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Configuring Screens

Screens are configured on the Installer->Screens & Actions step. A screen is a single step in an installer application. It displays information to the user or gathers user input.

If a screen has attached actions, there will be an expansion control to the left of the screen icon that allows you to show the associated actions.

Some screens only make sense when corresponding actions are used later on in the installer or uninstaller. For example, the "Services" screen will only be displayed at runtime if there are "Install a service" actions present on a subsequent screen. If such a dependency is not fulfilled after adding a screen, a corresponding notification is displayed.

Properties of screens

Common properties of screens are:

  • Action elevation type [Privileges]

    If any contained actions should run in the elevated helper process, if their "Action elevation type" property is set to "Inherit from parent".An elevated helper process is available on Windows and macOS if the process has been started without admin privileges and the "Request privileges" action has been configured to require full privileges.

  • Style [GUI Options]

    The default screen style for this installer application. Screens and screen groups can override this style.

  • Condition expression [Control Flow]

    This expression is evaluated to decide whether the screen is displayed. If the expression or script returns false, the current screen will be skipped. This expression or script should not have any side-effects, it will be called while another screen is still being displayed.

  • Rollback barrier [Control Flow]

    If the screen should be a rollback barrier. When a rollback barrier is completed, none of the preceding actions will be rolled back. You can use this property to prevent an incomplete rollback of complex changes or to protect actions from rollback when the user hits "Cancel" in the post-install phase.

  • Exit code [Control Flow]

    If the "Rollback barrier" property is selected, and a rollback terminates at this screen, this property determines the exit code of the installer. By default, reaching a rollback barrier during a rollback is considered a success, but you can signal a failure by specifying a non-zero exit code here.

    This property is only visible if "Rollback barrier" is selected.

  • Validation expression [Control Flow]

    This expression or script is called when the user clicks the next button. If it returns false, the current screen will be displayed again. You can use this to validate user input. Error messages are not displayed automatically, you can use the Util.showErrorMessage(String errorMessage) method in your script.

  • Quit after screen [Control Flow]

    If the screen should have a "Finish" button instead of a "Next" button. The installer or uninstaller will quit after this screen. The "Cancel" button will not be visible if this option is checked.

  • Back button [Control Flow]

    Allowing the user to go back to previous screens can be problematic if the previous screen has actions attached that cannot be executed multiple times. By default, every action is just executed once, all actions have a property to allow multiple execution. The default behavior is the "Safe back button", where the back button is hidden if the previous screen has actions attached that cannot be executed multiple times.

  • Wizard index [Screen Activation]

    Every screen can set or change the current wizard index. The wizard index is an optional panel on the left side of the wizard that shows overall installation progress. You can leave the index unchanged as it was set by a previous screen, change the step in the current wizard index, removed the current wizard index ot configure a new wizard index. For conditional construction of a wizard index, please use the com.install4j.api.context.WizardIndex class in the "Pre-activation" script.

  • Step key

    The key for the step in the wizard index that should be activated.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Activate another step".

  • Steps

    The steps that are displayed by the wizard index. Each step has a key that you can use to switch to that step later on by setting the wizard index property to "Activate another step" and specifying that key.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Initial key

    The key of the step in the wizard index that should be initially selected. Leave empty to select the first step.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Partially defined

    If selected, the list of wizard index steps will be partially defined. This means that a "..." entry will be appended at the bottom.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Numbered

    If selected, the steps in the wizard index are numbered.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Maximum width

    The maximum width of the wizard index in pixels. The preferred with is determined by the longest step name, the maximum width is an upper bound for the actual width.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Minimum width

    The minimum width of the wizard index in pixels. The preferred with is determined by the longest step name, the minimum width is a lower bound for the actual width.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Background color

    The background color for the index panel. Set to "None" to restore the default color.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Foreground color

    The foreground color for the index panel. Set to "None" to restore the default color.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Background image

    The image file for the background of the wizard index panel. Leave empty if no background image is required.

