A.2 The oemsetup.inf Files

During the Windows phase of a Windows NT installation, or when the program is run in maintenance mode, it is possible for the user to install a driver that is not part of the Windows NT distribution. The user is presented with a menu that includes an Other item which, if selected, causes the Setup program to prompt the user to enter the location of the driver’s files. The Setup program fails if it does not find an oemsetup.inf file in the directory indicated by the user.

You can create an oemsetup.inf file for your driver using an extended GUI INF script language. The Windows NT Setup program acts as an interpreter and executes the instructions in these text file scripts. The GUI INF script language enables you to create a sophisticated installation script with the following features:

• One section can call another section as if it were a subroutine, passing multiple parameters and receiving multiple return values.

• Operators are available for manipulating string, list, and integer variables.

• Flow of control is supported through if-else contructs and goto statements.

• Built-in commands are provided for a number of common operations, such as accessing the configuration registry, calling a function in a DLL, or starting a new process.

• Built-in dialog templates can be displayed using text specified in the INF file. There is also an easy to use mechanism for providing text in multiple languages (for example, English, French, and so forth).

The GUI INF Script Language section below provides a detailed description of the GUI INF script language.