Advanced Installer 6.5 Release Notes

On August 19th, 2008 Caphyon Ltd. is proud to announce the release of Advanced Installer 6.5 in Free, Professional, Enterprise and Architect editions. This release is available for download on the Advanced Installer website.

The 6.5 version completes the full implementation of Windows Installer 4.5 features. Embed multiple MSIs in a unified setup package and install them chained in a single, atomic transaction.

A new WiX import feature helps you leverage existing installer projects while at the same time giving you access to the numerous Advanced Installer features and capabilities.

Collect user information during install and POST it to your server with the included predefined Custom Action. With just one click specify your software dependencies using one of the newly added prerequisites and launch conditions.

New features
  • Complete Windows Installer 4.5 feature support
  • WiX projects import
  • .NET Native Image Generation 2.0 support
  • .NET Native Image Generation support for assemblies installed in GAC
  • User info collection and retrieval custom action
  • Support for discrete "INI entry removal" operation
  • Windows Installer 4.5 predefined Prerequisites
  • SQL Server compact edition predefined prerequisite
  • Visual C++ 2005 SP1 redistributable predefined prerequisite
  • Visual C++ 2008 redistributable predefined prerequisite
  • MS XML Parser predefined prerequisite
  • Acrobat Reader 9.0 predefined prerequisite
  • Acrobat Reader 9.0 predefined launch condition
  • DirectX predefined launch condition
Enhancements
  • Path Variables Wizard interface improvements
  • Import should skip search locators with no entries in AppSearch table
  • Reduced number of connections created by Updater when searching & finding updates
  • Non-blocking dialog during prerequisite search
  • Improved folder synchronization mechanism
  • Better default synchronization path when setting a folder as synchronized
  • Ability to run scheduled tasks for unlimited time
  • Use default user account [%UserDomain]\[LogonUser] for newly scheduled tasks
  • Added predefined 64-bit folders to the "Application Folder" combo in the "Install Parameters" page
  • Ability to set application description for Java products
  • Allow runtime expandable Environment Variables in Java product streams redirection path
  • Run Unicode SQL Databases Integration correctly for any installation language
  • Automatically add "Install Package" command in the AutoRun menu
  • Automatically configure IIS 7 for packages needing IIS and not finding it configured correctly
  • Support for 64-bit Control Panel applets
  • Allow same name for nested virtual directories if created under different parents
  • Multiple IIS parameters are now formatted
  • Added "-clearcontent" parameter to "/ResetSync" command line option for removing everything added by the synchronization
Bug fixes
  • Files version list not displayed anymore after converting paths
  • When creating an empty registry value it was set to [~], but when the project was re-opened it was set to [~][~]
  • The file version was not validated
  • The shortcut folder in the Start Menu was created even when "Start Menu Programs folder" was unchecked in "ShortcutsDlg"
  • An updates download wizard page was shown in silent mode when there were no updates
  • If the Updater ran in silent mode on Vista, the Next and Cancel buttons were not visible in the updater wizard
  • The Updater queried the same URL twice
  • Crash when a Scrollable Edit was created on a new dialog and the project was saved
  • Advanced Installer did not write "Comments" of the MSI Summary Information
  • Crash when deleting "File Removal" operations
  • The icons of shortcuts converted to use path variables were not displayed correctly in the "Files and Folders" page
  • For a shared folder the package tries to create the share even if the folder is not installed
  • Exception when loading a project after a MIME type was set for an extension
  • A warning was not shown when configuring an EXE file association through the New Project wizard
  • When editing the text of a control through the "Edit Control Text" dialog there was a limit for the number of characters
  • The "Intel" platform of a merge module was not recognized correctly in the "Mixed 32/64-bit matching the platform" wizard
  • The file path was transformed in an absolute one after running the Mixed 32/64 wizard
  • Exception when a synchronized folder was removed outside the "Files and Folders" page
  • Crash when the name of a Java Product contained a pseudo-formated value
  • The "Auto Register" option was still enabled after a registration error message was shown
  • In some cases CAB files could not be accessed when building in Advanced Media mode