How to get the SB-generated installer exe to support high DPI "properly"?

I have a 4K monitor (3840 x 2160). They are pretty common and inexpensive these days. Numerous users have them.

When I run a SB-generated installer exe, it introduces overlapping text on the installer background and results in "microscopic" fonts in the SB dialogs. I dont see any options to change this. I can, with 5-6 clicks, change the app compatibility of the installer exe in windows to disable scaling (the "system" setting seems best) but expecting that of an end-user is a non-starter.

My questions are:

1) How do you get the SB installer to run in non-scaled high dpi compatibility mode so that overlays and the like do not occur?
2) Are there options to have the SB-generated installer use a reasonable sized dialog font on these monitors? (8 point on a 4k monitor is very small).

Unless Im missing a setting dialog somewhere, it seems that the solution to this is to use the visual dialog editor to create a set of custom dialog windows with larger fonts. That doesnt address the compatibility settings that cause (or fix) text overlaying on the billboard, but its a start.

Friedrich - is there functionality Im not seeing related to these high DPI monitors and the attributes of the SB-generated installer exe?

Mark

Hi Mark,

good questions.

When you said "installer background", do you mean the "blue" backgound behind the wizard dialogs? They are only there for backward compatibility reasons (to SetupBuilder 5).

The DPI stuff itself should be handled autamically by the Windows operating system. The setup.exe includes a manifest to support "DPI-awareness". Could you please send a screenshot from the dialog on your 4K monitor (not from the "blue" background because this is only there for backward compatibility and should not be used in modern installers).

BTW, and could you please launch this Microsoft MSI setup and post a screenshot from the MSI dialog on your 4K dialog.

http://www.lindersoft.com/projects/MSI_new.zip

Thanks Mark.

Friedrich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by linder

Hi Mark,

good questions.

When you said "installer background", do you mean the "blue" backgound behind the wizard dialogs? They are only there for backward compatibility reasons (to SetupBuilder 5).

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Yes, I believe that's what we're talking about. I suspect this same installer has been modified and upgraded for a decade without changing that background. I do not have the script, but I am trying to figure out how to resolve these DPI issues using my own test scripts so that I can provide a solution to the author of the script. If I should have the installer author remove the background in order to resolve this, I can work on that.

For all screenshots, note that this is a windows VM at 3840x2160 running on my macbook pro and the screenshot is taken from my macbook pro.

Screenshot of installer full screen with no compatibility mode changes: https://cl.ly/3v2I2S3i452a (note the overlaid text at upper left. The screenshot does a poor job of showing how tiny the dialog font looks, unfortunately.)

Screenshot of installer full screen after setting "system" override in high DPI section of compatibility settings: https://cl.ly/3T1E0n1k2Y0c

Quote:

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Originally Posted by linder

The DPI stuff itself should be handled autamically by the Windows operating system. The setup.exe includes a manifest to support "DPI-awareness". Could you please send a screenshot from the dialog on your 4K monitor (not from the "blue" background because this is only there for backward compatibility and should not be used in modern installers).

BTW, and could you please launch this Microsoft MSI setup and post a screenshot from the MSI dialog on your 4K dialog.

http://www.lindersoft.com/projects/MSI_new.zip

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So that you have a full spectrum answer:

Here's a screenshot of the VM with the display settings next to the dialog:

Attachment 4738

Here are a couple of photos of my 4K monitor, with the windows VM running in it at a resolution of 3840x2160 and the MSI dialog on the screen:

Attachment 4737

Attachment 4739

Here's a screenshot of the MBP monitor setup for the 4K monitor:

Attachment 4740

I hope this conveys what we're trying to resolve and gives you the info you need. BTW, the end user who brought this to our attention was at 250% magnification on Win10 on a 4K monitor, with no VM or other complicating factors.

Mark

Hi Mark,

thanks for the screenshots. We'll investigate it.

Friedrich

We'll release the new SetupBuilder 2018 first (with support for SSL) and after that work on support for high DPI systems. Already too many changes for Windows updates in the soon coming version....

Friedrich

Ok, thank you.

Hi Friedrich,

I don't know if this is the same problem or not...
But on some users machines we're seeing some controls are being clipped
for example, the FinishDialog.Hyperlink

Hi Mark,

would it be possible to send me a screenshot? Might be related to the high-DPI issue.

Friedrich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkGoldberg

Hi Friedrich,

I don't know if this is the same problem or not...
But on some users machines we're seeing some controls are being clipped
for example, the FinishDialog.Hyperlink

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Ive seen this if you raise the font size without adjusting control sizes in the dialogs.

Attachment 4745

Hi Friedrich,

notice the clipped www.Trad it should be www.Tradesmens.com
I had to work to see this problem on my machine.
I set my 3240 x 2160 monitor to 350% scaling AND rebooted with that setting
the compiled the install, and ran a Test

Hi Mark,

hmmm, very interesting. Thanks for the screenshot. All this is handled directly by the Microsoft components. We'll investigate it.

Thanks again.

Friedrich

Mark,

it's finally fixed in the SetupBuilder 2018 Gold version (will be available tomorrow).

Friedrich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by linder

Mark,

it's finally fixed in the SetupBuilder 2018 Gold version (will be available tomorrow).

Friedrich

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Great news, thanks Friedrich:)

Mark

Hi Mark,

it only fixes the hyperlink (scaling) issue. It was not trivial to fix it :-(

I am working on a new installer dialog design.

Friedrich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by linder

Hi Mark,

it only fixes the hyperlink (scaling) issue. It was not trivial to fix it :-(

I am working on a new installer dialog design.

Friedrich

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Thanks for the clarification and the effort:)

Mark