ISWiRelease Object

Set the retail or debug build of the C++ runtime that matches the one used in your product. Valid values are:

This property can only be set to above valid values.

Note:Setting this property does not cause the dependency packages to be installed in sideloading scenarios. For those scenarios, the dependency may have to be delivered manually. Also, the debug versions of the C++ runtime are only useful for internal testing and cannot be uploaded to the Windows Store. For local testing or sideloading, you may also have to deploy the framework package that is included in the Windows 10 SDK.

Gets or sets a list of Windows App packages to merge into the resulting package.

Registry data and files from the VFS are copied into this package, but any duplicates of data already in the package are omitted.

Gets or sets the subject name (owner name) of the certificate that will be used to sign the package.

If a package is distributed through the Windows Store, it doesn't need to be signed before it's uploaded to Microsoft, in which case a signing certificate may be skipped. If a package is sideloaded, it may or may not need to be signed, depending on how your customers expect to handle the package:

Set a type of package that you want to be built as part of the release build process. This property converts your Windows desktop application to the modern Windows app packaging format. Available string values for this property are:

To set the required type of package via the AppxPackageType property, the WindowsAppPackage property must be initially set to True.

If you attempt to set an invalid string value for the AppxPackageType property, it will defaults to the Appx string.

Gets or sets the string that end users recognize as the name of the package. This is typically the name of the application. When you set a value for this property, you are creating a string entry and setting its initial value for all of the languages that are currently in the project.

Note:Localization of Windows App packages requires the Windows 10 SDK be installed on the same machine as InstallShield. If it is not present, InstallShield will build a Windows App package containing only the default language.

Specify whether you want to include “full trust” apps and other Desktop Bridge extensions as part of the core Windows App package (.appx/.msixWindows App) format.

Setting this property to True allows you to set the additional properties to specify a minimum Windows version and maximum tested Windows version supported by the included apps and desktop extensions.

Setting this property to False triggers warnings for any such items that cannot be represented.

By default, the AppxTargetDesktop property is set to True.

Gets or sets the app's minimum supported Windows version. The version must contain only numbers and it requires four parts using the following format (with values in each part ranging from 0 to 65535): majorversion.minorversion.buildnumber.revisionnumber, such as:

1.0.0.60325

Use as few characters as possible. For example, do not use unnecessary leading zeros; instead of entering 14.00.25.1, enter thefollowing:

14.0.25.1

To set the AppxTargetDesktopMinVersion property, the AppxTargetDesktop property must be initially set to True.

Gets or sets the MSIX app's maximum supported tested Windows version. The version must contain only numbers and it requires four parts using the following format (with values in each part ranging from 0 to 65535): majorversion.minorversion.buildnumber.revisionnumber, such as:

1.0.0.60325

Use as few characters as possible. For example, do not use unnecessary leading zeros; instead of entering 14.00.25.1, enter the following:

14.0.25.1

To set the AppxTargetMSIXCoreMaxVersion property, the AppxTargetMSIXCore property must be initially set to True.

Specify whether you want to include Windows Server extensions as part of the core Windows App package (.appx/.msixWindows App) format.

Setting this property to True allows you to set the additional properties to specify the minimum Windows Server operating system and maximum tested Windows Server operating system supported by the included apps. By default, the AppxTargetSever property is set to True.

Setting this property to False triggers warnings for any items that cannot be represented.

Tip:When using InstallShield to create a Windows App package, choose to include either desktop extensions or server extensions, but not both. Although a Windows App package can contain both desktop and server extensions, targeting one set over the other is a more likely scenario.

Gets or sets the app's minimum supported Windows server operating system version. The version must contain only numbers and it requires four parts using the following format (with values in each part ranging from 0 to 65535): majorversion.minorversion.buildnumber.revisionnumber, such as:

1.0.0.60325

Use as few characters as possible. For example, do not use unnecessary leading zeros; instead of entering 14.00.25.1, enter the following:

14.0.25.1

To set the AppxTargetServerMinVersion property, the AppxTargetServer property must be initially set to True.

