I'm doing a Basic MSI project, and the way I have my project set up I'm only creating the directory structure using InstallShield components. I have a zipped folder being stored in the support directory containing all my resources that need to be copied into these folders, and then I extract and copy them over during installation.
My question is how do I determine the total free space required for my installation? I'm assuming InstallShield won't do it automatically the way I have things set up. Do I have to know the size of the zipped folder when it's compressed beforehand, or is there a way I can determine it's uncompressed size before extracting it?
Take a look at the ReserveCost Table where you can enter the amount of disk space needed by your application. You can uncompress the zip file you have and then use the size for each directory to approximate the numbers you enter in this table. If your zip files varies and you want these number to be dynamically calculated then you need to write a post build script that calculates the numbers and then writes them to the ReserveCost Table. Ideally, you want to include all the files in the components and not as a zip file.
Anyone have any idea why there is no setting to execute a post-build script? I'm using InstallShield 2010, it should be there according to the help pages.
The help topic "Postbuild Options Panel" suggests that setting is currently available only for InstallScript projects. Assuming the contents of your zip file are essentially the same every time, common practice seems to be to put the worst-case guess in the ReserveCost table of your project.
