InstallShield 2012 Express Edition User Guide - Knowledge Base ...

Chapter 2: Getting Started
Upgrading to the Premier or Professional Editions of InstallShield
• Support for InstallScript—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include support for
InstallScript, a simple but powerful programming language. You can add InstallScript custom
actions to Windows Installer–based installations or create InstallScript projects, which use the
InstallScript engine instead of the Windows Installer engine to control the entire installation.
• Flexible custom action support—The Premier and Professional editions of InstallShield include
support for several custom action types that are not available in the Express edition. These extra
custom action types enable you to do the following: set a property, set a directory, call a public
method in a managed assembly, or display error message under certain conditions and abort the
installation.
• Merge module authoring and editing—Package pieces of a project for reuse across application
installations. Reuse those you create or any of the ones included in the product. Edit and open
modules for greater customization.
• Project templates—Create project templates that contain all of the default settings and design
elements that you want to use as a starting point when you create an installation project or merge
module project.
• Multiple IIS Web sites—The Express edition of InstallShield lets you install only one Web site per
installation. The Premier and Professional editions let you install more than one Web site per
installation.
• Support for IIS application pools and Web service extensions—Install and manage IIS application pools
and Web service extensions.
• SQL support—Connect to SQL servers, import database schema and data, associate SQL scripts with
features, and more with SQL support.
• Ability to modify text files or XML files—Use the Text File Changes view or the XML File Changes view
to configure files that you want to modify on the target system at run time.
• 64-bit support—Add 64-bit support to your installations.
• InstallShield Prerequisite Editor—Use this tool to create new InstallShield prerequisites and modify
existing ones.
• Custom icons for Setup.exe and Update.exe—Specify a custom icon (.exe, .dll, or .ico file) that you
want to use for Setup.exe and Update.exe files that you create at build time. The icon is displayed on
the Properties dialog box for Setup.exe and Update.exe; this Properties dialog box opens when end
users right-click the Setup.exe or Update.exe file and then click Properties. End users can also see
the icon when they view your Setup.exe file in Windows Explorer.
• Expiration dates for Setup.exe—Set an expiration date, as well as an expiration message, for
Setup.exe. If end users try to run Setup.exe on or after the date that you have specified in your
project, the expiration message is displayed, and the installation exits.
• Support for installation of multiple packages using transaction processing—Windows Installer 4.5 and
later include support for installing multiple packages using transaction processing. The Premier and
Professional editions of InstallShield let you add chained .msi packages to an installation project.
Your package, plus the added .msi packages, are chained together and processed as a single
transaction. If one or more of the packages in the transaction cannot be installed successfully or if
the end user cancels the installation, the Windows Installer initiates rollback for all packages to
restore the system to its earlier state.
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