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What’s New in InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1

InstallShield 2015

InstallShield 2012 Spring Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes changes that offer support for the final released versions of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Visual Studio 2012. It also includes additional changes.

Important: If you want to open an InstallShield 2012 Spring Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI project (.issuite) in InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1, you must allow InstallShield to upgrade your project to InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1. InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1 Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI projects include support for functionality that was not available in these project types in InstallShield 2012 Spring, and this support needs to be added during the upgrade. Note that it is not possible to open InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1 Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI projects in earlier versions of InstallShield (including InstallShield 2012 Spring without SP1). Therefore, if multiple users need to open and modify your InstallShield projects, ensure that all of you apply the SP1 patch at the same time.

If you open an InstallShield 2012 Spring Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI project in InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1, InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1 displays a message box that asks you if you want to convert the project to the new version. If you reply that you do want to convert it, InstallShield creates a backup copy of the project before converting it.

Support for Adding Sideloading App Packages (.appx) to Suite/Advanced UI Projects

InstallShield now lets you add sideloading app packages (.appx) to a Suite/Advanced UI project. You can add this package type through the Packages view of the Suite/Advanced UI project just as you would add other types of packages to the project.

Sideloading an app is the process of installing an app without obtaining it through the Windows Store. This type of app is sometimes distributed to enterprise environments. Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 include support for sideloading apps.

This support is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Note that support for creating and building Suite/Advanced UI installations that include sideloading app packages (.appx) requires Windows Vista or later or Windows Server 2008 or later on the machine that has InstallShield or the Standalone Build.

For more information, see:

New AppX Package Type of Condition Check in Suite/Advanced UI and Advanced UI Projects

When you are building a conditional statement for an exit, detection, eligibility, or feature condition in a Suite/Advanced UI or Advanced UI project, you can select from a number of different types of checks that you want to be evaluated on target systems. Use the new AppX Package type of condition check to check target systems for the presence of a particular .appx package. The condition checks for a particular app name, and it can also check other information, such as the version.

For more information, see:

Support for Visual Studio 2012, .NET Framework 4.5, and Visual C++ 2012

InstallShield includes changes that offer support for the final released version of Visual Studio 2012, enabling development of installations and products within this version of the Visual Studio interface.

In addition, InstallShield includes two updated InstallShield prerequisites for the .NET Framework and two new InstallShield prerequisites for Visual C++:

You can add any of these prerequisites to Advanced UI, Basic MSI, InstallScript, InstallScript MSI, and Suite/Advanced UI projects.

The Web prerequisite for the .NET Framework requires an Internet connection. This prerequisite downloads the required redistributable files if appropriate. The full prerequisite is a stand-alone installation that does not require an Internet connection.

Additional Changes

For a list of issues that are resolved in InstallShield 2012 Spring SP1, see the release notes. The release notes are available from the Help menu in InstallShield.