Dynamic File Link Settings Dialog Box

InstallShield 2020

The Dynamic File Link Settings dialog box enables you to specify the source folder for your dynamic link. You can then choose to include all the files in that folder or only specified file types.

The Dynamic Link Settings dialog box is available from the File Linking tab of the Component Properties dialog box, as well as the Modify Dynamic Links dialog box.

Settings on the Dynamic File Link Settings Dialog Box

Setting

Description

Source folder

Enter the full path to the folder that you want to have dynamically linked, or click the Browse button to navigate to it. You can identify the source folder with any of the following methods:

• Enter an absolute path to the folder, such as C:\Build\MySourceFolder\Bitmaps.
• Enter a path variable. Follow the path variable with a backslash to specify a subfolder—for example, <CommonFilesFolder>\InstallShield\IScript.
• Click the Browse button to navigate to a folder.

Include subfolders

To dynamically link the files in each subfolder, select this check box.

For information on how InstallShield creates components for the dynamically linked files in subfolders, see Determining the Appropriate Component Creation Method for Dynamically Linked Files.

Self-register all files

To self-register every file in the dynamic link, select this check box.

If the files are part of a 64-bit component and you select this check box, the installation performs 64-bit self-registration on the target system. For more information, see Targeting 64-Bit Operating Systems.

Create best practice components

To specify that InstallShield should adhere to best practices when creating the components for dynamically linked files, select this check box. When best practices for component creation are followed, InstallShield performs the following tasks at build time for all of the files that meet the include and exclude filter criteria:

• InstallShield creates a separate component for each portable executable (PE) file in the dynamically linked folder. Each PE file is the key file of its component.
• InstallShield adds all non-PE files at the root level of the dynamic link to the component that contains the link.
• If the dynamic link includes a subfolder, InstallShield creates a new component for all of the non-PE files in that subfolder. If the dynamic link includes more than one subfolder, InstallShield creates a separate component for all of the non-PE files in each subfolder.

To specify that InstallShield should not follow best practices when creating the components for dynamically linked files, clear this check box. For this component creation method, InstallShield performs the following tasks at build time for all of the files that meet the include and exclude filter criteria:

• InstallShield creates one component for all of the files that are in the root-level dynamically linked folder, regardless of the file types.
• If the dynamic link includes one or more subfolders, InstallShield creates a separate component for all of the files in each subfolder, regardless of the file types. The first dynamically linked file in a subfolder’s component is the key file of that component.

This check box is selected by default for all new dynamic links.

For more information, see Determining the Appropriate Component Creation Method for Dynamically Linked Files.

Include all files

To include the entire contents of your linked directory in your installation, select this option.

Include/exclude files based on the following wild-card patterns

To include or exclude file types, select this option. Enter the file extension in the include or exclude field, preceded by an asterisk (*). Separate multiple entries with a comma.

For example, if all of your image files are in one folder along with sound files and you want to dynamically link only the image files, you could specify that you would like to include only .bmp and .ico files in the dynamically linked folder. To do so, you would use an asterisk (*) in your include pattern, as in the following example:

*.bmp, *.ico

To include or exclude a specific file, you would enter the full file name in the include or exclude pattern box.

See Also

Adding Dynamic File Links to Components

Dynamic File Linking