InstallShield 2014
- The InstallShield Professional Logging Method is not offered as a choice on this panel, but when you select an InstallShield Editor or DevStudio 9.x InstallScript installation on the Collect Product Information Panel (the next panel in the Repackaging Wizard), Repackager will automatically detect the InstallScript installation and will display the InstallShield Professional Setup Panel.
- InstallShield Professional Edition For over 25 years, InstallShield has been the gold standard for building Windows software installations, used by virtually every major software company in the world.
- Open topic with navigation. Upgrade Errors (Upgrading from InstallShield Professional) InstallShield 2014. This table provides tips for troubleshooting errors that may occur when you upgrade a project (.ism file) created with InstallShield Professional to InstallShield.
When you upgrade an InstallShield Professional 6.x installation to InstallShield 2014, note the following:
InstallShield 2014 is a program offered by the software company Flexera Software. Some computer users try to uninstall this program. This can be efortful because deleting this by hand requires some experience regarding removing Windows applications by hand.
| • | You can quickly convert a script that uses a program...endprogram block to an event-based script that calls all appropriate event handler functions except the user interface and file transfer functions. For details, see OnShowUI. |
| • | The new simplified model for Internet installations eliminates many of the Ether object's methods and all of its properties and subobjects (while providing InstallScript enhancements that let you handle any Internet-specific requirements). If your Internet installation used any of these properties and methods, see Replacing Obsolete Properties and Methods. |
| • | Installations created in version 6.x contained a number of automatically created string entries; the installation used these string entries to get information. These string entries were redundant—they contained the same information contained in the Project Settings property sheet. InstallShield 2014 simplifies matters by allowing the information specified in the project settings to be used at runtime. |
Note that using this information is not required; you can continue using your existing string entries as before by simply leaving them intact in your project.
If you want your migrated installation to automatically use the information from your project's Project Settings property sheet, delete the following string entries from your project:
COMPANY_NAME
PRODUCT_NAME
PRODUCT_KEY
PRODUCT_VERSION
TITLE_CAPTIONBAR
FOLDER_NAME
TITLE_MAIN
Also, update any script code that may be using one of these string entries to use the new corresponding system variable instead, as shown in the following table:
String Entry | System Variable |
COMPANY_NAME | IFX_COMPANY _NAME |
PRODUCT_NAME | IFX_PRODUCT_NAME |
PRODUCT_KEY | IFX_PRODUCT_KEY |
PRODUCT_VERSION | IFX_PRODUCT_VERSION |
TITLE_CAPTIONBAR | IFX_SETUP_TITLE |
FOLDER_NAME | IFX_PRODUCT_NAME |
TITLE_MAIN | IFX_SETUP_TITLE |
Note that you can remove only a subset of these string values if you want some values to be read from the string entries and some to be read from the project settings. If you retain any of these string values, be sure to modify them as required, rather than changing the unused project settings; in particular, when creating an update installation, be sure to update the value of the PRODUCT_VERSION string entry if it exists.
| • | If your installation uses an event-based script and you have overridden the default OnSetUpdateMode event handler code, a message such as the following may be displayed at run time: 'The installed version of the application could not be determined. The setup will now terminate.' If this error occurs, add code that manually sets IFX_INSTALLED_VERSION during the OnSetUpdateMode event. For sample code, see the default code that is included in the OnSetUpdateMode event of a new InstallShield 2014 InstallScript project. |
| • | If your installation uses an event-based script and you have overridden the default OnFirstUIBefore event handler code, you must replace the following code (from the 6.x version of OnFirstUIBefore) in order to install files to the appropriate default location: |
TARGETDIR = PROGRAMFILES ^ @COMPANY_NAME ^ @PRODUCT_NAME;
with the following code (from the new default OnFirstUIBefore code) to set TARGETDIR:
/* Handles both end users with administrative or power user privileges and
end users without such privileges. */
if ( ALLUSERS ) then
TARGETDIR = PROGRAMFILES ^ IFX_COMPANY_NAME ^ IFX_PRODUCT_NAME;
else
TARGETDIR = FOLDER_APPDATA ^ IFX_COMPANY_NAME ^ IFX_PRODUCT_NAME;
endif;
/* Handles both standard and multi-instance installations. */
if( MAINT_OPTION = MAINT_OPTION_MULTI_INSTANCE && MULTI_INSTANCE_COUNT > 0) then
nLoop = 1;
svDir = TARGETDIR;
while(ExistsDir(TARGETDIR) = EXISTS)
NumToStr(szTargetDirAppendix,nLoop);
TARGETDIR = svDir + szTargetDirAppendix;
nLoop = nLoop + 1;
endwhile;
endif;
If you are using a procedural script (one with a program…endprogram block), you need to update the code in which you set TARGETDIR in order to set the default target directory appropriately for users without administrator privileges.
