Upgrades View

InstallShield 2016

Project • The Upgrades view is available in the following project types:

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Basic MSI

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InstallScript MSI

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MSI Database

•

Transform

Project-specific differences are noted where appropriate.

The Upgrades view provides a visual, integrated method for adding and authoring settings within the Upgrade table of an .msi database.

To add an upgrade item, right-click the Upgrade Windows Installer Setup node. The available options are:

Upgrades View Options

Option

Description

Major Upgrade Item

A major upgrade effectively uninstalls the existing installation of a product, and then installs the latest product version. A major upgrade is appropriate for substantial installation architecture changes that may or may not change the major version number of the product (such as upgrading version 1.1.0 to version 2.0.0). A major upgrade is required if any of the following are true:

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An existing component’s component code has changed, or a component has been removed from the product tree.

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The key file of an existing component has changed.

•

An existing feature has been moved in the product tree, or deleted from the product tree.

•

The name of the .msi file has changed.

For more information, see Creating Major Upgrades.

Minor Upgrade Item

Small updates and minor upgrades are functionally identical except the product version changes for a minor upgrade, but not a small update. A minor upgrade installs over an existing application while a major upgrade effectively uninstalls the existing installation of a product, and then installs the newer product version.

The functionality that is required to install a minor upgrade is in the Setup.exe launcher. For more information, see Run-Time Behavior for Minor Upgrades.

For more information, see Creating Minor Upgrades.

Automatic Upgrade Item

Note • The Automatic Upgrade Item option takes into account potential future changes in the product code and handles both major and minor upgrades. If you do not know the difference between upgrade types and/or do not care, consider choosing this upgrade option.

When you add an automatic upgrade item, the build engine determines which settings need to be populated into your installation to perform a successful upgrade of your previous installation. This option does not require any additional authoring of advanced settings on your part. For more information, see Configuring InstallShield to Automatically Determine the Upgrade Type.

Validate All Items

This option enables you to perform validation on the latest release or browse for a particular package to validate against a different release. For more information, see Validating Upgrades, Patches, and QuickPatch Packages.

Note • To validate a specific built upgrade item on demand, right-click the item and then click Validate Item.

Tip • Whenever you make changes in the Upgrades view, remember to rebuild your package before performing validation.

Upgrades View

InstallShield 2016 Help Library

August 2016