ISWiRelease Object

Gets or sets the release's Execute Batch File property, which specifies the filename of a batch file or executable file to execute after the release build is complete.

Builds the current release. This is a full and complete build.

Gets or sets a string that identifies the top-level directory where the release will be built.

Rebuilds your .msi file and updates the Files table, including any new or changed files in your release.

After the Build method is run on the ISWiRelease object, BuildWarningCount contains the number of warnings that occurred while the build process was running.

Specifies where cached installation files should be stored on the end user's system. Use a hard-coded value such as C:\CachedFiles.

This property is used only if the CacheWebDownload property for the current build is set to True.

Sets the password for the .pfx file if the file has a password. InstallShield encrypts the password and stores it in your project file (.ism).

At build time, InstallShield uses the password to sign files with a .pfx file. If your certificate is protected by a password but you do not enter it in this setting, signing with a .pfx file fails.

Note • This property is not applicable if the certificate that you are using for signing is in a certificate store. Note that if the certificate was imported into the store with password protection, you will be prompted to enter the password at build time.

Set this property to True if you want all of the package's files compressed into the .msi file, the .msm file, or Setup.exe, if selected. A value of False means that your application files are placed uncompressed in subfolders of the release location.

Unlike the flexibility available in the Release Wizard's Custom Compression Settings panel, this property either compresses all or none of the files in the release.

Gets or sets the release's Copy To Folder property, which specifies a folder location to which to copy the release's disk image folders after the release build is complete. Existing folders with the same names as copied folders are overwritten but no folders are deleted.

Project • For Basic MSI, InstallScript MSI, and Merge Module projects, use the DistributeLoc property instead of CopyToFolder to distribute your release to a folder.

Set this property to True to generate a package definition file for your installation, False otherwise.

Gets or sets the language identifier for the default language of a given release. This property value overrides the default project language that is configured in the General Information view or the String Editor view.

For more information, see Setting the Default Project Language.

Gets or sets the digital certificate that you want to use to sign your release. InstallShield lets you choose between the following options:

Instead of hard-coding a path, you can use a path variable that is defined in the Path Variables view or part of the ISWiPathVariables collection. At build time, InstallShield replaces the path variable with the appropriate value.

To pass a certificate store string as the value, use the following convention:

*Store*StoreLocation:Cert Subject

For Store, pass one of the following values:

For StoreLocation, pass one of the following values:

For Cert Store, pass the subject of the certificate that you want to use.

To learn more, see Digital Signing and Security.

Set this to True if you want the build engine to automatically distribute the current release after each build to the location that you specify for the DistributeLoc or DistributeToURLLoc properties.

Note • When both the DistributeLoc and DistributeToURLLoc properties are specified, the release is copied to only the FTP location.

If you want to be able to automatically distribute your release to an FTP server, specify the FTP URL for the location for this property.

The DistributeAfterBuild property must be set to True.

Note • If you need to distribute your release to a path outside the FTP default folder, use a double slash (//). For example, to distribute your release to a root-level folder called myproduct, where the URL of the FTP server is ftp://ftp.mydomain.com, enter ftp://ftp.mydomain.com//myproduct for the FTP location.

When both the DistributeLoc and DistributeToURLLoc properties are specified, the release is copied to only the FTP location.

If a user name is required to upload to the FTP location that you are specifying, specify the user name for this property.

Set this to the active release name in your corresponding .NET Project file. Typical values would be Release and Debug.

Set this to one of the following values to indicate how you want to package the .NET Framework redistributable into your installation:

Set the command line that you want to pass to the setup inside of the .NET 1.1 redistributable (dotnetfx.exe).

Specify the language identifiers representing the additional .NET 1.1 language packs that you want to install.

Set this property to 1 if you want to ship .NET 1.1.

Set this property to True to display the Language Dialog from Setup.exe.

If you use the ExpirationDate property to set an expiration date, you can use the ExpirationMessage property to get or set the message that you want to be displayed at run time when an end user tries to launch Setup.exe on or after the expiration date.

Following is sample Visual Basic code that sets an expiration message.

pISWiRelease.ExpirationMessage = "This setup expired on %s. The setup will now exit."

Gets or sets the release's FTP Site Folder property, which specifies the folder on the FTP server to which you want to copy the disk image folders. This property is applicable only if the FTPHostAddress property is not empty.

