InstallShield 2012 Spring Express Edition User Guide

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Preparing Installations for Update
Notification
FlexNet Connect provides a mechanism that enables you to automatically notify your Web-connected
end users when patches, updates, and product information for your application are ready for release.
FlexNet Connect helps you reduce the number of end users running old releases of your products and
prevent them from installing the wrong updates from your Web site.
FlexNet Connect Implementation
There are two cycles of tasks that you perform when using FlexNet Connect to automatically inform end
users about updates: initial deployment and update deployment. Once you have performed the initial
deployment steps for your application, each time you want to distribute an update of that application to
your customers, you perform the update deployment cycle of steps. To learn about the update
deployment steps, see Notifying End Users about Upgrades Using FlexNet Connect.
Initial Deployment
1. Use InstallShield to create the installation project for your application. FlexNet Connect should be
enabled in this project. When you enable FlexNet Connect, InstallShield includes the Software
Manager in your installation. This desktop tool ships with your application and provides a tool for
end users to view available updates.
2. Register your application with the FlexNet Connect Publisher site, a Web-based management portal.
3. Install your application and test it.
FlexNet Connect includes a variety of options that can be purchased together for a complete solution, or
separately for a customized solution. To learn more, visit the Flexera Software Web site.
Enabling Automatic Update Notification for a
Project
Enabling automatic update notification in your project adds about 600 KB of files to your installation.
These files must be distributed with your application in order for FlexNet Connect to work. If you cannot
afford to include these files in your installation because of bandwidth limitations or other reasons, you
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