InstallScript and Enumerators

I was helping a coworker out today trying to figure out why a simple VB Script using WMI could not be "ported" to InstallShield's InstallScript. The reason turned out to be that InstallScript does not support handling enumerators - In VBScript, you can enumerate a collection using the "For Each" construct. In JScript, you have the Enumerator object. In InstallScript - sadly - you have nothing.

I started thinking that I may be able to create a DLL to handle this. I then thought that someone else likely has done the same. My Google-foo came in handy and I found a post by __EDITED___ that covers the topic quite well. I was able to easily compile his C++ code into a DLL and use it immediately.

UPDATE: Turns out that the link previously referenced above was pretty much a blatent copy of code previously submitted to Installsite.org. Thank you to the commenter for pointing this out.

In the deleted link above, the poster was complaining about certain InstallShield limitations. I agree with most of the comments in his post - InstallShield's help system is at least second-rate. The InstallShield books by Baker are nice to have around, but not everyone has this luxury.

I disagree with his comments that MSI is "limited." It certainly is not the "holy grail" of installation technology - and I doubt that this can even exist. MSI technology is extremely extensible, but this comes at a cost of understanding the design patterns inherent in it - which are vastly different than the "other" installation technologies. I know I mentioned this before, but using MSI technology could practically eliminate vendor dependence and ease the switch between authoring tools.

Unfortunately, the documentation for MSI technology is equally as poor as InstallShield's. Rumor has it (plus the Amazon ratings) that Phil Wilson's book on the subject is pretty good - if Brian will ever let me borrow his copy I can give it an official review. I will attempt to help out with this by (finally) publishing my series on Custom Actions over the next several weeks.