    This property is only visible if "Wizard index" is set to "Set a new wizard index".

  • Image anchor

    The anchor for the background image. The default value is "North".

  • Pre-activation script [Screen Activation]

    This script is called each time just before the screen is displayed.

  • Post-activation script [Screen Activation]

    This script is called each time just after the screen has been displayed. It is not invoked in console or unattended mode.

Available screens

The following standard screens are available in install4j:

  Empty form

An empty form to which form components can be added. By default, form components are layouted along the vertical axis, but you can use layout groups for greater flexibility. Form components with user input are bound to installer variables that can by referenced by other elements in the installer, for example by actions.

  Category: Form templates

  Banner with header at the top

A form that has "Banner" as the default style and a configurable header label at the top.

  Directory selection

A form that asks the user to select a directory. All displayed messages are configurable.

  Display PDF file

A form that displays a PDF file in an embedded cross-platform PDF viewer.

  Display progress

A form that displays a progress bar with a status line capturing the progress information of associated actions. The default post-activation script executes any associated actions immediately when the screen is activated. All displayed messages are configurable.

  Display text

A form that displays text to the user, either plain text or HTML. All displayed messages are configurable.

  Program group selection

A screen that allows the user to select a program group on Microsoft Windows. All displayed messages are configurable.

  Category: Standard screens

  Welcome

A screen that welcomes the user to the installation of your application. This screen should be placed at the beginning of the installation

  Display license agreement

A screen that displays a license agreement to the user, either plain text or HTML. The license agreement must be accepted before the installation continues.

  Installation location

The screen that asks the user where to install the application. This determines the principal installation directory.

  Installation type

A screen that displays a list of installation types that correspond to configurable set of installation components. The default types "Full","Standard" and "Customize" are provided by default, with localized names and descriptions. Installation components are configured in the install4j IDE on the "Files->Installation Components" step

The "Installation components" screen may be hidden by this screen, depending on the installation type selected by the user. This screen will not be shown if no installation components are defined.

You can choose for each installation type if it should be customizable or not. If the installation type that is selected by the user is customizable, the "Installation components" screen will be shown if present, otherwise that screen will be skipped. This condition can also be checked by inspecting the boolean value of the installer variable sys.preventComponentCustomization.

  Installation components

A screen that displays all installation components and asks the user which components should be installed. This screen will not be shown if no installation components are defined.

  Create program group

A screen that allows the user to select the default program group. Under Windows, this screen sets installer variables that influence "Create program group" and "Create start menu entry" entry actions. Under Unix, the screen asks the user whether and where symbolic links to launchers should to be created. Under macOS, the screen is not shown.

  File associations

A screen that displays a list of all subsequent file association actions and asks the user which associations should be made. This screen will not be shown if there are no corresponding file association actions after this screen.

  Additional confirmations

A screen that displays a list of confirmations as check boxes whose results can be used in condition expressions for actions. While other types of form components can be added to this screen, only check boxes and other simple elements are consistent with the displayed text. For arbitrary forms, use the "Configurable form" screen instead.

  Installation

The screen that displays the installation progress. Where possible, installation actions should be added to this screen.

  Display information

A screen that displays text to the user, either plain text or HTML. In contrast to the "Display text" form template, all messages on this screen are pre-defined and localized.

  Finish

A screen that tells the user that the installation is finished. This screen should be placed at the end of the installation.

  Uninstall Welcome

A screen that welcomes the user to the uninstallation of your application. This screen should be placed at the beginning of the uninstallation.

  Uninstallation

The screen that displays the uninstallation progress. Where possible, uninstallation actions should be added to this screen.

  Uninstallation failure

The screen that is displayed if the uninstallation was not completed successfully. Further information regarding the uninstallation problems is displayed to the user. This screen is not shown if the uninstallation was completed successfully or if it is placed before the uninstallation screen. The uninstaller will terminate after showing this screen in case of failure.

  Uninstallation success

The screen that is displayed if the uninstallation was completed successfully.