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Course Curriculum
The following course sections and topics will be covered
in the class.
Introduction
You will begin by learning about the background
and motivation for using the Windows Installer service
and how InstallShield fits into the installation development
process. You will also learn about the resources available
as you work with InstallShield, including:
- About the Windows Installer service
- About Windows Installer installation packages
- About the Windows Installer installation mechanism
- About the InstallShield environment
- Getting help
About Projects
The foundation of your installation program is an InstallShield
project. In this section, you will learn about general
installation terminology and design issues and how to
create a project that reflects the design of your product.
In this section, you will learn about:
- Installation terminology
- Using the Project Assistant
- Using the Installation Designer
- Working with features and components
- Global product and project data
Installing Files
The primary job of your installation program is to transfer
files to the user's system. In this section, you will
learn about the different methods for adding files and
folders to your installation project, including:
- Static file linking
- Dynamic file linking
- Working with destination folders
- Best Practice Fundamentals
- "Key" Resource Usage
- GUID Usage
- Restarts and the Windows Vista Restart Manager
- Creating shortcuts
- Using merge modules and prerequisites
Building Releases
Before you can test your installation, you
must build a set of disk images. In this section, you
will learn how to use the InstallShield graphical tools
and command-line tools for building release images for
CD-ROM, a network location, or for the Web. In this
section, you will learn about:
- Using the Release Wizard
- Media types
- Web installations
- Command-line builds
- Digitally signing the installation and files
- Using the Standalone build system
Deploying an Installation
Windows Installer-based installations support several
different installation modes. In this chapter, you will
learn how to run an installation from Windows Explorer
or from the command prompt, how to perform silent and
limited-user interface installations and how to pass
information to the running installation from the command
line. In this section, you will learn about:
- Running an installation
- Understand how to interact with Windows Vista
features such as UAC
- Maintenance and un-installation
- Using msiexec.exe
- Silent and reduced-UI installations
- Passing properties from the command line
- MSI Log Analyzer
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Non-File System Changes
In addition to installing files, most installation programs
need to make global changes to the user's operating
system. In this section, you will learn how to install
configuration data, such as:
- Registry data
- INI files
- XML files
- Environment variables
- File associations
Installing Special Files
For most types of files, the installer's only responsibility
is to transfer the files. However, some types of files
require additional registration or configuration information
to be written to the target system. In this section,
you will learn how to install and configure the following
types of files:
- COM servers
- Windows services
- Fonts
- .NET Assemblies
- Creating merge modules
- Working with Repositories
- Running SQL Scripts
- Forcing Data Removal
- Chaining MSI installations
Conditions and Actions
Unlike traditional installations, Windows Installer
installations do not use an explicit script, but instead
perform actions arranged into your product's sequence
tables. In this section, you will learn about:
- MSI Properties
- Condition syntax and examples
- Installation sequences
- Custom actions: action types and guidelines
- Editing MSI tables directly
User Interface
Like standard Windows Installer actions, your installation's
user interface is controlled by MSI tables and actions.
In this section, you will learn about:
- How MSI determines dialog order and conditions
- Working with control events
- Working with control conditions
- MSI Debugger
- Creating new dialog boxes
- Subscription to Actions
- Required dialog boxes
- Localization
Updates and Patches
Windows Installer supports different types of updates
and different techniques for packaging them for distribution.
In this section, you will learn about:
- Types of updates
- Creating minor upgrades
- Creating major upgrades
- QuickPatch projects
- General patch projects
- Patching applications on Vista
- Uninstalling a patch
Additional Topics
In this section, you will learn about additional functionality
of InstallShield and Windows Installer, including:
- How to create transforms
- Direct MSI editing
- Using MSI Automation to modify a project
- Using Trialware functionality to create a "Try
and Die" (i.e.: Evaluation) version of your application
Test Tools and Tricks
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