This property indicates which browsers a One-Click Install type of installation will support. Specify the following value:

This property applies only to One-Click Web releases.

After the Build method is run on the ISWiRelease object, BuildErrorCount contains the number of errors that occurred while the build process was running.

Builds only the Windows Installer tables of the current release.

If you want the Windows Installer database, along with any instance or language transforms, to be built using the UTF-8 encoding, set this Boolean property to True. The UTF-8 encoding supports characters from all languages simultaneously, enabling you to mix and match, for example, Japanese and German, or Russian and Polish, both in text shown to end users and in file names and registry keys. These mixed languages work correctly regardless of the current language of the target system. However, some scenarios result in user interface issues. For example, if an end user specifies the /qb command-line option or uninstalls the product from Add or Remove Programs, Windows Installer uses very small fonts to display the user interface text in a UTF-8 database.

If you set this property to True, InstallShield creates an ANSI database when you build your release. This option does not let you mix characters from languages in different code pages.

If the Compressed property is set to True, you can use this CabCompressionType property to specify the type of compression that InstallShield should use when building this release’s .cab files. Available options are:

Important:Using compression generally decreases the size of your compressed files, but the build process may take more time to complete. Depending on the number and size of the files being compressed, the LZX compression and the build may take hours to complete. Therefore, if you select the LZX option, it is recommended that your build machine have the latest hardware to minimize the time that it takes for the build to complete.

Specifies whether the installation files for the current build should be cached on the target system. Set this to True to cache the installation files on the target system for use with application maintenance and repair.

Use the CachePath property to indicate where the cached files should be stored on the end user's system.

This property is used only if the WebType property for the current build is set to ewtOneExe (2) (one executable).

Gets or sets the URL that is used in your digital certificate to link to a location that you would like end users to visit to learn more about your product, organization, or company. Use a fully qualified URL—for example, http://www.mydomain.com.

This Boolean property gets or sets the release's Compress Script property, which specifies whether the compiled script file (.inx file) is placed in a cabinet file (True) or is placed uncompressed in the Disk1 disk image folder (False).

Set this property to True to create an Autorun.inf file at the root of your release location.

Gets or sets the Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP).

Note:The Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) name can be obtained from the Private Key Certificate properties of a user certificate in the EV Vendor Authentication Client tool.

Gets or sets the command-line argument for a sign tool’s configurationto digitally sign build-generated files.

For example, command-line argument below can be used if the Microsoft built-in signing tool is configured as a custom option to sign the binaries:

sign /fd SHA256 /f "<ProgramFilesFolder>\testCA.pfx" /t http://timestamp.digicert.com /p MyPassword [filename]

The [filename] variable is a place holder for full file path to be signed. It resolves to full path of the binary file to be signed during build time. By default, a file path will be added at the end of an argument and passed to a custom sign tool. Instead of using a hard-coded path, you can use the path variables or environment variables that are defined in your project.

Note:You can use this property if the value of the SigningType property is eesCustom (1).

Gets or sets the language identifier for the default language of a given release. This property value overrides the default project language that is configured in the General Information view or the String Editor view.

For more information, see Setting the Default Project Language.

Gets or sets the digital certificate that you want to use to sign your release. InstallShield lets you choose between the following options:

Instead of hard-coding a path, you can use a path variable that is defined in the Path Variables view or part of the ISWiPathVariables collection. At build time, InstallShield replaces the path variable with the appropriate value.

To pass a certificate store string as the value, use the following convention:

*Store*StoreLocation:Cert Subject

For Store, pass one of the following values:

For StoreLocation, pass one of the following values:

For Cert Store, pass the subject of the certificate that you want to use.

To learn more, see Digital Signing and Security.

Set this to True if you want the build engine to automatically distribute the current release after each build to the location that you specify for the DistributeLoc or DistributeToURLLoc properties.

