Upgrading Projects from InstallShield 2012 or Earlier

InstallShield 2016

The following information describes possible upgrade issues that may occur when you upgrade projects that were created with InstallShield 2012 and earlier to InstallShield 2016. It also alerts you to possible changes in behavior that you may notice between new InstallShield 2016 projects and projects that are upgraded from InstallShield 2012 or earlier to InstallShield 2016.

General Information about Upgrading Projects that Were Created in Earlier Versions of InstallShield

If you use InstallShield 2016 to open an project that was created with an earlier version, InstallShield 2016 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 with a file extension such as .772 (for an .ism project) or .2012 (for an .issuite project) before converting it. Delete the .772 or .2012 part from the original project’s file name if you want to reopen the project in the earlier version of InstallShield. Note that you cannot open InstallShield 2016 projects in earlier versions of InstallShield.

You can upgrade projects that were created with the following versions of InstallShield to InstallShield 2016: InstallShield 2012 and earlier, InstallShield 12 and earlier, InstallShield DevStudio, InstallShield Professional 7 and earlier, and InstallShield Developer 8 and earlier. Note that projects that were created with InstallShield MultiPlatform or InstallShield Universal cannot be upgraded to InstallShield 2016.

Changes that Affect All Projects (New and Upgraded Projects)

This section describes changes that affect both new projects and projects that are upgraded from earlier versions of InstallShield.

New Default Behavior When Launching an Earlier Version or the Same Version of a Suite/Advanced UI Installation on Target Systems

InstallShield now includes two Suite Installed conditions in each Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI project by default:

These new default conditions are available in all new Suite/Advanced UI projects. If you upgrade an InstallShield 2012 Suite project to InstallShield 2016, InstallShield automatically adds these default conditions to the project. To learn more about these conditions, see Detecting Whether a Specific Version of an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation Is Already Installed.

Previously, if an end user installed a particular version of a Suite installation on a target system on which a newer version of the Suite was already installed, the installation could permit the end user to install the older Suite version over the newer version. In addition, if an end user installed a particular version of a Suite installation on a target system on which the same version of the Suite was already installed, the Suite installation could run in first-time installation mode. Furthermore, if an end user installed a new version of a Suite installation on a target system on which an older version of the Suite was already installed, the Suite installation could run in maintenance mode.

Automation Interface Changes

If you use the automation interface with InstallShield or the Standalone Build, update your existing code to reflect the new ProgID: IswiAutoAutomation Interface Version.ISWiProject. The Standalone Automation Interface uses the same ISWiAutomationAutomation Interface Version.dll file that InstallShield uses, but it is installed to a different location.

Note that if you install the Standalone Build on the same machine as InstallShield, the last ISWiAutomationAutomation Interface Version.dll file that is registered is the one that is used.

Changes that Affect New Projects but Not Upgraded Projects

This section describes changes to InstallShield that may affect new projects but not projects that are upgraded from earlier versions. Note that you may need to make manual changes to upgraded projects.

Changes to the Default Behavior of New Combo Boxes in the Wizard Interface of Suite/Advanced UI Projects

If you create a new combo box control on a wizard page or a secondary window in a Suite/Advanced UI project in InstallShield 2016, the control is a box that contains a drop-down list of predefined values. The box is also a text box that lets end users enter a custom value. Previously, if you added a new combo box control in InstallShield 2012, the control contained a drop-down list, but it was not also a text box; that is, end users could not enter a custom value.

If you upgrade the project from InstallShield 2012 to InstallShield 2016, and if the Suite/Advanced UI wizard interface includes a combo box, the combo box is left as a drop-down list of predefined values, but it is not also a text box. To change the control to a drop-down list with the text box, set the CBS_DROPDOWNLIST style for this control to False.

See Also

What’s New in InstallShield 2012 Spring

Upgrading from Earlier InstallShield Versions

Open topic with navigation