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Link Type Dialog Box

InstallShield 2013

Project: This information applies to the following project types:

The Link Type dialog box opens when you click the browse button in the Link Type setting in the Components and Setup Design views. It also opens when you right-click a component in the Destination computer’s folders pane in the Files and Folders view and then click File Linking.

The Link Type dialog box lets you specify whether the file links of the selected component are static or dynamic and, if the latter, how the links are determined at the time of the media build.

Dialog Box Settings

Static Links

The component contains file links to files specified by explicit fully qualified file names.

Dynamic Links

The component contains file links to files whose names can be specified by wild cards (for example, *.* or *.exe) and whose folder can be specified by an explicit path or by a build variable.

Note: The following settings are enabled only if the Dynamic Links option is selected.

Specify the folder which contains the files to include

This setting specifies the folder that contains the linked files. Type an explicit path, select or type a build variable, or select and optionally append to a predefined path variable.

Caution: Entering a relative path (for example, .\MyFolder) will give unpredictable results.

Browse

Clicking this button opens the Browse for Folder dialog box, in which you can specify an explicit path.

Include subfolders

If you select this check box, InstallShield dynamically links the files that are included in any subfolders of the folder that you identified for the Specify the folder which contains the files to include setting.

Tip: The InstallScript engine does not support the concept of subcomponents. When you include subfolders in a dynamic file link, InstallShield creates separate components for each subfolder.

Wildcard(s)

The file list is constructed by first including all files that match the specification you enter in the Inclusion combo box, and then excluding from those files all the ones that match the specification you enter in the Exclusion combo box.

Inclusion

Specify the names of the files to which the component contains file links. By typing an entry or selecting a path variable, you can enter the name of a single file or use wild cards in this filename specification, for example *.* or *.exe. To specify multiple wild cards, separate them with semicolons and no spaces, for example,

*.txt;*.doc

Exclusion

Specify the names of the files to which the component does not contain file links. By typing an entry or selecting a path variable, you can enter the name of a single file or use wild cards in this filename specification, for example *.* or *.exe. To specify multiple wild cards, separate them with semicolons and no spaces, for example,

*.exe;*.dll

In the above example, no .exe or DLL files are included in the component.

See Also

Dynamic File Linking

Creating a Dynamic Link