Generate an installation log

[clairealex]

Hello, I would like to know if there is a switch available to generate a log at install/uninstall time, when running an installer written with NSIS.
Thank you!
Claire

[meoit]

Remix:

DetailPrint/nsExec::ExecToStack/FileOpen/FileWrite

[JasonFriday13]

Ages ago I wrote a function that dumps the install log to a file (NSIS 3.0+).

Usage: ${DUMPLOG} "C:\path\to\file.log"
Put it at the end of your install, I prefer using a hidden section after all the other sections.

; Original function borrowed from the NSIS user manual
; and modified for both Ansi and Unicode.
!define DUMPLOG '!insertmacro DUMPLOG'
!macro DUMPLOG file

!ifndef LVM_GETITEMCOUNT
  !define LVM_GETITEMCOUNT 0x1004
!endif
!ifdef LVM_GETITEMTEXT
  !define _temp_item ${LVM_GETITEMTEXT}
  !undef LVM_GETITEMTEXT
!endif
!ifdef NSIS_UNICODE
  !define LVM_GETITEMTEXT 0x1073
  !define _WRITEBOM 'FileWriteWord $5 0xfeff' ; Write the BOM
  !define _FILEWRITE FileWriteUTF16LE
!else
  !define LVM_GETITEMTEXT 0x102D
  !define _WRITEBOM Nop ; BOM doesn't apply to ansi text files
  !define _FILEWRITE FileWrite
!endif

  Push $0
  Push $1
  Push $2
  Push $3
  Push $4
  Push $5
  Push $6
  
  StrCpy $5 ${file}
  FindWindow $0 "#32770" "" $HWNDPARENT
  GetDlgItem $0 $0 1016
  StrCmp $0 0 exitDumpFile
  FileOpen $5 $5 "w"
  ${_WRITEBOM}
  StrCmp $5 "" exitDumpFile
    SendMessage $0 ${LVM_GETITEMCOUNT} 0 0 $6
    StrCpy $2 0
    System::Call "*(&t${NSIS_MAX_STRLEN})p.r3"
    System::Call "*(i0,i0,i0,i0,&i${NSIS_PTR_SIZE} 0,p$3,i${NSIS_MAX_STRLEN},i0,p0)p.r1" ; NSIS_PTR_SIZE is used to align the pszText member on x64
    loopDumpFile: StrCmp $2 $6 doneDumpFile
      System::Call "User32::SendMessage(p$0,i${LVM_GETITEMTEXT},p$2,pr1)p"
      System::Call "*$3(&t${NSIS_MAX_STRLEN} .r4)"
      ${_FILEWRITE} $5 "$4$\r$\n"
      IntOp $2 $2 + 1
      Goto loopDumpFile
    doneDumpFile:
      FileClose $5
      System::Free $1
      System::Free $3
  exitDumpFile:
    Pop $6
    Pop $5
    Pop $4
    Pop $3
    Pop $2
    Pop $1
    Pop $0

!undef _WRITEBOM
!undef _FILEWRITE
!ifdef _temp_item
  !undef LVM_GETITEMTEXT
  !define LVM_GETITEMTEXT ${_temp_item}
  !undef _temp_item
!endif

!macroend 

[clairealex]

Thank you!