Build Tab for a Release

Enter the path to the top-level directory where your release will start to be built, or click the ellipsis button (...) to browse to the location.

To override the product name that was specified in the General Information view with a new value for the selected release, enter the appropriate name.

For information on how the product name is used, see Specifying a Product Name.

To override the GUID that was specified in the General Information view with a new value for the selected release, enter the appropriate GUID. The Suite GUID uniquely identifies the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation. To have InstallShield generate a different GUID for you, click the Generate a new GUID button ({...}) in this setting.

Since this code uniquely identifies your Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation, changing the Suite GUID after you have already distributed your release is not recommended.

Specify whether the release should be compressed:

As an alternative, you can use a custom compression method, which enables you to compress only the files that are associated with one or more features into .cab files. To set custom compression options, you must use the Release Configuration panel and the Custom Compression Settings panel in the Release Wizard.

Note that when you use the Release Wizard to configure custom compression, InstallShield changes the Compression setting in the Releases view to a read-only value of Custom (One Cab per Feature) or Custom (One Cab per Component). To change the compression from a custom method to the standard compressed method or the uncompressed method, you must use the Release Wizard again; you cannot do this from the Compression setting in the Releases view.

Note • The output of the build process depends on the media type that you are building (such as CD-ROM, DVD-5, or Network Image), whether compression is used (as specified in the Compression setting), whether you are including a setup launcher (as specified in the Setup Launcher setting on the Setup.exe tab), and whether you are using disk spanning (as specified in the Disk Spanning setting, which is applicable to CD-ROM, DVD, and Custom media types).

For example, if you select Compressed for the Compression setting, you select Yes for the Setup Launcher setting, and you are building a Network Image release, your data files are compressed into .cab files, and the .cab files are streamed into your Setup.exe file. If you select Uncompressed for the Compression setting, you select No for the Setup Launcher setting, and you are building a CD-ROM release that fits on one CD-ROM and uses automatic disk spanning, your data files are left uncompressed in a subfolder of the folder that contains the .msi file.

Specify whether the compiled script file (.inx file) is placed in a cabinet file (Yes), or it is placed uncompressed in the Disk1 disk image folder (No).

This read-only setting indicates how your installation is spread across different disks. You can select a different option through the Disk Spanning Options panel in the Release Wizard. Available options are:

This setting applies to the CD-ROM, DVD, and Custom media types.

Important • Multi-disk installations cannot be run from a non-removable media (for example, from a hard drive). If you want to test an installation that spans disks, you need to put the installation on your target media. If you do not, the installation will fail because of a limitation of the Windows Installer.

If the release is specific to one or more platforms, use this setting to indicate the platforms: click the value of this setting, and then click the ellipsis (...) button to specify the appropriate platforms.

If the platform specified for a component does not match one of the platforms that is selected for this setting, the component is not included in the release.

The default value for this setting is Use Project Settings. This value indicates that the release supports the platforms that are specified at the project level.

If you want to include certain components and exclude others based on the language that is selected for each component, click the ellipsis button (...) in this setting and specify the appropriate languages. If the language specified for a component does not match one of the languages that is selected for this setting, InstallShield does not include the component in the release.

By default, releases are language independent; that is, none of the project’s components are excluded from the release.

Use this setting if you want to include certain components and exclude others based on the language that is selected for each component. This setting also lets you specify which user interface languages you want to include in a release. If the language specified for a component does not match one of the languages that is selected for this setting, InstallShield does not include the component in the release. In addition, if a UI language that is included in the project does not match one of the languages that is selected for this setting, InstallShield does not include the UI strings in the release.

By default, releases are language independent; that is, none of the project’s components or UI strings are excluded from the release.

Note that if a language is not selected in the General Information view of a project, it is not listed as one of the available languages for the Language(s) setting.

Specify whether you want your installation to display the language selection dialog when the installation is run with a full user interface.

Tip • For Basic MSI projects—If you want the language selection dialog to be displayed, a Setup.exe setup launcher is required. To learn more, see Creating a Setup Launcher.

Enter the fully qualified path to a previous release (.msi file for an installation project, or .msm file for a merge module project) to minimize the size of future patch packages.

This setting corresponds to the Patch Optimization setting in the Release Wizard.

Note • If your package uses dynamic file linking, it is recommended that you specify a previous package in this setting so that the file keys are consistent across releases.

For more information, see Upgrade Considerations.

If you want InstallShield to create the .msi file and related files directly in the location that is specified in the Release Location setting, without any of the subfolders, select Yes.

To build the release if the release location is in <ISProjectDataFolder> or <ISProjectFolder>, click Build Tables & Refresh Files on the Build menu.

Release flags enable you to customize your installation by including or excluding certain items in each release. Enter the flags that you would like to include in this release. Separate multiple flags with a comma.

Project • For Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects—Once you have assigned release flags to your features, InstallShield prerequisites, and chained .msi packages, you can create a release that includes features, InstallShield prerequisites, and chained .msi packages based on those flags. By default, all features, InstallShield prerequisites, and chained .msi packages are included in a release. Once you specify a flag in either the Releases view or the Release Wizard, only unflagged items and items that contain the specified release flag are included in your installation.

For Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI projects—Once you have assigned release flags to features and packages in the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI project, you can create a release that includes features and packages based on those flags. By default, all features and packages are included in a release. Once you specify a flag in the Releases view, only unflagged items and items that contain the specified release flag are included in your installation.

Note • If a release does not have release flags, it will include all applicable items that have release flags. To include only unflagged items, specify a flag that does not exist. For example, you might use NoFlags. This way, only unflagged items are built into a release.

For Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects—Note that you can also specify release flags at the product configuration level. For more information, see Product Configuration Flags vs. Release Flags.

To override a path variable in your project at build time for the selected release, click the ellipsis button (...) in this setting, which launches the Path Variable Overrides dialog box. This dialog box lets you select one or more path variables that you want to override. InstallShield adds a new path variable setting for each path variable that you select. Configure each path variable setting as necessary.

Note that you can override user-defined path variables, environment variables, and registry variables that are configured in the Path Variables view; however, you cannot override predefined path variables such as <WindowsFolder>.

To learn more, see:

This read-only setting indicates which features are included in the built release. You can modify the value of this setting from the Features panel in the Release Wizard.

Specify whether the current release (the release that is selected in the Releases view) is a differential release—that is, a release that contains only those files that were absent from one or more of a specified set of existing releases—or a full release, which contains all your product’s files, so that your product can be installed on a system on which no version of your product is currently installed.

For more information, see Differential vs. Full Releases.

This setting is applicable only if Yes is selected for the Differential Media setting. Select the conditions for including InstallShield objects in your differential release.