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Application Runtime Wizard
The offers the fastest way to create new application runtimes to install technology prerequisites from your setup projects in a reusable manner. The wizard creates two new MSIcode scripts to check for and install your desired technology prerequisite, both of which are also further editable and customizable; as well as an application runtime definition file. New application runtimes created by the wizard are automatically added to the Application Runtimes design view on the active InstallAware instance, and may also be copied to other InstallAware instances. To display the wizard:
- Click the .
- Click , and then click .
Welcome Page
Click the button to continue through the welcome page.
Application Runtime Properties
Unique Name for Application Runtime
Type the name of your technology prerequisite. This name will be used to list your new application runtime in the Application Runtimes design view. It will also be used to refer to your new application runtime in setup installation prerequisite and progress dialogs, so be sure to choose an end-user friendly, descriptive name.
EXE or MSI setup file(s) for Application Runtime
Click the button to visually select the installer for the technology prerequisite, or type the full path to the installation binary.
Include the entire folder
If the installer for the technology prerequisite is not self-contained inside a single file, but requires multiple files (and folders) for installation, check this box. This is typically the case when using an administrative installation point for an MSI installer, or when an EXE installer has been extracted to a temporary folder. All files and subfolders of the folder containing the selected technology prerequisite installer will be included in the new application runtime.
If you are able to create an administrative installation point for an MSI, or extract the contents of an EXE installer, it is recommended that you do so. This will ensure you will enjoy substantially improved compression savings, above and over the already compressed size of the original technology prerequisite installer, when consuming your new application runtime from your InstallAware setup projects.
Copy setup file(s) to Application Runtime folder
Unless you have a specific reason not to, you should check this box. When this box is checked, the installer binaries for the technology prerequisite will be copied to the application runtime folder, making it easy to add the new application runtime to additional InstallAware instances.
If this box is not checked, when you add the new application runtime to additional InstallAware instances, you will need to ensure that the file(s) and folder(s) referenced in the field are located at exactly the same paths on all target PCs hosting the additional InstallAware instances.
Installation Parameters
For MSI installers, type any Windows Installer parameters to use for installation. A typical parameter is ADDLOCAL=ALL, which installs all features contained inside the MSI on target PCs. The native progress feedback of the MSI installer will be captured automatically by your new application runtime, and displayed as a native, integral part of your setup project's prerequisite installation progress window. You may also include one or more transform files to be applied to the MSI setup during setup. To add transforms, first ensure they are in the same folder as the MSI file being installed, and the option on the previous page is checked. Then, just select one or more MST files to apply in the field on this page. Each selected transform will be applied as the MSI is being installed. You may also use InstallAware Transformer to create your own MST files, capturing MSI properties, directories, and features during the installation interview.
For EXE installers, type any command line parameters to use for installation. To ensure the best possible end-user experience, ensure to specify parameters for a silent installation without a reboot at the end of an installation. A non-silent installation will disrupt your end-user experience by displaying additional windows during installation beyond that of your own setup project dialogs. A reboot at the end of the technology prerequisite will also disrupt your end-user experience by restarting target PCs before your main installation is complete, and will require end-users to manually re-start your main installation after the target PC has finished rebooting. Typical command line parameters are included in the drop-down menu accompanying this field, but you must always contact the technology prerequisite manufacturer to ensure you have obtained the correct command line parameters for their installation package. While the native progress feedback of an EXE installer will not be captured, your application runtime will automatically switch to marquee progress mode in your setup project's prerequisite installation progress window, and revert back to a percentage based installation progress after your application runtime has finished installing.
Application Runtime Platform Requirements
Operating system bitnesses allowed
Select for technology prerequisites that are bitness agnostic and may be installed on both types of platforms. Any detection logic for the application runtime will execute in 32 bit mode on target systems, to maintain compatibility with both 32 bit and 64 bit platforms.
Select for 64 bit exclusive technology prerequisites. Any detection logic for the application runtime will also run in 64 bit mode. The runtime installation will fail unless the operating system is powered by an AMD64/EM64T platform. To create an installation which accepts ARM64 powered X64 platforms, use the Get System Settings command in your setup script with the capability test.
