Prerequisites View
InstallShield 2022
Project:The Prerequisites view is available in InstallScript projects.
Note that you can use the Redistributables view to add InstallShield prerequisites to Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects.
The Prerequisites view contains all of the InstallShield prerequisites that are included with InstallShield. An InstallShield prerequisite is an installation for a product or technology framework that is required by your product. You can add any of the existing InstallShield prerequisites to your installation projects and configure many of their settings. You can also create your own InstallShield prerequisites, and add them to your projects.
InstallShield includes a base set of InstallShield prerequisites. You can also use the InstallShield Prerequisite Editor in InstallShield to define custom InstallShield prerequisites or to edit settings for any existing InstallShield prerequisites.
InstallShield includes support for two types of InstallShield prerequisites:
| • | Setup prerequisite—The installation for this type of prerequisite runs before your installation runs. |
| • | Feature prerequisite—This type of prerequisite is associated with one or more features. It is installed if the feature that contains the prerequisite is installed and if the prerequisite is not already installed on the system. Thus, if a feature has a condition that is not met on the target system, or if the end user chooses not to install the feature, the feature is not installed. As a result, none of its associated feature prerequisites are installed, unless the feature prerequisites are also associated with other features that are installed. |
Project:Basic MSI projects include support for feature prerequisites.
Redistributables Gallery
Because the file size of many of the redistributables is so large, some that are available for use in your projects are not added to your computer when you install InstallShield. However, these redistributables are still available for download from the Internet to your computer.
Working with the Prerequisites View
The Prerequisites view consists of the following elements:
| • | A row of buttons and other controls |
| • | A group box area (below the row of buttons) |
| • | A list of redistributables |
| • | A details pane, which shows information about the selected redistributables |
The following table describes all of the buttons and other controls that are displayed in the Prerequisites view.
|
Name of Control |
Icon |
Description |
|
Expand All Groups |
|
Shows all of the rows in the groups if you are using groups to organize the rows in a hierarchical format. |
|
Collapse All Groups |
|
Hides all of the rows in the groups if you are using groups to organize the rows in a hierarchical format. |
|
Show Details |
|
Shows or hides the right pane in this view, which shows details about the InstallShield prerequisite that is selected in the list of available redistributables. This details pane provides information such as which files a redistributable installs. |
|
Show Group Box |
|
Shows or hides the group box area below the row of buttons in this view. |
|
Refresh |
|
Refreshes the list of redistributables. |
|
Search Grid |
|
Dynamically filters the redistributables that are displayed in the Prerequisites view according to the string that you specify in this search box. As you type a string in this box, InstallShield hides all of the rows that do not contain it. |
|
Prerequisites View Help |
|
Displays the help for the Prerequisites view. |
|
Drag a column header here to group that column |
|
Use this group box area to group rows in the view. The view supports multiple levels of grouping simply by dragging the column headings and dropping them onto the group box. InstallShield displays the rows in the view hierarchically according to column arrangement in the group box. To learn more, see Working with the Group Box Area in Various Views. |
The following table describes each of the columns in the Prerequisites view.
|
Column |
Description |
|
Check Box |
This column shows a check box for each redistributable. To add a redistributable to your project, select its check box. |
|
Type/Status |
This column shows an icon that represents the type of redistributable, as well as its status. For details about each icon, see Managing the Redistributables Gallery. |
|
Name |
This column shows the name of each redistributable. |
|
Version |
This column shows the version number of the redistributable. |
|
Location |
This column indicates whether the redistributable is installed locally on your machine or it needs to be downloaded. For more information, see Downloading Redistributables to Your Computer. |
See Also
Managing the Redistributables Gallery
Determining the Files in InstallShield Prerequisites, Merge Modules, and Objects