Hi, am upgrading from the old IS pro 7.0 to InstallShield express 2010. A feature I can't seem to find is the ability for assigning certain attributes to filegroups with respect to upgrades. I had some file groups that were never to be overwritten on an upgrade, some if a newer version, if it was to be removed when uninstalling etc. Where can I apply this in the 2010 version? Cheers Jim
Filegroups were a concept specific to InstallShield Professional projects (now referred to as InstallScript projects in the Professional and Premier editions of Installshield). The Express edition does not support InstallScript projects, and therefore there is no equivalent option to filegroups available. Express builds MSI packages that install with the Windows Installer service. Windows Installer uses features and components to group the parts of an installation (note that Express only exposes feature level information, not components). During upgrades, Windows Installer makes the determination of whether to upgrade components or not (based on Windows Installer file versioning rules: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368599(VS.85).aspx).
Thanks Josh, I discovered the "installaiton/uninstallation" properties and "overwrite" properties can be set on a file by file basis. I assume this determines Window installers decision whether to overwrite certain files during an upgrade or not?
The file overwrite properties either allow for the following: - Windows Installer Versioning Rules: let MSI determine when a file should be installed/updated - Never overwrite: if the file already exists, tells MSI to not install the file - Always overwrite: Tricks Windows Installer into thinking the file always needs to be installed
There is a catch to using the always overwrite option in that Windows Installer may prompt for the original source media (such as during a maintenance/repair operation) since it will always attempt to install the file.
In general, Windows Installer excercises much tighter control over the installation process than was allowed with InstallScript/Pro installations.