Gets or sets the release's FTP Site Password property, which specifies the password for the user name that you enter in the FTPUserName property. This property is applicable only if the FTPHostAddress property is not empty.

Indicates whether you want to populate the MsiFileHash table for every unversioned file in your build.

Set this to True to populate the MsiFileHash table for every unversioned file in your build. Set this to False if you do not want to populate the MsiFileHash table. If this property is set to False, InstallShield builds any entries that are found in the project's MsiFileHash table (populated using the Direct Editor).

If you have already populated the MsiFileHash table for a particular file, the build uses that information instead of generating the information at build time.

Specifies the size, in kilobytes, of the cabinet (.cab) files built for the Web media type. Specify the value 0 (zero) to build a separate cabinet file for each component.

This property is used only if the WebType property for the current release is set to ewtIFTW (1) (Install From The Web).

Specify a command-line parameter to pass to vjredist.exe. Consult Microsoft Support for valid command-line parameters.

Set this property to True to display the J# Option dialog, which asks whether the end user wants to install the J# redistributable. If .NET 1.1 is also included in the setup, the dialog states that .NET 1.1 will also be installed.

Specify whether you want InstallShield to remove unused directories from the Directory table of the .msi file when you build this release. Available options are:

The default value is False.

Note • Under some conditions, predefined directories cannot be resolved, causing an installation to fail. Removing unused directories from the Directory table enables you to avoid unnecessary failures. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not keep unused directories.

Specifies the file description for the Properties dialog box of the Setup.exe file. You must set the UseMyVersionInfo property to True to override the default file description.

To learn more, see Customizing File Properties for the Setup Launcher.

Saves the log file location of the last build. Using this file location, you can view the log file of the last build.

Gets or sets the uniform resource locator (URL) for the location of the engine. This is the location that the installation file uses at run time to download the engine.

Name of the current release.

Specifies the base file name for the cabinet (.cab) file generated by the build process for a One-Click installation. The “.cab” extension is appended to the name you specify here. The generated file (or files) will be created in the Disk1 folder for the current release.

This property is used only if the GenerateOneClickInstall property for the current build is set to True.

Specifies the level of compression to use in your release's cabinet files. Setting this property to True generally decreases the size of your compressed files, but the build process may take more time to complete.

This property is used only if your release compresses some or all of its files.

Set this property to True to password-protect your setup. Specify a password in the LauncherPassword property.

This property is applicable only to releases that meet the following criteria:

Gets or sets the command that you want to be run after InstallShield has built and signed the release.

When you are specifying a command, you can use any path variables and environment variables that are defined in your project, instead of using a hard-coded path. You can also use certain variables that are defined specifically for build event commands. To learn more, see Specifying Commands that Run Before, During, and After Builds.

Following is sample Visual Basic code that sets two commands:

pISWiRelease.PostbuildEvent = "Event1" + vbCrLf + "Event2"

At build time, InstallShield runs each command in the order that they are listed. The build waits until a command finishes before proceeding to the next one.

Edition • This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Gets or sets the command that you want to be run after InstallShield has built the .msi package and the .cab files (if your product’s data files are to be stored in .cab files). Note that this event occurs after .cab files are streamed into the .msi package, but before the .msi package has been digitally signed and streamed into the Setup.exe file.

When you are specifying a command, you can use any path variables and environment variables that are defined in your project, instead of using a hard-coded path. You can also use certain variables that are defined specifically for build event commands. To learn more, see Specifying Commands that Run Before, During, and After Builds.

Following is sample Visual Basic code that sets two commands:

pISWiRelease.PrecompressionEvent = "Event1" + vbCrLf + "Event2"

At build time, InstallShield runs each command in the order that they are listed. The build waits until a command finishes before proceeding to the next one.

Edition • This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Specifies the fully qualified path to a previous release (.msi file) to minimize the size of future patch packages.

Gets or sets the minimum level required by your installation’s Setup.exe file for running the installation (the setup launcher, any InstallShield prerequisites, and the .msi file) on Windows Vista and later platforms. The available options are:

For more information, see Minimizing the Number of User Account Control Prompts During Installation.

Set this property to True to create a Setup.exe setup launcher for the current release.

The SetupEXE property and the TargetOS property correspond with the Setup Launcher setting on the Setup.exe tab in the Releases view.