| • | If your installation uses an event-based script and you have overridden the default OnMaintUIBefore event handler code, and during uninstallation you want to remove all features including those that are not listed in the media but only in the log file (see FeatureRemoveAllInMediaAndLog for more information), then you must replace the following code (from the 6.x version of OnMaintUIBefore): |
case REMOVEALL: ComponentRemoveAll();
with the following code (from the new default OnMaintUIBefore code):
MediaGetData( MEDIA, MEDIA_FIELD_MEDIA_FLAGS, nMediaFlags, szIgnore );
case REMOVEALL:
/* Properly handles updating. */
if( nMediaFlags & MEDIA_FLAG_UPDATEMODE_SUPPORTED ) then
FeatureRemoveAllInMediaAndLog();
else
FeatureRemoveAllInMedia();
endif;
If you are using a procedural script that supports script-based uninstallation you need to update your call to ComponentRemoveAll appropriately.
| • | If your script calls RegDBSetItem to alter the registry entries that are created by MaintenanceStart (or DeinstallStart), and it makes those calls to RegDBSetItem in an event handler that is called before the OnMoved handler (for example, OnMoving or _OnInstalled), you must move those calls to RegDBSetItem. MaintenanceStart is now called in the OnMoveData event handler's default code, whereas previously MaintenanceStart was called automatically immediately after the maintenance/uninstallation feature was installed and before any other features were installed. |
| • | The InstallShield Professional 6.x default event handler code included the following lines in both OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore: |
SetStatusWindow( 0, ' );
Enable( STATUSEX );
StatusUpdate( ON, 100 );
In InstallShield 2014, this code has been relocated to the default OnMoveData event handler code, so you have the following options:
| • | If you have not customized this code, you do not need to do anything because the redundant calls will not cause a problem. You can safely remove this code from OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore if you want to avoid code duplication. |
| • | If you have customized this code and you want these customizations to apply regardless of what user interface (UI) event is called, you should remove the code from OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore, then override the OnMoveData event and place the customized code in place of the default code. |
| • | If you have customized the code and you want specific code depending on what UI event is called, you should override OnMoveData, comment out the default code, and continue to use your existing code. Note that in this case, if your installation supports updating you may also want to customize OnUpdateUIBefore. |
| • | The 6.x default event handler code included the following commented-out code in the OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore events: |
// TO DO: if you want to enable background, window title, and caption bar title
// SetTitle( @TITLE_MAIN, 24, WHITE );
// SetTitle( @TITLE_CAPTIONBAR, 0, BACKGROUNDCAPTION );
// Enable( FULLWINDOWMODE );
// Enable( BACKGROUND );
// SetColor( BACKGROUND, RGB( 0, 128, 128 ) );
If you activated this code and would like to provide a consistent UI experience regardless of what UI event is called, you can remove this code from OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore and then override OnShowUI and customize the code appropriately.
| • | Many Windows API functions are declared in included header files (.h files) in InstallShield 2014. If any of these functions are also explicitly declared in your script code, do one of the following: |
| • | Remove your function declaration and use the declaration provided by InstallShield Professional. |
| • | If you are creating a script that needs to be compilable in both InstallShield 2014 and earlier versions, surround your declaration with code like the following: |
#if _ISCRIPT_VER < 0x700
prototype ...
#endif
You may also need to update code that calls a Windows API function, if the declaration defined by InstallShield Professional is different than your declaration.
| • | In order that the end user interface flows smoothly, by default the installation initialization dialog box remains displayed until the script displays a dialog box. To close the installation initialization dialog box, call Disable(DIALOGCACHE) or any dialog box function. |
InstallShield 2014 Help LibraryMay 2014 | Copyright Information | Contact Us |
InstallShield 2014 Express Edition
If you find that your installation needs outgrow the functionality that is available in the Express edition of InstallShield, you can easily take your existing project and use it to create an installation with the Premier or Professional editions of InstallShield. The Premier and Professional editions have greater customization features that more complex installations require.
