Triggering Install Mode or Maintenance Mode of an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation

InstallShield 2015

Project: This information applies to the following project types:

Advanced UI
Suite/Advanced UI

Edition: The Advanced UI project type is available in the Professional edition of InstallShield. The Suite/Advanced UI project type is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield. For information about the differences between these two project types, see Advanced UI Projects vs. Suite/Advanced UI Projects.

An Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation runs in one of the following modes:

Install mode, in which the installation behaves as a first-time installation
Maintenance mode, in which the installation displays a wizard page that lets end users select whether they want to remove, repair, or modify the product

InstallShield creates install and maintenance mode conditions automatically in Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI projects. The mode conditions are not available for edit within InstallShield; they are shown only in the project file (.issuite). These mode conditions determine whether an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation runs in first-time installation mode or in maintenance mode.

Install Mode Condition

The install mode condition is based on the following factors:

Detection conditions—Part of the install mode condition consists of the detection conditions of all of the primary packages in the Suite/Advanced UI project (or, in an Advanced UI project, the one primary package). If none of the primary packages’ detection conditions evaluate as true (that is, if none of the primary packages are already installed), the detection condition part of the install mode condition is true. If one or more of the primary packages’ detection conditions evaluate as true (that is, at least one of the primary packages is already installed), the detection condition part of the install mode condition is false.
Suite Installed condition—The other part of the install mode condition consists of a Suite Installed condition, which may trigger the installation to run in first-time installation mode if the same version of the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation is absent from the target system. The Suite Installed part of the install mode condition compares the Suite GUID and the version of the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation with, if applicable, those of the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation that is installed on the target system. If these values are different, the Suite Installed part of the install mode condition suggests that the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation is absent, so a first-time installation may result. For more details about the Suite Installed type of condition check, see Detecting Whether a Specific Version of an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation Is Already Installed.

If all of the primary packages’ detection conditions evaluate as false, or if the Suite Installed condition indicates that the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation is not already installed, the install mode condition is true, and the installation runs as a first-time installation.

Maintenance Mode Condition

The maintenance mode condition is based on the detection conditions of all of the primary packages in the Suite/Advanced UI project (or, in an Advanced UI project, the one primary package). If any of the primary packages’ detection conditions evaluate as true (that is, if one or more of the primary packages are already installed), the mode condition is true, and the installation runs in maintenance mode.

Special Considerations for Suite/Advanced UI Projects with Web Deploy Packages

Web Deploy packages cannot be detected. These types of packages are typically intended to behave similarly to first-time installations or to install over existing earlier or identical versions. As a side effect, Web Deploy packages do not handle uninstallation. Thus, Suite/Advanced UI installations do not offer maintenance for this type of package. It is recommended that you avoid creating a Suite/Advanced UI installation that combines one or more Web Deploy packages with one or more traditional packages (that do offer maintenance) as primary packages.

See Also