InstallShield 2012 Spring Express Edition User Guide

Chapter 1: InstallShield 2012 Spring Express Edition
What Was New in Earlier Versions of InstallShield Express Edition
For more information, see Modifying the List of Available Windows Mobile Platforms or their
Associated Settings.
Ability to Compress .cab Files for Windows Mobile–Powered Device Installations
The Device Files panel in the Windows Mobile Wizard and the Smart Device Setup Wizard now lets you
specify whether you want to compress the .cab files that are created for Windows Mobile–powered
devices at build time. Previously, InstallShield did not have any support for building compressed .cab
files.
This functionality applies to Express and Smart Device projects.
.NET Compact Framework 3.5 and SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 Redistributables Now
Available for Mobile Devices
Several new redistributables are available for mobile device installations: .NET Compact Framework
3.5, SQL Server Compact 3.5, SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication, and SQL 3.5 Client. This applies to
Express and Smart Device projects.
New FlexNet Connect 11 Redistributables Available
InstallShield includes support for FlexNet Connect 11. Use the Update Notifications view in InstallShield
to include one of the two FlexNet Connect 11 merge modules—one has the Common Software Manager,
and the other does not.
Enhancements
InstallShield 2009 Express Edition includes the following enhancements.
Best Practice Dynamic File Linking
When you add or modify a dynamic file link in your project, you can now specify which component
creation method you want InstallShield to use: a new best practice method, or the previously available
one-component-per-directory method.
A component is the smallest installable part of a product. The Express edition of InstallShield creates
components for you automatically.
When best practices for component creation are followed, InstallShield creates a separate component
for each portable executable (PE) file in the dynamically linked folder and sets each PE file as the key file
of its component. This method of component creation, in combination with the streamlined QuickPatch
package functionality, enables you to create patches according to Windows Installer component rules.
Previously, any time that you added dynamic file links to a project, InstallShield automatically created
one component for all of the dynamically linked files at build time. However, if your dynamic file link
included PE files, Windows Installer best practices for component creation were not followed.
By default, InstallShield considers the following file types to be PE files: .exe, .dll, .ocx, .vxd, .chm, .hlp,
.tlb, and .ax. You can modify this list through the File Extensions tab on the Options dialog box.
The best practice dynamic file linking applies to Express projects.
To learn more, see:
• Determining the Appropriate Component Creation Method for Dynamically Linked Files
• File Extensions Tab
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