Copying hidden files in Inno Setup

Question

How to use copy hidden external files in Inno Setup? Not to make a file hidden, but to work with hidden files. Because for now: the hidden files are being ignored

An

Answer 1

When you select files in [Files] section entry using a wildcard, Inno Setup installer explicitly skips hidden files.

You cannot do anything about it.

See RecurseExternalCopyFiles function in Projects\Install.pas, particularly this part:

if SourceIsWildcard then begin
  if FindData.dwFileAttributes and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN <> 0 then
    Continue; { <-- Skip hidden files, comment by @MartinPrikryl }
  FileName := FindData.cFileName;
end
else
  FileName := SearchWildcard;  { use the case specified in the script }

(This is for external files, as that's what you use. But for compile-time files, it's the same. See BuildFileList in Compile.pas).

---

All you can do, is to implement the installation in [Code] script yourself, instead of using the [Files] section.

procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
begin
  if CurStep = ssInstall then
  begin
    Log('Installing files');
    DirectoryCopy(ExpandConstant('{src}\folder'), ExpandConstant('{app}'));
  end;
end;

For implementation of DirectoryCopy, see my answer to question Inno Setup: copy folder, subfolders and files recursively in Code section.

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For compile-time files (without external flag), you can generate list of [Files] entries using a preprocessor function FindFirst.