Application builder: pin distribution to taskbar

[Florian.Ludwig]

Hi community,

I have programm that I build into an executable and then into an installer.

That installer of course contains the LabVIEW RTE and other stuff that makes the distribution quite large.

To distribute patches I use a second installer that I created by making a copy of the first and then deselecting the RTE etc.

This creates a much smaller package and does the trick, except for one quirk:

If the executable of the original installation is pinned to the taskbar it will remain pinned to the taskbar after patching ONCE.

But if I build the "patch" installer a second time immediately (so even without building a new exe) installing that patch will cause the pinning to break.

I can't seem to figure out the settings to keep the pinning intact.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Best regards Florian

[Sam_Sharp]

Do you use the same 'Upgrade code' (under version information) for both installers? 

[Florian.Ludwig]

Thanks for answering Sam,

no I didn't.

Actually the Upgrade code is different as soon as I make the copy of the installer. Yet it works once.

I just tried it (copied the Upgrade code from the big installer to the patch installer), and rebuild.

It still breaks the pinning.

Version is the same, automatic increments turned off.

[AEDavid · Accepted solution]

Hi Florian,

The problem is not directly related to the copy of the installer - this would happen if you rebuilt and then re-installed the new version of the original installer as well. The problem is a result of the fact that version 2 of the installer performs an MSI upgrade action on the shortcut file that was installed in version 1.0. This upgrade action first uninstalls the shortcut file that was pinned after installation of version 1.0, which therefore removes the Windows taskbar pin. Then, the upgrade action finishes by installing the shortcut file again. At this point, there is no pin, as Windows doesn't have a mechanism to associate the new version of the file with the old version of the file.

Note that the problem doesn't occur when you install the first version of the copy of the installer, because in that case the upgrade code of the MSI is different from the original installer, and no MSI upgrade action (and therefore uninstallation) occurs on the shortcut file. Instead, the MSI just installs the new shortcut file over the existing one, which doesn't affect pinning.

To work around this problem, you may consider not installing the shortcut in the copy of your installer. That way, you can continue rebuilding the patch without losing the pin that the user made after  they installed the original installer.

[Florian.Ludwig]

Thanks David,

that was a thorough explanation.

Best regards

Florian