Features that Are in Only the Premier Edition
Following is a list of some of the features that are available in the Premier edition but not the Professional or Express editions:
| • | Ability to create and build Suite/Advanced UI installations—Create a bootstrap application with a contemporary, customizable user interface for multiple .msi packages, .msp packages, InstallScript packages, .exe packages, sideloading app packages (.appx), and Windows Installer transactions, as well as multiple InstallShield prerequisites. A Suite/Advanced UI installation packages together multiple separate installations as a single installation while providing a unified user interface; it uses a setup launcher (Setup.exe) to conditionally launch packages on target systems as needed. |
| • | Virtualization support—The Microsoft App-V Assistant is included in the Virtualization Pack. Use this assistant to create customized virtual applications in the Microsoft App-V format. Virtualization enables you to isolate an application in its own environment so that it does not conflict with existing applications or modify the underlying operating system. |
| • | Application Virtualization Suitability Suites—Several validation suites are available in InstallShield for helping you to determine how ready your products are for virtualization. The InstallShield virtualization internal consistency evaluators (ISVICEs) that are included in these suites let you check suitability for Microsoft App-V 4.x, Microsoft App-V 5.x, Microsoft Server App-V, VMware ThinApp, and Citrix XenApp. The validation suites can enable you to make more informed decisions about how you should build your product if you are considering offering your customers a virtualized version. |
| • | Support for DIM files—The ability to create DIM projects is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield. This support is also available in the InstallShield Developer Installation Manifest Editor, a collaboration add-on. The ability to add DIM files to Basic MSI projects is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield. |
A DIM project is a feature-sized collection of related items such as product files, shortcuts, registry entries, text file changes, IIS Web sites, and other elements that together make up a discrete portion of a product installation. Working with DIMs enables multiple team members to contribute to the development of the installation simultaneously. Each software developer or other team member can work on a separate DIM that the release engineer can reference in one or more Basic MSI projects.
| • | Multilingual installations—Create a single installation that displays end-user text in multiple languages and can handle conditional installation of language-specific files. Change dialogs and messages to any one of 34 additional languages using pre-translated strings. |
Project: Note that support for two of those languages—Arabic (Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew—is available in only Basic MSI and Merge Module projects.
| • | Arabic (Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew language support—InstallShield Premier Edition includes support for Arabic (Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew languages, which are written and read from right to left. All of the default end-user dialog strings are available in these languages. |
Since these languages are read from right to left, the Premier edition also includes support for mirroring Arabic and Hebrew dialogs; that is, InstallShield uses a right-to-left layout for Arabic and Hebrew dialogs. Thus, for example, buttons that are on the right side of dialogs in English and other left-to-right languages are moved to the left side of right-to-left-language dialogs.
| • | Ability to specify commands that run before, during, and after builds—InstallShield Premier Edition includes release settings that you can use to specify commands that you want to be run at various stages of the build process. You can schedule commands that run at the following build events: (a) before InstallShield starts building the release, (b) after InstallShield has built the .msi package and the .cab files (if your product's data files are to be stored in .cab files), but before the .msi package has been digitally signed and streamed into the Setup.exe file, and (c) after InstallShield has built and signed the release. |
| • | Extra licenses for InstallShield MSI tools—InstallShield includes several tools: InstallShield MSI Diff, InstallShield MSI Query, InstallShield MSI Sleuth, and InstallShield MSI Grep. You can use these tools to troubleshoot issues with Windows Installer packages. InstallShield Premier Edition includes a separate installation and extra licenses that let you install just the InstallShield MSI tools, without InstallShield, on separate machines. For specific terms, see the End-User License Agreement for the InstallShield MSI tools. |
| • | Ability to import IIS data from existing IIS Web sites into a project—InstallShield includes an IIS scanner (IISscan.exe), a command-line tool for scanning an existing IIS Web site and recording IIS data about the Web site. The IIS scanner creates an XML file that contains all of the settings for the Web site, its virtual directories, its applications, and its application pools. You can use the XML file to import the IIS data into the Internet Information Services view in InstallShield Premier Edition. Once you have imported the IIS data into a project, you can use the Internet Information Services view to make changes to the IIS settings as needed. |
| • | InstallShield Collaboration—InstallShield Premier Edition includes licenses for InstallShield Collaboration for Visual Studio. |
| • | Network repository—A network repository is a collection of installation elements that multiple installation authors can access and reuse in their projects as needed. A network repository fosters collaboration among installation authors; it is stored on a network. |
| • | InstallShield Best Practice Suite—InstallShield includes a set of validators called the InstallShield Best Practice Suite. The InstallShield Best Practice (ISBP) validators in this suite alert you if your installation violates best-practice guidelines. |
| • | Additional Dialog Themes—Several dialog themes are available only in the Premier edition of InstallShield. |
Features that Are in Only the Premier and Professional Editions
Following is a list of some of the features that are available in the Premier and Professional editions but not the Express edition:
| • | Ability to create and build Advanced UI installations—Create a bootstrap application with a contemporary, customizable user interface for a single .msi package, .msp package, or InstallScript package, as well as multiple InstallShield prerequisites. An Advanced UI installation uses a setup launcher (Setup.exe) to conditionally launch packages on target systems as needed. |
(Note that the Suite/Advanced UI functionality in the Premier edition of InstallShield includes extended support for this functionality: The Suite/Advanced UI functionality enables you to package multiple .msi packages, .msp packages, InstallScript packages, .exe packages, sideloading app packages (.appx), and Windows Installer transactions, as well as multiple InstallShield prerequisites into a single installation with a contemporary, unified, customizable user interface.)