Minimum operating system version
Select the oldest operating system that the technology prerequisite requires. Installations will be blocked on older operating systems, but will be permitted on the selected operating system version, as well as all newer versions.
Minimum service pack level
Select the least service pack required by the technology prerequisite on the oldest operating system that the technology prerequisite requires. Installations will be blocked on the oldest operating system required unless at least the selected version of the service pack has been used to service the target PC.
Please note that any newer operating systems will not be checked for any service pack levels. You may edit the created application runtime check MSIcode script after completing the wizard to enforce service pack requirements for any newer operating systems.
Application Runtime Technology Requirements
If the technology prerequisite has any dependencies on additional application runtimes represented in InstallAware, check each additional dependency on this page.
Ensure to select each nested dependency explicitly, as nested runtimes will not be automatically added to your setup projects when they are selected, unless explicitly marked on this page.
If application runtime dependencies exist which are not yet available, use the wizard to create them first before creating application runtimes for technology prerequisites that require them.
Check for Application Runtime Presence
Check the Registry
Select this box to read a registry value from the target system registry when determining whether the technology prerequisite has been previously installed on target PCs.
Root
Select the root registry key to check.
Key
Type the full path to the registry key to check.
Value
Type the full name of the registry value to check. Leave this field empty to check the default value.
Analysis
Select the type of check to perform.
Compare With
Enter the data to cross-examine, based on the type of analysis you selected to perform.
Check the File System
Select this box to search a folder (optionally including its subfolders) for a file (optionally checking file version numbers) to determine whether the technology prerequisite has been already installed on target PCs.
Folder
Select the well-defined folder to check.
Use shared folder location (where applicable)
If the selected folder is available in different physical file system locations for specific users versus all users (such as the folder), check this box depending on the type of folder you would like to check.
The selection made here is ignored if the selected folder is only available in a single file system location, irrespective of any users (such as the Windows folder).
Name
Type the full name of the file to search for.
If the file to search for is expected to be located in a well-defined subfolder of the selected folder, type the full parent path in this field as well before the file name, up to but excluding the selected parent folder.
Analysis
Select the type of analysis to perform.
Compare With:
If you selected a version based analysis, enter the desired minimum version number to check for in this field. Files with matching or newer versions will be accepted
Look for a Native Engine installation
Select this box when the technology prerequisite is offered exclusively as an InstallAware Native Code Setup Engine package.
Product Code
Type the exact string, including the curly braces, found in the node and field of the Project Options dialog for the InstallAware setup project that is the technology prerequisite.
If you do not have this information, contact your technology prerequisite provider for assistance.
Look for an MSI installation
Select this box when the technology prerequisite is offered exclusively as an MSI based setup package.
Do NOT select this box if the technology prerequisite is offered in both MSI and EXE based setup packages, because a failed check for an MSI package may be a false indicator of a missing technology prerequisite, when the component in question may have been installed by an EXE based setup package instead.
Product Code
Type the exact string, including the curly braces, found in the Value column of the ProductCode row in the Property table of the MSI installer for the technology prerequisite.
To automatically populate this field, click the button and select the MSI installer for the technology prerequisite.
Look for a Service
If the technology prerequisite installs a service, checking for that named service offers a very reliable and convenient method to check for the presence of the technology prerequisite.
In addition, checking for a named service may be the only viable technology prerequisite check in scenarios where more than one instance of a technology prerequisite may be installed on a target PC (such as a named SQL Server instance). Checking for the presence of files in particular locations may be misleading in this scenario.
Service Name
Type the exact service name of the named service to check for.
This value may be confirmed using the applet: Select the service, right-click and choose , then copy the value in the field of the properties tab.
Finish Page
You are now ready to create your application runtime and add it to the InstallAware IDE Application Runtimes design view.
To copy your new application runtime to additional InstallAware instances:
- Open the main InstallAware installation folder.
- Navigate into the runtimes subfolder.
- Copy the following files and folders to the target InstallAware instance, and restart the target InstallAware IDEs to apply your changes:
- All script files named Check for <your application runtime> (with a MIA file extension).
- All script files named Setup for <your application runtime> (with a MIA file extension).
- The folder named after your application runtime.
- The runtime definition file named after your application runtime (with an RTM file extension).