The MSI only installed a Start Menu shortcut. The wizard's folder page now has a
"Create a desktop shortcut" box (DESKTOPSHORTCUT, 1 by default; DESKTOPSHORTCUT=0
for silent installs) that adds an EffectCraft shortcut to the Public desktop. The
choice is recorded under HKLM\Software\EffectCraft so an upgrade keeps it, and an
upgrade from a release before this option adds none. test-msi.ps1 checks the
shortcut is created by default, kept by upgrades, removed on uninstall and absent
with DESKTOPSHORTCUT=0.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01QiAJeFttZp83Fh7YuzAR5f
Cause: Repair used REINSTALLMODE=ecmus. effectcraft-cli.exe has no version
resource, so Windows Installer treats it as unversioned: a changed copy
with a later write time counts as a user edit and is kept, and "c" only
checks files that carry an MSI checksum, which these don't.
Fix: Repair uses "amus", which puts back every file whatever its version
or date.
Tests: test-msi.ps1's stand-in CLI is unversioned like the real one; the
test damages it in place and repairs with the REINSTALLMODE read from
installer-ui.wxs (no longer msiexec /fa after deleting it), then compares
contents. It fails with ecmus (the damaged file stays) and passes now.
Cause: the folder search read only the App Paths "Path" value, which this
branch introduced. 0.6.0 and earlier could already be installed elsewhere
with INSTALLFOLDER=..., but have no Path value, so an upgrade went to
Program Files while the wizard said it would stay in the same folder.
Fix: when there is no Path value, a second search reads the App Paths
default value (the full path of effectcraft.exe, written by every
release). A "file" registry search with no FileSearch inside yields the
folder of that file.
Tests: test-msi.ps1 installs a legacy package (the same .wxs without the
Path value) into a custom folder, then upgrades it without naming a
folder; it fails on the previous .wxs (the upgrade lands in Program
Files) and passes now. A further upgrade checks the Path value route.
Get-ItemProperty throws on a malformed Uninstall entry, which aborted the
upgrade check on a real Windows 10 machine. Failures now print their message.
test-msi.ps1 builds the MSI around stub binaries, validates it (ICE) and,
silently: installs into a folder with spaces and a non-ASCII name, upgrades
without naming a folder (it must stay there, one entry in Apps), repairs a
deleted file, uninstalls (files and App Paths gone), and installs to the
Program Files default. Run by a windows-latest job in packaging-lint.yml.
A fresh install opens on a destination page (Program Files by default;
Change... browses, with Up and New folder), then a Ready page that shows
the folder before anything is written. An upgrade goes straight to the
Ready page with the installed copy's folder and can't move it; opening the
MSI again offers Repair or Remove. Cancel, finish, files-in-use and error
dialogs are authored too. Silent installs (/qn) show none of it.
The dialogs (installer-ui.wxs) are original, built from Windows Installer's
own controls and events, not the WixUI library, whose MS-RL licence is not
on the allowed list. package.ps1 builds both .wxs files.
The MSI records its folder as the App Paths "Path" value of effectcraft.exe
and reads it back with a registry search, so an upgrade, a repair or a
silent reinstall goes where the installed copy already is. A folder passed
on the command line (INSTALLFOLDER=...) still wins, and INSTALLFOLDER is
Secure so a folder chosen in the UI reaches the elevated install. v0.6.0 and
earlier have no Path value and upgrade in Program Files, where they are.
Release builds add an arm64 MSI and portable zip, cross-compiled on the x64
runner (signing and WiX as for x64). package.ps1 checks each binary's PE
header before packaging: Machine must match -Arch, the app must be a GUI
program and the CLI a console program. It skips the CLI smoke run when an
ARM64 build can't run on the host. A new Windows ARM64 workflow packages the
ARM64 MSI, installs it on a Windows 11 ARM64 runner, checks both installed
exes are ARM64, runs the CLI, and uninstalls. Ported from printcraft#66.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
The MSI Icon id had no .ico/.exe extension, which Windows Installer needs for
advertised shortcuts and ARPPRODUCTICON, so both showed a blank icon. Release
builds of the desktop app are now GUI-subsystem (no console window; the CLI stays
a console program), the shortcut/summary description names what EffectCraft does, and
packaging-lint rejects an Icon id without an extension. Found in printcraft#57.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
Marco Arnulfo