| • | Standalone Build—This tool, which is available with the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield, enables you to install only the part of InstallShield that builds the installations, plus any redistributables that you want to include, on a build machine. Extra licenses of the Standalone Build are available for purchase. |
| • | Dialog Editor—The Dialog Editor enables you to modify the layout of existing end-user dialogs or create new custom dialogs. Import and export dialogs to share them across projects. Construct different dialogs for each language supported in the project. |
| • | InstallShield MSI tools—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield includes several tools: InstallShield MSI Diff, InstallShield MSI Query, InstallShield MSI Sleuth, and InstallShield MSI Grep. You can use these tools to troubleshoot issues with Windows Installer packages. |
| • | Automation interface—Use script to add new files, add or delete features, change the product name and upgrade code, change release settings, change summary information stream items, change release flags, change any property, initiate the build process, and more. |
| • | Release customization—Define which project segments to compress, which features to place on which disk, and which languages to include. Choose to filter application data based on language to support localization efforts. |
| • | Source code control integration—Simplify the process of checking projects in and out of your source code control system and save space when differencing projects. The SCC integration in the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield supports integration with various source code control systems. |
Installshield Limited Download
| • | Flexible localization support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include a String Editor view, which gives you complete and centralized control over the localizable text strings that are displayed at run time during the installation process. You can use this view to edit the strings for everything from button text to feature descriptions. This view also includes support for exporting string entries (which you can have translated) and for importing translated string entries back into your project. |
| • | Project validation—Use standard .cub files to validate installations and merge modules. Use the upgrade and patching validation to find out about potential upgrade problems and resolve them before you release your upgrades and patches. |
| • | Patch creation—In addition to enabling you to create QuickPatch projects, the Premier and Professional editions let you create standard patches that contain updates to a previous version of your product. |
| • | Manage multiple product versions—Build versions such as Evaluation, Debug, Standard, and Advanced—from a single project. Allow specific features, InstallShield prerequisites, and other elements to be chosen for inclusion in (or exclusion from) a release through user-defined flags. |
| • | Support for InstallScript—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for InstallScript, a simple but powerful programming language. You can add InstallScript custom actions to Windows Installer–based installations or create InstallScript projects, which use the InstallScript engine instead of the Windows Installer engine to control the entire installation. |
| • | Flexible custom action support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for several custom action types that are not available in the Express edition. These extra custom action types enable you to do the following: set a property, set a directory, call a public method in a managed assembly, or display error message under certain conditions and abort the installation. |
| • | Flexible shortcut support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for configuring various advanced settings for shortcuts that are not configurable in the Express edition. For example, the Premier and Professional editions let you prevent a shortcut in your project from being pinned to the taskbar or to the Start menu. They also let you prevent a shortcut on the Start menu from being highlighted as newly installed after end users install your product. These shortcut options are often used for tools or secondary products that are part of an installation. |
| • | Merge module authoring and editing—Package pieces of a project for reuse across application installations. Reuse those you create or any of the ones included in the product. Edit and open modules for greater customization. |
| • | Project templates—Create project templates that contain all of the default settings and design elements that you want to use as a starting point when you create an installation project or merge module project. |
| • | Multiple IIS Web sites—The Express and Limited editions of InstallShield let you install only one Web site per installation. The Premier and Professional editions let you install more than one Web site per installation. |
| • | Support for IIS application pools and Web service extensions—Install and manage IIS application pools and Web service extensions. |
| • | Advanced support for Windows services—Although the Express edition of InstallShield includes some support for working with services, the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include additional flexibility for services. For example, the Premier and Professional editions enable you to start, stop, or delete a service during installation or uninstallation; the service can be part of your installation, or it can be already present on target systems. These editions also let you configure extended service customization options that were introduced in Windows Installer 5. |
| • | SQL support—Connect to SQL servers, import database schema and data, associate SQL scripts with features, and more with SQL support. |
| • | Ability to modify text files or XML files—Use the Text File Changes view or the XML File Changes view to configure files that you want to modify on the target system at run time. |
