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

Chapter 17: Updating Applications
Working with Upgrades and QuickPatch Projects
Edition: InstallShield Express Edition enables you to create major upgrades as full-installation packages that remove an
earlier version of the product if it is present on the target machine before installing the new version. InstallShield Express
Edition also enables you to create minor upgrades packaged as QuickPatch packages. If you need to create small updates
or standard patches, consider upgrading to InstallShield Premier Edition or InstallShield Professional Edition.
Refer to the topics in this section to learn how to create upgrades and QuickPatch projects.
Understanding File Overwrite Rules
The Windows Installer service uses several file overwrite rules, by default, to determine whether a file
included in an upgrade should overwrite a file that already exists on the target system. The rules apply
when the REINSTALLMODE property uses the o setting to install over older files on the target system.
To change this behavior, you can replace the o option with one of the following values:
• p—Reinstall only if there is no equivalent file on the target system.
• e—Reinstall if the file is missing or if it is an earlier or equal version.
• d—Reinstall if file is missing or different.
• a—Reinstall all files, regardless of version.
Note that the setting for REINSTALLMODE applies to all of the features being installed; it cannot be
set for an individual feature. In addition, setting REINSTALLMODE to include a will likely cause
prompts for the original installation source during the application of a patch.
Updating the Package Code, the Product Version, and the
Product Code
Several Windows Installer codes help identify a product:
• Package Code—Part of the Summary Information Stream, the package code identifies a particular
database. The package code is not a Windows Installer property. Any two .msi databases with
identical package codes must have identical contents. Therefore, you should change the package
code for each build.
• ProductVersion—This is a Windows Installer property that contains the product version. Note that
Windows Installer uses only the first three fields of the ProductVersion property for version
comparisons. For example, for a product version of 1.2.3.4, the 4 is ignored. (Note that this is true
for comparisons of ProductVersion values, and not for file versions.)
• ProductCode—This is a Windows Installer property that contains the GUID of a product. Windows
Installer treats two products with different ProductCode GUIDs as unrelated, even if the values for
the ProductName property are the same.
• UpgradeCode—This is a Windows Installer property that contains a GUID representing the product
family. The UpgradeCode should be consistent across different versions and languages of a family
of related products for patching purposes. You can set the UpgradeCode for an upgrade in the
Upgrade Paths view.
InstallShield 2012 Express Edition User Guide ISE-1800-UG01 327