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Specifying Features and Subfeatures in Function Calls

InstallShield 2014

Project: This information applies to the following project types:

Feature is a general term that refers to a set of components or subfeatures in InstallShield. A subfeature is a feature that is located below another feature—similar to the relationship between a folder and a subfolder.

Top-level features are the highest features in the hierarchy. Top-level features are never referred to as subfeatures.

How to Refer to Features and Subfeatures in InstallScript Code

Some feature functions and setup type dialog functions require you to refer to a single feature, while others require you to refer to multiple features.

Referring to Single Features

To refer to a single feature, use the feature’s name. To refer to a subfeature, use a path-like expression where the name of each feature in the hierarchy leading to that feature is separated by double backslashes. For example, to specify the subfeature Tutorials under the top-level feature Help Files, use the following expression in your installation script:

szFeature = "Help Files\\Tutorials";

To refer to the subfeature CBT under Tutorials, use the following:

szFeature = "Help Files\\Tutorials\\CBT";

Note that the name of a feature cannot contain backslashes.

Referring to Multiple Features

In InstallScript MSI installations, some feature and setup type dialog functions, such as SdFeatureMult, display multiple features and their subfeatures. In these cases, you refer to multiple features by specifying the feature immediately above them in the hierarchy. To refer to multiple top-level features, use a null string ("").

For example, if you pass a null string to the SdFeatureMult function, the corresponding dialog displays all the top-level features in your script-created component set in the left window on the SdFeatureMult dialog, depending on the value of the MEDIA system variable. All subfeatures appear in the right window on this dialog.

See Also

Feature Functions

Dialog Functions

Dialog Customization Functions