| • | Pure 64-bit support—Windows Server Core supports disabling 32-bit Windows-on-Windows (WOW64) support. As this configuration becomes more popular, you may want to ensure that your 64-bit applications can install without any reliance on 32-bit functionality. To make this possible, the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for building pure 64-bit .msi packages; these can be run on 64-bit Windows-based systems that do not have WOW64 functionality. |
Installshield 2014 Professional Download
| • | InstallShield Prerequisite Editor—Use this tool to create new InstallShield prerequisites and modify existing ones. |
| • | Custom icons for Setup.exe and Update.exe—Specify a custom icon (.exe, .dll, or .ico file) that you want to use for Setup.exe and Update.exe files that you create at build time. The icon is displayed on the Properties dialog box for Setup.exe; this Properties dialog box opens when end users right-click the Setup.exe file and then click Properties. End users can also see the icon when they view your Setup.exe file in Windows Explorer. |
| • | Expiration dates for Setup.exe—Set an expiration date, as well as an expiration message, for Setup.exe. If end users try to run Setup.exe on or after the date that you have specified in your project, the expiration message is displayed, and the installation exits. |
| • | Support for installation of multiple packages using transaction processing—Windows Installer 4.5 and later include support for installing multiple packages using transaction processing. The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield let you add chained .msi packages to an installation project. Your package, plus the added .msi packages, are chained together and processed as a single transaction. If one or more of the packages in the transaction cannot be installed successfully or if the end user cancels the installation, the Windows Installer initiates rollback for all packages to restore the system to its earlier state. |
| • | Ability to export and reuse various project elements—Increase efficiency by moving pieces of an existing project (dialogs, custom actions, or features) to a merge module or another installation project. |
while(ExistsDir(TARGETDIR) = EXISTS)
NumToStr(szTargetDirAppendix,nLoop);
TARGETDIR = svDir + szTargetDirAppendix;
nLoop = nLoop + 1;
endwhile;
endif;
If you are using a procedural script (one with a program…endprogram block), you need to update the code in which you set TARGETDIR in order to set the default target directory appropriately for users without administrator privileges.
| • | If your installation uses an event-based script and you have overridden the default OnMaintUIBefore event handler code, and during uninstallation you want to remove all features including those that are not listed in the media but only in the log file (see FeatureRemoveAllInMediaAndLog for more information), then you must replace the following code (from the 6.x version of OnMaintUIBefore): |
case REMOVEALL: ComponentRemoveAll();
with the following code (from the new default OnMaintUIBefore code):
MediaGetData( MEDIA, MEDIA_FIELD_MEDIA_FLAGS, nMediaFlags, szIgnore );
case REMOVEALL:
/* Properly handles updating. */
if( nMediaFlags & MEDIA_FLAG_UPDATEMODE_SUPPORTED ) then
FeatureRemoveAllInMediaAndLog();
else
FeatureRemoveAllInMedia();
endif;
If you are using a procedural script that supports script-based uninstallation you need to update your call to ComponentRemoveAll appropriately.
| • | If your script calls RegDBSetItem to alter the registry entries that are created by MaintenanceStart (or DeinstallStart), and it makes those calls to RegDBSetItem in an event handler that is called before the OnMoved handler (for example, OnMoving or _OnInstalled), you must move those calls to RegDBSetItem. MaintenanceStart is now called in the OnMoveData event handler's default code, whereas previously MaintenanceStart was called automatically immediately after the maintenance/uninstallation feature was installed and before any other features were installed. |
| • | The InstallShield Professional 6.x default event handler code included the following lines in both OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore: |
SetStatusWindow( 0, ' );
Enable( STATUSEX );
StatusUpdate( ON, 100 );
In InstallShield 2014, this code has been relocated to the default OnMoveData event handler code, so you have the following options:
| • | If you have not customized this code, you do not need to do anything because the redundant calls will not cause a problem. You can safely remove this code from OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore if you want to avoid code duplication. |
| • | If you have customized this code and you want these customizations to apply regardless of what user interface (UI) event is called, you should remove the code from OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore, then override the OnMoveData event and place the customized code in place of the default code. |
| • | If you have customized the code and you want specific code depending on what UI event is called, you should override OnMoveData, comment out the default code, and continue to use your existing code. Note that in this case, if your installation supports updating you may also want to customize OnUpdateUIBefore. |
| • | The 6.x default event handler code included the following commented-out code in the OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore events: |
// TO DO: if you want to enable background, window title, and caption bar title
// SetTitle( @TITLE_MAIN, 24, WHITE );
// SetTitle( @TITLE_CAPTIONBAR, 0, BACKGROUNDCAPTION );
// Enable( FULLWINDOWMODE );
// Enable( BACKGROUND );
// SetColor( BACKGROUND, RGB( 0, 128, 128 ) );
If you activated this code and would like to provide a consistent UI experience regardless of what UI event is called, you can remove this code from OnFirstUIBefore and OnMaintUIBefore and then override OnShowUI and customize the code appropriately.
