Controls (Windows Installer)
Developers of installation packages can author a user interface containing the controls discussed in this topic. For information on how to add a particular control to a dialog box, see the topic for that control and read the section Adding Controls and Text.
Some controls, such as CheckBox and ComboBox, are associated with a property specified in the Property column of the Control table. A user changes the value of this property by interacting with the control. Passive controls, such as Billboard and bitmap, are not associated with such a property.
For security, private properties cannot be changed by a user interacting with the user interface. For a property to be set by the user interface, it needs to be a public property and in uppercase. See also About Properties.
In some cases a control may be redrawn incorrectly when canceling out of a dialog. This has to do with the order in which the controls receive WM_PAINT messages after the Cancel dialog is removed. To fix this, try changing the order of the controls in the Control table.
| Control name | Associated property | Brief description of control |
|---|---|---|
| Billboard | No | Displays billboards based on progress messages. |
| Bitmap | No | Displays a static picture of a bitmap. |
| CheckBox | Yes | A two-state check box. |
| ComboBox | Yes | A drop-down list with an edit field. |
| DirectoryCombo | Yes | Select all except the last segment of the path. |
| DirectoryList | Yes | Displays folders below the main part of path. |
| Edit | Yes | A regular edit field for any string or integer. |
| GroupBox | No | Displays a rectangle that groups other controls together. |
| Hyperlink | No | Displays a HTML link to an address, which opens in the default browser.Windows Installer 4.5 and earlier: Not supported. |
| Icon | No | Displays a static picture of an icon. |
| Line | No | Displays a horizontal line. |
| ListBox | Yes | A drop-down list without an edit field. |
| ListView | Yes | Displays a column of values with icons for selection. |
| MaskedEdit | Yes | An edit field with a mask in the text field. |
| PathEdit | Yes | Displays folder name or entire path in an edit field. |
| ProgressBar control | No | Bar graph that changes length as it receives progress messages. |
| PushButton | No | Displays a basic push button. |
| RadioButtonGroup | Yes | A group of radio buttons. |
| ScrollableText | No | Displays a long string of text. |
| SelectionTree | Yes | Displays information from the Feature table and enables the user to change their selection state. |
| Text | No | Displays static text. |
| VolumeCostList | No | Displays costing information on different volumes. |
| VolumeSelectCombo | Yes | Selects volume from an alphabetical list. |