Run Script action

Select the desired script type from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Enter the commands that you want to execute in the script file. The command syntax depends on the script type; see Script type above.

For MS-DOS batch files, you can use internal command processor commands such as COPY and DEL, or any external commands.

Tip: If you want to use input or output redirection (<, >, or >>), be sure to place spaces on both sides of the redirection character to prevent InstallMate from interpreting them as symbolic variable references. Alternatively, surround them by `backticks`; this is also useful in VBScript and JScript expressions that use the <> character sequence: encoding this as `<>` prevents the installer from interpreting the brackets as an empty symbol reference. The backticks are removed before the script is passed to the script processor.

Select the action's execution mode from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Select the desired visibility of the script process from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Note: This option only has effect on the script processor's own windows; it does not affect any secondary programs that are started by the script.

Check this box to hide the installer's main window while the action runs; clear the box to keep the installer's window visible.

Note: This option only has effect if the action runs synchronously, i.e., with the Time out option selected. During asynchronous actions, the installer remains visible.

Check this box and enter the time-out period in seconds to execute the action synchronously; clear it to execute the action asynchronously. If the action is executed synchronously, the installer will wait for it to complete; for an asynchronous action, the installer starts the action and then immediately continues.

Note: If the time-out period expires before the script processor terminates, the installer continues with its next action. However, the script processor itself is not terminated; it will remain active in the background until it terminates of itself or is forcefully terminated by the user or the system.

Enter the name of a secondary process to wait for, or leave empty to wait only for the script processor. This option only has effect if Time out is checked. It is useful if the script starts a secondary program and the script processor itself does not wait for those programs to terminate (this is the case with batch commands, for example; they only wait for the GUI program to start its message loop and process the initial messages, unless you use the start /wait command).

Note: If you specify a secondary process, then the Time out value applies to the total running time of both processes. InstallMate first waits for the script processor's process; after it terminates, it then waits for the remainder of the Time out period until the secondary process terminates.

Select the exit code handling from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

The effectiveness of this option depends on the way the external script and its script processor are programmed. It is customary that successful completion of a script is indicated by an exit code of zero, and failure by a nonzero exit code. However, not all scripts or script processors comply with this convention. Furthermore, the Run Script action itself may set a nonzero exit code if it cannot start the external script or if the time-out period expires before the script terminates (see Exit codes).

Before you use the Exit code option, we recommend that you convince yourself that the external script and script processor in question return an appropriate exit code. If you want to use the script's exit code to terminate the installation or control the execution of subsequent actions, we suggest that you set the Exit code option to Ignore and use one of the following alternative approaches:

• To terminate the installation if the external script returns a nonzero exit code, insert a MessageBox action immediately after the current Run Script action. Set the MessageBox action's Condition to LastExitCode <> 0 and set its Fail mode to Fail if run. Enter an appropriate error message in its Message field.
• To execute or skip any subsequent actions depending on the external script's exit code, use the conditional expressions LastExitCode = 0 or LastExitCode <> 0, respectively, in the subsequent actions. Please note that the LastExitCode variable will be overwritten by the next Run DLL, Run Script, Run Program, and Uninstall Product action.

Check this box and enter the localizable prompt text to have InstallMate prompt the user before the action is run; clear it to run the action without prompting.

If you use this option, then the prompt is displayed in a dialog box with (localized versions of) Yes and No buttons. The action is executed if the user clicks Yes and skipped if No is clicked. You should phrase your prompt accordingly.