| • | Many Windows API functions are declared in included header files (.h files) in InstallShield 2014. If any of these functions are also explicitly declared in your script code, do one of the following: |
| • | Remove your function declaration and use the declaration provided by InstallShield Professional. |
| • | If you are creating a script that needs to be compilable in both InstallShield 2014 and earlier versions, surround your declaration with code like the following: |
#if _ISCRIPT_VER < 0x700
prototype ...
#endif
You may also need to update code that calls a Windows API function, if the declaration defined by InstallShield Professional is different than your declaration.
| • | In order that the end user interface flows smoothly, by default the installation initialization dialog box remains displayed until the script displays a dialog box. To close the installation initialization dialog box, call Disable(DIALOGCACHE) or any dialog box function. |
InstallShield 2014 Help LibraryMay 2014 | Copyright Information | Contact Us |
InstallShield 2014 Express Edition
If you find that your installation needs outgrow the functionality that is available in the Express edition of InstallShield, you can easily take your existing project and use it to create an installation with the Premier or Professional editions of InstallShield. The Premier and Professional editions have greater customization features that more complex installations require.
Features that Are in Only the Premier Edition
Following is a list of some of the features that are available in the Premier edition but not the Professional or Express editions:
| • | Ability to create and build Suite/Advanced UI installations—Create a bootstrap application with a contemporary, customizable user interface for multiple .msi packages, .msp packages, InstallScript packages, .exe packages, sideloading app packages (.appx), and Windows Installer transactions, as well as multiple InstallShield prerequisites. A Suite/Advanced UI installation packages together multiple separate installations as a single installation while providing a unified user interface; it uses a setup launcher (Setup.exe) to conditionally launch packages on target systems as needed. |
| • | Virtualization support—The Microsoft App-V Assistant is included in the Virtualization Pack. Use this assistant to create customized virtual applications in the Microsoft App-V format. Virtualization enables you to isolate an application in its own environment so that it does not conflict with existing applications or modify the underlying operating system. |
| • | Application Virtualization Suitability Suites—Several validation suites are available in InstallShield for helping you to determine how ready your products are for virtualization. The InstallShield virtualization internal consistency evaluators (ISVICEs) that are included in these suites let you check suitability for Microsoft App-V 4.x, Microsoft App-V 5.x, Microsoft Server App-V, VMware ThinApp, and Citrix XenApp. The validation suites can enable you to make more informed decisions about how you should build your product if you are considering offering your customers a virtualized version. |
| • | Support for DIM files—The ability to create DIM projects is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield. This support is also available in the InstallShield Developer Installation Manifest Editor, a collaboration add-on. The ability to add DIM files to Basic MSI projects is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield. |
A DIM project is a feature-sized collection of related items such as product files, shortcuts, registry entries, text file changes, IIS Web sites, and other elements that together make up a discrete portion of a product installation. Working with DIMs enables multiple team members to contribute to the development of the installation simultaneously. Each software developer or other team member can work on a separate DIM that the release engineer can reference in one or more Basic MSI projects.
| • | Multilingual installations—Create a single installation that displays end-user text in multiple languages and can handle conditional installation of language-specific files. Change dialogs and messages to any one of 34 additional languages using pre-translated strings. |
Project: Note that support for two of those languages—Arabic (Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew—is available in only Basic MSI and Merge Module projects.
| • | Arabic (Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew language support—InstallShield Premier Edition includes support for Arabic (Saudi Arabia) and Hebrew languages, which are written and read from right to left. All of the default end-user dialog strings are available in these languages. |
Since these languages are read from right to left, the Premier edition also includes support for mirroring Arabic and Hebrew dialogs; that is, InstallShield uses a right-to-left layout for Arabic and Hebrew dialogs. Thus, for example, buttons that are on the right side of dialogs in English and other left-to-right languages are moved to the left side of right-to-left-language dialogs.
