Some questions from a current WFWI user

[Chris Miller]

Hi,
I'm currently using Wise For Windows Installer 6.2 and I'm looking at InstallAware Studio and I have a few questions. I've been playing with the eval version for a few hours. I saw some really cool features, but there were a few things that I need that I could not figure out from the application, help file, or this forum.

Will the installers generated by IA pass Microsoft's Vista Logo program?
Does it use the Vista's Restart Manager?

Wise uses the standard Windows Installer terminology, some of IA's terminology seems to be non-standard. As near as I can tell, IA calls the PackageCode GUID "Revision Code", and UpgradeCode is called "Product Code". What does IA call the PackageCode and how do you get at it?

With WFWI's implementation of MS Script, I can check the status of an upgrade action and if it exists, I run a pair of custom actions to cache some application settings before the previous version is uninstalled and then restores those settings after the new version is installed. Can this be done with IA?

How would you check for the presence of .NET 2.0 runtime with out bundling the .NET runtime into installer? I have an application that has multiple installers, I want to be able to check for the presence of the .NET 2.0 runtime without having to put it in each compressed installer.

I saw two messages on http://www.xtras.net/reviews/installaware/ where people who had posted messages on InstallAware forums had the question removed and each user had been banned. If this is true, that does not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling about IA. Can you provide any information about those situations?

thanks,
Chris Miller
VersaTrans Solutions

[Gizm0]

I'll only answer the last question about banning users from the forum, as i have knownledge on both situations.

The fact is that both users mentioned "issues" that didn't even exist in the product and they were extremelly ironic on their posts about InstallAWARE. Their goal was only to harm InstallAWARE rather than help it make it better, by reporting a real performance issue or a real problem. Issues, when and if they are mentioned by our users, are investigated and if confirmed they are getting fixed right away. We want our users to give us feedback, either issues they found or feature requests they want.

For the rest of your questions, please wait a reply from Candice.

[Chris Miller]

Thanks for the quick reply, I was hoping that was the case. I look forward to seeing what the responses are to the other questions.

thanks,
Chris Miller
VersaTrans Solutions.

[CandiceJones]

Yes, you can get Vista Certified with your InstallAware setup.
InstallAware setups contain the RMFilesInUse dialog.

From MSDN documentation:

The product code is a GUID that is the principal identification of an application or product. For more information, see the ProductCode property. [same naming in IA]

The package code is stored in the Revision Number Summary Property of the Summary Information Stream. [called revision code in IA]

...

IA's MSIcode is more similar to WiseScript than MS Script, and you can get what you want done without custom actions in MSIcode.

You can of course check for .NET versions without bundling anything. Use web builds when you are bundling to leverage IA's unique partial web deploy benefits.