Events Tab for a Release

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

Specify the command that you want to be run before InstallShield starts building the release. This event runs after InstallShield creates the release folder and log file, but before InstallShield starts building the release.

To specify more than one command, click the ellipsis button (...) in this setting, which opens the Prebuild Event dialog box. Enter each command on a separate line in this dialog box. 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.

When you are entering 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.

To launch a batch file (.bat) or executable file (.exe) after the release has been built, enter the path to the file, or click the ellipsis button (...) to browse to the file. You can use path variables, enclosed within angle brackets (<>), as part of the path.

If you specify a file for this, InstallShield sets environment variables with the same names (including the angle brackets) and values as the project’s build variables. InstallShield also sets the environment variable <ISMEDIADIR>, whose value is the path to the folder in which the release’s Disk Images, Log Files, and Report Files folders are created. You can refer to the value of an environment variable in a batch file by surrounding the variable name with percent signs (%); for example:

set PATH = %<ISPROJECTDIR>%;%PATH%

When the file is finished, InstallShield deletes the environment variables that it set.

Specify whether you want the merge module to be available in the Merge Modules folder or a repository after each successful build of the selected release. Available options are:

To learn more, see Using a Repository to Share Project Elements.

Specify a display name for the merge module that you are publishing to the repository.

When you select this merge module in the Redistributables view after it has been published to the repository, the display name is available in the details pane.

Specify whether you want the Windows Installer package that you are building to be published to the software repository.

If you use the software repository to manage a Windows Installer package, the .msi file and all of its other associated files and subfolders are stored in a subfolder of the software repository location that is identified for the package’s Application Catalog.

If you want to be able to automatically distribute your release to a folder, specify location. Existing folders with the same names as copied folders are overwritten, but no folders are deleted. Specify the folder path by entering the path in this setting, or click the ellipsis button (...) to browse to the location.

If the media format of the selected release is a network image, which creates only one disk image folder, the contents of the disk image folder, rather than the folder itself, are copied. If you chose to create a self-extracting executable file, the executable file, rather than the disk image folders, is copied.

Project • For InstallScript and InstallScript Object projects, InstallShield automatically copies the release to the folder that you specify on the Events tab every time that you build the release.

For any of the following project types, InstallShield copies all of the relevant files for your release to the specified folder whenever you right-click the release in the Releases view and then click Distribute:

If you want the build engine to copy your release to the specified folder after every build in a Basic MSI, InstallScript MSI, or Merge Module project, select Yes for the Distribute After Build setting.

Note • If you specify a folder for this setting and you also specify an FTP location on the Events tab, InstallShield copies the release to only the FTP location.

If a user name is required to upload to the FTP location that you are specifying, enter the user name.

Project • If you enter a user name for one of the releases in a Basic MSI, InstallScript MSI, or Merge Module project, that same user name is used for other releases in the same project and in other Basic MSI, InstallScript MSI, and Merge Module projects.

This setting shows the name of the group of VM configuration settings that you want to use when distributing the selected release to a VM.

To specify an existing VM configuration, select it in this setting.

To create a new VM configuration, click the ellipsis button (...) in this setting.

To edit an existing VM configuration, select it in this setting and then click the ellipsis button (...).

To override the selected VM configuration’s details (such as the destination on the VM where you want the installation to be distributed) for the selected release, configure the subsettings under this setting.

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

For information on how to share VM configurations with other machines, see Sharing Virtual Machine Settings for Distribution of Releases.

If a user name is specified for the VM configuration that is selected in the Configuration setting, that user name is considered to be the default value for this setting and displayed in gray text. To override the user name for the selected release, enter it in this setting.

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

The destination path identifies the location on the VM where the release is to be distributed. The last subfolder in the path can be a path that InstallShield creates on the VM; the other folders in the path must already exist.

If a destination path is specified for the VM configuration that is selected in the Configuration setting, that destination path is considered to be the default value for this setting and displayed in gray text. To override the destination path for the selected release, enter it in this setting.

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