InstallShield 2012 Express Edition User Guide - Knowledge Base ...

Chapter 18: Additional Installation Options
Implementing Serial Number Validation at Run Time
• When you use a public property in a launch condition that you added to your project through the
Requirements view, InstallShield adds the public property to the SecureCustomProperties
property.
• For dialogs that contain a control that is set through a property, InstallShield adds that property to
the SecureCustomProperties property.
This enables the custom public properties to be set in the User Interface sequence and then passed to the
Execute sequence.
Implementing Serial Number Validation at Run
Time
As part of your installation, you can require end users to enter a valid serial number. You can do this
through a custom action .dll file and the Customer Information run-time dialog.
Task To implement serial number validation for your product:
1. In the View List under Customize the Setup Appearance, click Dialogs.
2. In the Dialogs explorer, click Customer Information.
3. Set the value of the Show Serial Number field to Yes.
4. In the Serial Number Template field, specify the format for your product’s serial number. For
example, type the following:
??????-####-??????????
Note the following guidelines for this field:
• Type a question mark (?) to represent each alphanumeric character.
• Type a number sign (#) to represent each number.
• Type a dash (-) between each group of characters. The dash indicates a break in the serial
number, where one group of characters ends and another begins.
5. In the Serial Number Validation DLL field, enter the location of the .dll file that you use for
serial number validation. Alternately, click the browse (...) button to locate the .dll file.
Tip: Sample code for a serial number validation .dll file is available in the InstallShield Program Files
Folder\Samples\WindowsInstaller\ValidateSerialNumber directory. For more information, see Using a
Custom Action for Serial Number Validation.
6. In the Validate Function field, enter the name of the .dll file function that performs the validation.
7. Set the Success Return Value field to a number other than 0.
8. In the Retry Limit field, specify the number of times that you want to allow an end user to attempt
to enter the serial number.
364 ISE-1800-UG01 InstallShield 2012 Express Edition User Guide