integer;
begin
  ExtractTemporaryFile('NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe');
  
  // Start the installer using ShellExecuteEx to get process ID
  ExecInfo.cbSize := SizeOf(ExecInfo);
  ExecInfo.fMask := SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
  ExecInfo.Wnd := 0;
  ExecInfo.lpFile :=
    ExpandConstant('{tmp}NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe');
  ExecInfo.lpParameters :=
    '/pipe ' + SectionName + ' /chainingpackage mysetup /q';
  ExecInfo.nShow := SW_HIDE;

  if not ShellExecuteEx(ExecInfo) then
    RaiseException('Cannot start .NET framework installer');

  Log(Format('.NET framework installer started as process %x', [
    ExecInfo.hProcess]));
  
  Progress := 0;
  ProgressPage.SetProgress(Progress, 100);
  ProgressPage.Show;
  try
    Completed := False;

    while not Completed do
    begin
      // Check if the installer process has finished already
      R := WaitForSingleObject(ExecInfo.hProcess, 0);
      if R = WAIT_OBJECT_0 then
      begin
        Log('.NET framework installer completed');
        Completed := True;
        if not GetExitCodeProcess(ExecInfo.hProcess, ExitCode) then
        begin
          InstallError := 'Cannot get .NET framework installer exit code';
        end
          else
        begin
          Log(Format('Exit code: %d', [Integer(ExitCode)]));
          if ExitCode <> 0 then
          begin
            InstallError :=
              Format('.NET framework installer failed with exit code %d', [
                ExitCode]);
          end;
        end;
      end
        else
      if R <> WAIT_TIMEOUT then
      begin
        InstallError := 'Error waiting for .NET framework installer to complete';
        Completed := True;
      end
        else
      begin
        // Check if the installer process has signaled progress event
        R := WaitForSingleObject(EventChaineeSend, 0);
        if R = WAIT_OBJECT_0 then
        begin  
          Log('Got event from the installer');
          { Read progress data }
          LockDataMutex;
          ReadData;
          Log(Format(
            'DownloadSoFar = %d, InstallSoFar = %d', [
              Data.DownloadSoFar, Data.InstallSoFar]));
          Progress := Integer(Data.InstallSoFar) * 100 div 255;
          Log(Format('Progress = %d', [Progress]));
          UnlockDataMutex;
          ProgressPage.SetProgress(Progress, 100);
        end
          else
        if R <> WAIT_TIMEOUT then
        begin
          InstallError := 'Error waiting for .NET framework installer event';
          Completed := True;
        end
          else
        begin
          // Seemingly pointless as progress did not change,
          // but it pumps a message queue as a side effect
          ProgressPage.SetProgress(Progress, 100);
          Sleep(100);
        end;
      end;
    end;
  finally
    ProgressPage.Hide;
  end;
 
  if InstallError <> '' then
  begin 
    // RaiseException does not work properly 
    // while TOutputProgressWizardPage is shown
    RaiseException(InstallError);
  end;
end;

function InitializeSetup(): Boolean;
begin
  InitializeChainer;
 
  Result := True;
end;

procedure InitializeWizard();
begin
  ProgressPage := CreateOutputProgressPage('Installing .NET framework', '');
end;

You can use it like below, or on any other place of your installer process.

function NextButtonClick(CurPageID: Integer): Boolean;
begin
  Result := True;

  if CurPageID = wpReady then
  begin
    try
      InstallNetFramework;
    except
      MsgBox(GetExceptionMessage, mbError, MB_OK);
      Result := False;
    end;
  end;
end;

---

The following screenshot shows how the "progress page" in Inno Setup is linked to the .NET framework installer (of course the .NET framework installer is hidden by the /q switch, it was just temporarily shown for purposes of obtaining the screenshot).

---

I've successfully tested the code on

• dotnetfx45_full_x86_x64.exe (.NET framework 4.5 - off-line installer)
• NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe (.NET framework 4.6.2 - off-line installer)

Note that the code takes into account the InstallSoFar only as both installers above are off-line. For on-line installers, DownloadSoFar should be taken into account too. And actually even off-line installers do sometime download something.

---

The ShellExecuteEx code taken from <a href="https://stackoverflo