| • | Ability to specify commands that run before, during, and after builds—InstallShield Premier Edition includes release settings that you can use to specify commands that you want to be run at various stages of the build process. You can schedule commands that run at the following build events: (a) before InstallShield starts building the release, (b) after InstallShield has built the .msi package and the .cab files (if your product's data files are to be stored in .cab files), but before the .msi package has been digitally signed and streamed into the Setup.exe file, and (c) after InstallShield has built and signed the release. |
| • | Extra licenses for InstallShield MSI tools—InstallShield includes several tools: InstallShield MSI Diff, InstallShield MSI Query, InstallShield MSI Sleuth, and InstallShield MSI Grep. You can use these tools to troubleshoot issues with Windows Installer packages. InstallShield Premier Edition includes a separate installation and extra licenses that let you install just the InstallShield MSI tools, without InstallShield, on separate machines. For specific terms, see the End-User License Agreement for the InstallShield MSI tools. |
| • | Ability to import IIS data from existing IIS Web sites into a project—InstallShield includes an IIS scanner (IISscan.exe), a command-line tool for scanning an existing IIS Web site and recording IIS data about the Web site. The IIS scanner creates an XML file that contains all of the settings for the Web site, its virtual directories, its applications, and its application pools. You can use the XML file to import the IIS data into the Internet Information Services view in InstallShield Premier Edition. Once you have imported the IIS data into a project, you can use the Internet Information Services view to make changes to the IIS settings as needed. |
| • | InstallShield Collaboration—InstallShield Premier Edition includes licenses for InstallShield Collaboration for Visual Studio. |
| • | Network repository—A network repository is a collection of installation elements that multiple installation authors can access and reuse in their projects as needed. A network repository fosters collaboration among installation authors; it is stored on a network. |
| • | InstallShield Best Practice Suite—InstallShield includes a set of validators called the InstallShield Best Practice Suite. The InstallShield Best Practice (ISBP) validators in this suite alert you if your installation violates best-practice guidelines. |
| • | Additional Dialog Themes—Several dialog themes are available only in the Premier edition of InstallShield. |
Features that Are in Only the Premier and Professional Editions
Following is a list of some of the features that are available in the Premier and Professional editions but not the Express edition:
| • | Ability to create and build Advanced UI installations—Create a bootstrap application with a contemporary, customizable user interface for a single .msi package, .msp package, or InstallScript package, as well as multiple InstallShield prerequisites. An Advanced UI installation uses a setup launcher (Setup.exe) to conditionally launch packages on target systems as needed. |
(Note that the Suite/Advanced UI functionality in the Premier edition of InstallShield includes extended support for this functionality: The Suite/Advanced UI functionality enables you to package multiple .msi packages, .msp packages, InstallScript packages, .exe packages, sideloading app packages (.appx), and Windows Installer transactions, as well as multiple InstallShield prerequisites into a single installation with a contemporary, unified, customizable user interface.)
| • | Standalone Build—This tool, which is available with the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield, enables you to install only the part of InstallShield that builds the installations, plus any redistributables that you want to include, on a build machine. Extra licenses of the Standalone Build are available for purchase. |
| • | Dialog Editor—The Dialog Editor enables you to modify the layout of existing end-user dialogs or create new custom dialogs. Import and export dialogs to share them across projects. Construct different dialogs for each language supported in the project. |
| • | InstallShield MSI tools—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield includes several tools: InstallShield MSI Diff, InstallShield MSI Query, InstallShield MSI Sleuth, and InstallShield MSI Grep. You can use these tools to troubleshoot issues with Windows Installer packages. |
| • | Automation interface—Use script to add new files, add or delete features, change the product name and upgrade code, change release settings, change summary information stream items, change release flags, change any property, initiate the build process, and more. |
| • | Release customization—Define which project segments to compress, which features to place on which disk, and which languages to include. Choose to filter application data based on language to support localization efforts. |
| • | Source code control integration—Simplify the process of checking projects in and out of your source code control system and save space when differencing projects. The SCC integration in the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield supports integration with various source code control systems. |
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| • | Flexible localization support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include a String Editor view, which gives you complete and centralized control over the localizable text strings that are displayed at run time during the installation process. You can use this view to edit the strings for everything from button text to feature descriptions. This view also includes support for exporting string entries (which you can have translated) and for importing translated string entries back into your project. |
| • | Project validation—Use standard .cub files to validate installations and merge modules. Use the upgrade and patching validation to find out about potential upgrade problems and resolve them before you release your upgrades and patches. |
| • | Patch creation—In addition to enabling you to create QuickPatch projects, the Premier and Professional editions let you create standard patches that contain updates to a previous version of your product. |
| • | Manage multiple product versions—Build versions such as Evaluation, Debug, Standard, and Advanced—from a single project. Allow specific features, InstallShield prerequisites, and other elements to be chosen for inclusion in (or exclusion from) a release through user-defined flags. |
