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

Chapter 1: InstallShield 2012 Express Edition
What Was New in Earlier Versions of InstallShield Express Edition
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
Ability to Install IIS Web Sites Without Virtual Directories
InstallShield now includes support for installing IIS Web sites without any virtual directories. This
support is available for all new Web sites that are created in InstallShield.
Previously, InstallShield did not include support for installing Web sites without virtual directories.
Therefore, if a Web site in an installation did not have any virtual directories, the Web site would not be
created at run time.
Note that if you upgrade an InstallShield 2008 or earlier project to InstallShield 2012 Express Edition,
and the project already contains a Web site, the Web site cannot be installed if it does not have any
virtual directories. In order to be able to install the Web site without virtual directories, you must
manually delete it from your InstallShield 2012 Express Edition project, and then re-add it to your
project as a new Web site.
This enhancement applies to Express projects.
To learn more, see Creating a Web Site and Adding an Application or a Virtual Directory.
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