How to make Inno Setup ignore the hidden attribute while searching for files?

Question

I have to copy into the installer folders containing hidden files (in my case Desktop.ini).

I use a line similar to this one in the [Files] section:

Source: "folder\*desktop.ini"; DestDir: "{app}\folder"; Flags: recursesubdirs uninsneveruninstall; Attribs: hidden

This line only works if I remove the hidden attributes. If all are hidden, it complains that it could not find any files.

How can I configure Inno to search for hidden files using patterns?

Answer 1

You can't, at present. If you have a look at the source of Compile.pas and search for the BuildFileList() procedure you will find that for wildcard source directories hidden files are ignored when the file list is built:

if SourceIsWildcard then begin
  if FindData.dwFileAttributes and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN <> 0 then
    Continue;
  FileName := FindData.cFileName;
end

If you have Delphi you could of course simply remove this check and rebuild the compiler.