| • | Support for InstallScript—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for InstallScript, a simple but powerful programming language. You can add InstallScript custom actions to Windows Installer–based installations or create InstallScript projects, which use the InstallScript engine instead of the Windows Installer engine to control the entire installation. |
| • | Flexible custom action support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for several custom action types that are not available in the Express edition. These extra custom action types enable you to do the following: set a property, set a directory, call a public method in a managed assembly, or display error message under certain conditions and abort the installation. |
| • | Flexible shortcut support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for configuring various advanced settings for shortcuts that are not configurable in the Express edition. For example, the Premier and Professional editions let you prevent a shortcut in your project from being pinned to the taskbar or to the Start menu. They also let you prevent a shortcut on the Start menu from being highlighted as newly installed after end users install your product. These shortcut options are often used for tools or secondary products that are part of an installation. |
| • | Merge module authoring and editing—Package pieces of a project for reuse across application installations. Reuse those you create or any of the ones included in the product. Edit and open modules for greater customization. |
| • | Project templates—Create project templates that contain all of the default settings and design elements that you want to use as a starting point when you create an installation project or merge module project. |
| • | Multiple IIS Web sites—The Express and Limited editions of InstallShield let you install only one Web site per installation. The Premier and Professional editions let you install more than one Web site per installation. |
| • | Support for IIS application pools and Web service extensions—Install and manage IIS application pools and Web service extensions. |
| • | Advanced support for Windows services—Although the Express edition of InstallShield includes some support for working with services, the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include additional flexibility for services. For example, the Premier and Professional editions enable you to start, stop, or delete a service during installation or uninstallation; the service can be part of your installation, or it can be already present on target systems. These editions also let you configure extended service customization options that were introduced in Windows Installer 5. |
| • | SQL support—Connect to SQL servers, import database schema and data, associate SQL scripts with features, and more with SQL support. |
| • | Ability to modify text files or XML files—Use the Text File Changes view or the XML File Changes view to configure files that you want to modify on the target system at run time. |
| • | Pure 64-bit support—Windows Server Core supports disabling 32-bit Windows-on-Windows (WOW64) support. As this configuration becomes more popular, you may want to ensure that your 64-bit applications can install without any reliance on 32-bit functionality. To make this possible, the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for building pure 64-bit .msi packages; these can be run on 64-bit Windows-based systems that do not have WOW64 functionality. |
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| • | InstallShield Prerequisite Editor—Use this tool to create new InstallShield prerequisites and modify existing ones. |
| • | Custom icons for Setup.exe and Update.exe—Specify a custom icon (.exe, .dll, or .ico file) that you want to use for Setup.exe and Update.exe files that you create at build time. The icon is displayed on the Properties dialog box for Setup.exe; this Properties dialog box opens when end users right-click the Setup.exe file and then click Properties. End users can also see the icon when they view your Setup.exe file in Windows Explorer. |
| • | Expiration dates for Setup.exe—Set an expiration date, as well as an expiration message, for Setup.exe. If end users try to run Setup.exe on or after the date that you have specified in your project, the expiration message is displayed, and the installation exits. |
| • | Support for installation of multiple packages using transaction processing—Windows Installer 4.5 and later include support for installing multiple packages using transaction processing. The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield let you add chained .msi packages to an installation project. Your package, plus the added .msi packages, are chained together and processed as a single transaction. If one or more of the packages in the transaction cannot be installed successfully or if the end user cancels the installation, the Windows Installer initiates rollback for all packages to restore the system to its earlier state. |
| • | Ability to export and reuse various project elements—Increase efficiency by moving pieces of an existing project (dialogs, custom actions, or features) to a merge module or another installation project. |
| • | Multiple-instance support—Create an installation that lets end users install multiple instances of a product on the same machine and in the same user context. |
| • | Device driver support—Device driver support in the Premier and Professional editions simplifies the process of installing device drivers from installation using the Driver Installation Frameworks for Applications (DIFxApp) from Microsoft. |
| • | Additional Dialog Themes—Several dialog themes are available only in the Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield. The Limited and Express editions contain only two themes. |
| • | Conversion of Visual Studio merge module projects—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield let you convert a Visual Studio merge module project to an InstallShield merge module project; this is necessary if you want to build a merge module for consumption in other projects. |
| • | COM+ application proxy support—Manage COM+ application proxies during your installation. A COM+ application proxy consists of a subset of the attributes of the server application, and it enables remote access from a client machine to the machine where the application resides. |
For additional details about the features that are included with each edition, contact InstallShield Sales, or visit http://www.installshield.com.
InstallShield 2014 Express Edition Help LibraryMay 2014 | Copyright Information | Contact Us |
