Advanced Installer Features - Custom Actions
Most applications have a standard setup process which basically
involves installing files and creating registry entries. However, there
are situations when the built-in Windows Installer actions are not
sufficient for more complex deployment tasks.
In these cases the developer of the installation package is
required to use Custom Actions. Advanced Installer greatly
simplifies the overall complicated process of defining and using Custom
Actions in your setup package.
Intuitive
Custom Action management
Advanced Installer provides an intuitive
interface that allows you to create a Custom Action with just a
few mouse clicks, in the required installation sequence. Reordering
Custom Actions is easy - just "drag" the item and "drop" it over the
desired installation stage.
For simplicity, only the most common installation stages are
visible by default, the other Standard Actions can easily be made
visible if necessary.
Custom Action
types
Advanced Installer has support for all the Custom
Action types that can be used with Windows Installer
packages. Whether you want to extend the capabilities of your
installer by executing an EXE file, a VBScript or calling a function
in a DLL, only a few mouse clicks are required to set it all up.
The inherent complexity of Custom Actions is due in part to
the terminology used in the Windows Installer documentation to
classify them. Even if you have never created MSI packages before, the
meaningful Custom Action types used within Advanced
Installer will make the whole concept a lot easier to
understand.
Predefined
Custom Actions
Advanced Installer provides several built-in Custom
Actions for common installation tasks which you can readily
use in your own packages, saving the time required to develop your own
specialized Custom Actions.
Direct the users uninstalling your application to a survey page,
open a file in the associated application, allow the registered users
to select the license file from their harddrive and more.
.NET Installer
class actions
If you are deploying the .NET Framework as a
Prerequisite for your application
you have probably also developed custom managed code that you intend
to execute at install time.
Advanced Installer allows you to launch an installed .NET
assembly as a Custom Action provided that it contains a class which
descends from the Installer class. You can also
provide your .NET assembly with custom parameters.
Advanced Installer - Features