Note:When both the DistributeLoc and DistributeToURLLoc properties are specified, the release is copied to only the FTP location.

If you want to be able to automatically distribute your release to an FTP server, specify the FTP URL for the location for this property.

The DistributeAfterBuild property must be set to True.

Note:If you need to distribute your release to a path outside the FTP default folder, use a double slash (//). For example, to distribute your release to a root-level folder called myproduct, where the URL of the FTP server is ftp://ftp.mydomain.com, enter ftp://ftp.mydomain.com//myproduct for the FTP location.

When both the DistributeLoc and DistributeToURLLoc properties are specified, the release is copied to only the FTP location.

If a user name is required to upload to the FTP location that you are specifying, specify the user name for this property.

Set this to the active release name in your corresponding .NET Project file. Typical values would be Release and Debug.

Set this to one of the following values to indicate how you want to package the .NET Framework redistributable into your installation:

Set the command line that you want to pass to the setup inside of the .NET 1.1 redistributable (dotnetfx.exe).

Specify the language identifiers representing the additional .NET 1.1 language packs that you want to install.

Set this property to 1 if you want to ship .NET 1.1.

Set this property to True to display the Language Dialog from Setup.exe.

If you use the ExpirationDate property to set an expiration date, you can use the ExpirationMessage property to get or set the message that you want to be displayed at run time when an end user tries to launch Setup.exe on or after the expiration date.

Following is sample Visual Basic code that sets an expiration message.

pISWiRelease.ExpirationMessage = "This setup expired on %s. The setup will now exit."

Gets or sets the release's FTP Site Folder property, which specifies the folder on the FTP server to which you want to copy the disk image folders. This property is applicable only if the FTPHostAddress property is not empty.

Gets or sets the release's FTP Site Password property, which specifies the password for the user name that you enter in the FTPUserName property. This property is applicable only if the FTPHostAddress property is not empty.

Indicates whether you want to populate the MsiFileHash table for every unversioned file in your build.

Set this to True to populate the MsiFileHash table for every unversioned file in your build. Set this to False if you do not want to populate the MsiFileHash table. If this property is set to False, InstallShield builds any entries that are found in the project's MsiFileHash table (populated using the Direct Editor).

If you have already populated the MsiFileHash table for a particular file, the build uses that information instead of generating the information at build time.

Specifies the size, in kilobytes, of the cabinet (.cab) files built for the Web media type. Specify the value 0 (zero) to build a separate cabinet file for each component.

This property is used only if the WebType property for the current release is set to ewtIFTW (1) (Install From The Web).

Specify a command-line parameter to pass to vjredist.exe. Consult Microsoft Support for valid command-line parameters.

Set this property to True to display the J# Option dialog, which asks whether the end user wants to install the J# redistributable. If .NET 1.1 is also included in the setup, the dialog states that .NET 1.1 will also be installed.

Specify whether you want InstallShield to remove unused directories from the Directory table of the .msi file when you build this release. Available options are:

The default value is False.

Note:Under some conditions, predefined directories cannot be resolved, causing an installation to fail. Removing unused directories from the Directory table enables you to avoid unnecessary failures. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not keep unused directories.

Specifies the copyright information for the Properties dialog box of the Setup.exe file. You must set the UseMyVersionInfo property to True to override the default copyright information.

To learn more, see Customizing File Properties for the Setup Launcher.

Specifies the file version for the Properties dialog box of the Setup.exe file. You must set the UseMyVersionInfo property to True to override the default file version.

To learn more, see Customizing File Properties for the Setup Launcher.

Saves the log file location of the last build. Using this file location, you can view the log file of the last build.

Gets or sets the uniform resource locator (URL) for the location of the engine. This is the location that the installation file uses at run time to download the engine.

Gets or sets the App Installer file location.