To learn about scenarios that require a setup launcher, see Creating a Setup Launcher.

This Boolean property gets or sets the release's Show Password Dialog property, which specifies whether to execute the password-checking code in the OnCheckMediaPassword event handler function's default code. This property is applicable only if you specify a non-null password in the Media Password property.

Specify any files and file patterns that you do not want to be digitally signed at build time. Note the following guidelines:

Using wild-card characters is especially helpful if you include dynamically linked files in your project and you want to avoid signing any files that match a certain pattern.

Specify whether you want InstallShield to sign your original files or just the files that are built into the release:

The default value of this property is set to False.

The benefit of specifying True for a Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI project is that it helps create one patch that updates both compressed and uncompressed versions of a release that contains originally unsigned files.

Set this property to indicate whether to digitally sign your media, and if so, which files should be signed.

Gets or sets the release’s Single Exe File Name setting, which specifies the file name (including extension) of a self-extracting executable file that runs the installation. If the property's value is null, no self-extracting executable file is created.

Gets or sets the release's Specify Skin setting, which specifies the dialog box skin that is applied to this release. This property is applicable only if the UseProjectSkin property is set to True.

Gets or sets a list of language IDs that determines which components are included in the release. Only language-independent components and components of the specified languages are built into the release if the FilterLangs property is set to True.

Use the decimal value of the language ID and separate multiple language with a comma.

Gets or sets the release's Supported Version(s) property, which specifies a semicolon-delimited list of version numbers (for example, 1.2.3;1.2.4) of the earlier versions of your product to which this release can be applied as an update. If you leave this field blank, the setup can be run on a system on which any earlier version, or no version, of your product is currently installed. This property is applicable only if the EnableDifference property is set to False.

Gets or sets a value that determines which platform version of Windows Installer should be included in the release. Specify one of the following values:

The SetupEXE property and the TargetOS property correspond with the Setup Launcher setting on the Setup.exe tab in the Releases view.

Note • This setting applies to redistributables for Windows Installer 3.1 and earlier. For information on Windows Installer 4.5 redistributables, see Adding Windows Installer Redistributables to Projects. Note that Windows Installer 4.0 is not available as a redistributable.

Set this property to True to override the default InstallShield copyright information for Setup.exe. You can specify your copyright information in the LauncherCopyright property.

This property is applicable only to releases that meet the following criteria:

This Boolean property gets or sets whether the release's Specify Skin property is set to Use Project Setting, which uses the skin that is selected in the Dialogs view's Skins folder.

Edition • This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

If a password is specified for the VM configuration that is selected through the VMConfig property, that password is considered to be the default value for the VMMachinePassword property. To override the password for the selected release, set the VMMachinePassword property.

To learn more about VM distribution, see Distributing Releases to a Virtual Machine that InstallShield Provisions at Build Time or on Demand.

Edition • This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Optionally gets or sets the name of the snapshot that you want to use for distributing the release.

If a snapshot is specified for the VM configuration that is selected through the VMConfig property, the name of that snapshot is considered to be the default value for the VMSnapShot property.

If no snapshot is specified for the VM configuration, InstallShield does not revert to a specific snapshot. InstallShield powers on the VM without reverting it to a specific snapshot, and copies your installation to the VM.

To learn more about VM distribution, see Distributing Releases to a Virtual Machine that InstallShield Provisions at Build Time or on Demand.

Edition • This property is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield.

Specify whether you want InstallShield to automatically distribute the selected release each time that it is successfully built. Distributing the release to the VM involves the following tasks:

To learn more about VM distribution, see Distributing Releases to a Virtual Machine that InstallShield Provisions at Build Time or on Demand.

Gets or sets the release's Web Page URL setting, which specifies the location of the Web page that should be launched if you click the Run From Web command on the Build menu in InstallShield:

If nothing is entered for this property, InstallShield creates a Setup.htm file at build time and places it in the Disk1 folder.

If you do enter a URL for this property, do not include the name of the page, and do not include an ending forward slash. For example, if the full URL for the Setup.htm file is http://www.mypages.com/setup/Setup.htm, enter the following as the Web page URL: http://www.mypages.com/setup

When you click the Run from Web command on the Build menu, InstallShield launches the appropriate URL (http://www.mypages.com/setup/Setup.htm, in the aforementioned example).