Iterate over Inno Setup [Files] section in Pascal code

Question

In an Inno Setup script, I need to copy a number of files to multiple user-defined locations. In order to do this, I'd like to iterate over the sources in the [Files] section, and FileCopy() them multiple times depending on the user-defined settings and properties of the files.

Is it possible to access the sources in the [Files] section using a script?

Answer 1

No, you cannot iterate the [Files] section.

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But you can use preprocessor to generate both the [Files] section and the Pascal Script from one list of files.

You are not very specific about your goals, so I'm showing only a rough concept.

; Define array of files to work with
#dim Files[2]
#define Files[0] "MyProg.exe"
#define Files[1] "MyProg.chm"

#define I

; Iterate the file array, generating one entry in Run section for each file    
[Files]
#sub FileEntry
Source: "{#Files[I]}"; DestDir: "{app}"
#endsub

#for {I = 0; I < DimOf(Files); I++} FileEntry

[Code]

procedure CopyFiles;
begin
  // Iterate the file array, generating two FileCopy calls for each file    
#sub FileCopy
  FileCopy('{#Files[I]}', 'd:\destination1\{#Files[I]}', True);
  FileCopy('{#Files[I]}', 'd:\destination2\{#Files[I]}', True);
#endsub

#for {I = 0; I < DimOf(Files); I++} FileCopy
end;

// Just for debugging purposes, outputs the preprocessed script
// so you can verify if the code generation went right
#expr SaveToFile(AddBackslash(SourcePath) + "Preprocessed.iss")

If you compile the script, you can see in the preprocessed file Preprocessed.iss that it generates this:

[Files]
Source: "MyProg.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "MyProg.chm"; DestDir: "{app}"

[Code]
procedure CopyFiles;
begin
  FileCopy('MyProg.exe', 'd:\destination1\MyProg.exe', True);
  FileCopy('MyProg.exe', 'd:\destination2\MyProg.exe', True);
  FileCopy('MyProg.chm', 'd:\destination1\MyProg.chm', True);
  FileCopy('MyProg.chm', 'd:\destination2\MyProg.chm', True);
end;

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Actually you may not need to use the FileCopy for this specific purpose. You can just have the preprocessor generate multiple [Files] section entries for the same file:

; Iterate the file array, generating one entry in Run section for each file    
[Files]
#sub FileEntry
Source: "{#Files[I]}"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "{#Files[I]}"; DestDir: "d:\destination1"
Source: "{#Files[I]}"; DestDir: "d:\destination2"
#endsub

Generates:

[Files]
Source: "MyProg.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "MyProg.exe"; DestDir: "d:\destination1"
Source: "MyProg.exe"; DestDir: "d:\destination2"
Source: "MyProg.chm"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "MyProg.chm"; DestDir: "d:\destination1"
Source: "MyProg.chm"; DestDir: "d:\destination2"

Inno Setup will identify identical source files and will pack them only once.

You can use Check parameter to make some entries conditional.

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See also this question, which is actually similar:
Access file list via script in InnoSetup