Is it possible to leave source files open and dynamic?

[pbsdis]

Hi,

As an InstallShield developer, I am kind of shame to ask the question - I know it's not allowed by IS as a normal practice, but I just want to get some wild ideas here:

We make package and seal everything in it (say a CD), is it POSSIBLE that we can create a folder on the CD (say /DATA) and put the source files for a feature/component of the product, AND, other people later can burn another CD that can update files in /DATA and the image is still installable?

I originally thought about it couple years ago and knew it's impossible, but I wonder if there are anybody else thinking the same thing thereafter and got any workarounds for it?

Forgive my wild imaginations :confused:


Regards,
PB

[Johannes_T]

Hi!
Perhaps, I don't understand what your question is. If you only want to install files and registry entries (more?), the why simply copy files from a folder (on the install medium) to the target dir and import registry files?
Greetings, Johannes

[pbsdis]

Johannes,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually we are building packages for a customer, and they asked if we can build a package for him (DVD), they want to have their source included in the DVD, so the package (setup.exe or .msi) can grab the source to install. AND more importantly which triggered me to post the question: they want to burn new DVD in the future to modify their source on the DVD and still use it to install. I think it's undoable with InstallShield, unless you build another package for each new DVD, but just want to see if there are any tricks that I don't know that can work this out.


Regards,
PB

[Johannes_T]

Hi PB,
I'm doing similar things with a very old version of Install Shield. When an release gets new files, I simply build a z file (yes, very old) and place that on the cd. Doesn't matter to the script, what I place there, every file is extracted and copied to the target location. Another way: A directory in the dvd where you place the mentioned source files, the installation then does a simple xcopyfile(sourceFolder... *.* , taregtFolder, INCLUDE_SUBDIR) and you should get what you want, right?

Greetings, Johannes

[peterbi]

Johannes,

Thanks for your information.

The key problem I think of is that the customer doesn't have any version of InstallShield, in other words, they can't run any building at all. They wish, when there are updated sources, just use a new CD/DVD and copy new sources to somewhere in the new CD/DVD, then also copy the original image (part or all) to the new CD/DVD, and the new CD/DVD will do the install with the updated sources. I can't see the ability of packages built with InstallShield to do such 'magic' work, at least with 'normal' practices.

I even not mentioned 'upgrade' here, which I also think impossible at all.

In your last post, you mentioned

"When an release gets new files, I simply build a z file (yes, very old) and place that on the cd."

So you do run building for a new package, that not applies to my situation - the customer wants to have new 'package' without InstallShield.

I have been thinking to include external program (c/cpp app, script, etc.) that can be spawn by Setup.exe, but there are so many questions, such as 1) how to make Setup.exe to start the program? 2) in upgrade, how to make setup.exe to detect that it's upgrade, and thus just run the program, but not the original installer? So on and so on.

Thanks,
Peter