InstallShield 2013 Express Edition
InstallShield includes many commonly used third-party redistributables, making it easy to add support for popular technologies such as the .NET Framework to your installation. When you add redistributables to your project, the redistributables, plus all of the associated dependencies, are added to your installation. This simplifies the process of packaging redistributables and ensures consistency for internal or external use.
The Redistributables view contains all of the InstallShield prerequisites, merge modules, and objects that are included with InstallShield.
InstallShield Prerequisites
An InstallShield prerequisite is an installation for a product or technology framework that is required by your product. You can add any of the existing InstallShield prerequisites to your installation projects.
Including InstallShield prerequisites in your project enables you to chain multiple installations together, bypassing the Windows Installer limitation that permits only one Execute sequence to be run at a time. The Setup.exe setup launcher serves as a bootstrap application that manages the chaining.
Edition: InstallShield Premier Edition and InstallShield Professional Edition include the InstallShield Prerequisite Editor, a tool that enables you to define custom InstallShield prerequisites and to edit settings for any existing InstallShield prerequisites.
InstallShield includes support for two types of InstallShield prerequisites:
| • | Setup prerequisite—The installation for this type of prerequisite runs before your installation runs. |
| • | Feature prerequisite—This type of prerequisite is associated with one or more features. It is installed if the feature that contains the prerequisite is installed and if the prerequisite is not already installed on the system. Thus, if a feature has a condition that is not met on the target system, or if the end user chooses not to install the feature, the feature is not installed. As a result, none of its associated feature prerequisites are installed, unless the feature prerequisites are also associated with other features that are installed. |
Merge Modules
A merge module (or .msm file) contains all of the logic and files needed to install distinct pieces of functionality. For example, some applications require Microsoft C++ run-time libraries. Instead of having to include the file in a feature and figure out its installation requirements, you can simply attach the Microsoft C++ runtime library merge module to one of your project’s features.
Note: Many of the merge modules included in the Redistributables view are authored by Microsoft or another third party. InstallShield distributes these modules as a courtesy to assist you in creating your installation project. However, InstallShield cannot modify or fix any problems that may exist within third party–authored modules. You are encouraged to contact the vendor regarding issues with specific third party–authored modules.
Objects
Like merge modules, objects contain logic and files needed to install distinct pieces of functionality. Some objects, such as the DirectX object included with InstallShield, require customization through a wizard. As soon as you add such an object to your installation, its customization wizard opens. You can either customize your object at the time you add it, or cancel the wizard and customize your object later by right-clicking the object and selecting Change Objects Settings.
Live Redistributables Gallery
Because the file size of many of the redistributables is so large, some that are available for use in your projects are not added to your computer when you install InstallShield. However, these redistributables are still available for download from the Internet to your computer. In addition, a newer version of a redistributable that you have on your computer may be available for download.
Configurable Merge Modules
A configurable redistributable is a merge module or an object that has at least one row in the ModuleConfiguration table that is referenced by at least one row in the ModuleSubstitution table. This enables you to change a value in the redistributable. When you select a configurable module in the Redistributables view, the Merge Module Configurable Values dialog box is displayed to enable you to configure the module at the time you add it. To customize the merge module later, right-click it and then click Configure merge module.
See Also
Adding InstallShield Prerequisites, Merge Modules, and Objects to Projects
Managing the Redistributables Gallery
Determining the Files in InstallShield Prerequisites, Merge Modules, and Objects
InstallShield Express Edition Help LibraryJune 2013 |
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