The App Installer file can be hosted in a shared location like a HTTP endpoint or a UNC shared folder or a local file share, and includes the path to find the MSIX packages to be installed. Users install the app from the shared location or from the web and enable periodic checks for new updates.

Specify whether you want to allow the check for app updates in the background regardless the app is launched or not.

Setting this property to True enables the check for updates in the background regardless the app is launched or not. A check is made every 8 hours independently of whether the user launched the app.

Setting this property to False disables the check for updates in the background regardless the app is launched or not.

Set the frequency with which you want the deployment service will check for an update to the App Installer file. Valid values for this property are: 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 24.

This property can only be set to valid values.

If the MsixHoursBetweenUpdateCheck property is set to 0, the deployment service will check for updates every time the application is launched.

For other valid values, the deployment service will check for updates when the application is launched only if it hasn't previously checked within last number of hours set for the MsixHoursBetweenUpdateCheck property. For example, if the MsixHoursBetweenUpdateCheck property is set to 16, the deployments service will check for updates when the application is launched, but only if it hasn't already checked for updates in the last 16 hours. When an update is available, the Windows deployment service will automatically download it. The update will be installed once the application is closed.

To set the MsixHoursBetweenUpdateCheck property to its required valid value, the UpdateSettingsOnAppLaunch property must be initially set to True.

Set this property to True if you want that deployment will display a prompt to inform the user about the update. Updates are available in Windows 10, version 1903 and later. For latest updates, refer to Microsoft documentation

Set this property to False if you do not want that deployment will display a prompt to notify the user about the update.

To set the MsixShowPrompt property to its required value, the UpdateSettingsOnAppLaunch must be initially set to True.

Name of the current release.

Specifies the base file name for the cabinet (.cab) file generated by the build process for a One-Click installation. The “.cab” extension is appended to the name you specify here. The generated file (or files) will be created in the Disk1 folder for the current release.

This property is used only if the GenerateOneClickInstall property for the current build is set to True.

Specifies the level of compression to use in your release's cabinet files. Setting this property to True generally decreases the size of your compressed files, but the build process may take more time to complete.

This property is used only if your release compresses some or all of its files.

Set this property to True to password-protect your setup. Specify a password in the LauncherPassword property.

This property is applicable only to releases that meet the following criteria:

Gets or sets the command that you want to be run after InstallShield has built and signed the release.

When you are specifying a command, you can use any path variables and environment variables that are defined in your project, instead of using a hard-coded path. You can also use certain variables that are defined specifically for build event commands. To learn more, see Specifying Commands that Run Before, During, and After Builds.

Following is sample Visual Basic code that sets two commands:

pISWiRelease.PostbuildEvent = "Event1" + vbCrLf + "Event2"

At build time, InstallShield runs each command in the order that they are listed. The build waits until a command finishes before proceeding to the next one.

Edition:This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Gets or sets the command that you want to be run during InstallShield build. This event runs after InstallShield creates the release folder and log file, but before InstallShield streams the InstallShield build generated DLLs into the .msi package or Setup.exe file.

For InstallScript and InstallScript Object, specify the path of batch file (.bat or .cmd) or executable file (.exe) to be executed.

When you are specifying a command, you can use any path variables and environment variables that are defined in your project, instead of using a hard-coded path. You can also use certain variables that are defined specifically for build event commands. To learn more, see Specifying Commands that Run Before, During, and After Builds.

Edition:This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Gets or sets the release’s Compiler Preprocessor Defines setting, which specifies any preprocessor variable definitions.

Gets or sets a string that contains the release flags that you want to use to filter your features. Separate multiple flags with a comma.

Gets or sets the release's Setup Command Line property, which specifies any command line parameters you want to pass to Setup.exe when the setup is launched.

Set this property to create the .msi file and related files directly in the Release Location without any of the subfolders.

If you want to sign any of the files in your release, set this Boolean property to True and then use the SignFilesInclude and SignFilesExclude properties to indicate which files should be signed.

