Creating a Text Change Set

InstallShield 2019

Project • This information applies to the following project types:

Basic MSI
DIM
InstallScript MSI
Merge Module
MSI Database
Transform

This information does not apply to InstallScript projects; however, the InstallScript language includes string functions for finding and modifying string variables and literals. You can use these functions in InstallScript projects.

The first step in configuring text file changes is to create a reference to the file (or files) that you would like to edit; this reference is called a text change set. The file can be any non-binary file—for example, a .txt, .htm, .xml, .config, .ini, or .sql file. The file can be part of your installation (that is, one that you added to your project in the Files and Folders view), or it can be a file that is already present on target systems.

Note • Each text change set must be associated with a component in your project. Therefore, before you can create a text change set, your project must have at least one component. If no components exist when you are creating a text change reference, the Create a New Component dialog box is displayed, enabling you to create a component.

To create a text change set to reference one or more text files that you want to change at run time:

1. In the View List under System Configuration, click Text File Changes.
2. Right-click the Text File Changes explorer and then click Add Change Set.

InstallShield adds a new change set with a default name.

3. Enter a new name, or right-click it later and click Rename to give it a new name.

The name is not displayed at run time; it is an internal name that is used to differentiate between various change sets in your project.

4. In the right pane, configure the settings for the change set. For details about each setting, see Change Set Settings.

After you have created a reference to a text file and configured its settings, you can move on to the next step, which is to specify the search-and-replace criteria.

Tip • You can use Windows Installer public properties to specify the names of the text files that you want to include in or exclude from your search. This enables you to use data that end users enter in dialogs, or other configuration information that is determined at run time, when your product’s text files are modified at run time. To learn more, see Using Windows Installer Properties to Dynamically Modify Text Files.

See Also