Windows Logo Guideline:All executable files (including .exe, .dll, .ocx, .sys, .cpl, .drv, and .scr files) in an installation must be digitally signed for the Windows logo program.

Specify the files and file patterns that you want to be digitally signed at build time. Note the following guidelines:

Using wild-card characters is especially helpful if you include dynamically linked files in your project and you want to sign all files that match a certain pattern.

Gets or sets the method to digitally sign the build-generated files. Use the following options to set this property:

Note:By default, the value of the SigningType property is eesBuiltIn (0) to select the standard method.

Set this property to indicate whether to digitally sign your media, and if so, which files should be signed.

Gets or sets the release’s Single Exe File Name setting, which specifies the file name (including extension) of a self-extracting executable file that runs the installation. If the property's value is null, no self-extracting executable file is created.

Gets or sets the release's Specify Skin setting, which specifies the dialog box skin that is applied to this release. This property is applicable only if the UseProjectSkin property is set to True.

Gets or sets a list of language IDs that determines which components are included in the release. Only language-independent components and components of the specified languages are built into the release if the FilterLangs property is set to True.

Use the decimal value of the language ID and separate multiple language with a comma.

Gets or sets the release's Supported Version(s) property, which specifies a semicolon-delimited list of version numbers (for example, 1.2.3;1.2.4) of the earlier versions of your product to which this release can be applied as an update. If you leave this field blank, the setup can be run on a system on which any earlier version, or no version, of your product is currently installed. This property is applicable only if the EnableDifference property is set to False.

Gets or sets a value that determines which platform version of Windows Installer should be included in the release. Specify one of the following values:

The SetupEXE property and the TargetOS property correspond with the Setup Launcher setting on the Setup.exe tab in the Releases view.

Note:This setting applies to redistributables for Windows Installer 3.1 and earlier. For information on Windows Installer 4.5 redistributables, see Adding Windows Installer Redistributables to Projects. Note that Windows Installer 4.0 is not available as a redistributable.

Set this property to True if you want to configure the update properties for the MSIX package during app launch by setting the MsixHoursBetweenUpdateCheck, MsixShowPrompt, and MsixUpdateBlocksActivation properties.

Set this property to False if you don’t want to configure the update properties for the MSIX package during app launch.

Set this property to True if you want to use the 64-bit signing framework to digitally sign your package.

Set this property to False if you want to use the 32-bit signing framework to digitally sign your package.

If you used test values for any of your path variables, set this property to True to set those variables to their actual values at this time.

Edition:This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Gets or sets the name of the group of VM configuration settings that you want to use when distributing the selected release to a VM.

To learn more about VM distribution, see Distributing Releases to a Virtual Machine that InstallShield Provisions at Build Time or on Demand.

Edition:This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

If a user name is specified for the VM configuration that is selected through the VMConfig property, that user name is considered to be the default value for the VMMachineUserName property. To override the user name for the selected release, set the VMMachineUserName property.

To learn more about VM distribution, see Distributing Releases to a Virtual Machine that InstallShield Provisions at Build Time or on Demand.

Edition:This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

The copy path identifies the location on the VM where the release is to be distributed. The last subfolder in the path can be a path that InstallShield creates on the VM; the other folders in the path must already exist.

If a destination path is specified for the VM configuration that is selected through the VMConfig property, that destination path is considered to be the default value for the VMStageMachineCopyPath property. To override the destination path for the selected release, set the VMStageMachineCopyPath property.

To learn more about VM distribution, see Distributing Releases to a Virtual Machine that InstallShield Provisions at Build Time or on Demand.

This Boolean property gets or sets the release's Create Default Web Page setting, which specifies whether InstallShield should create a default Web page (.htm file) and place it in the Disk1 folder.

Indicates the configuration of your Web installation setup package. Set this property to one of the following:

Application maintenance and repair use the URL specified in the URLForYourFiles property as the installation source.