The Prerequisite Software Tab

This page allows you to specify programs that must be installed on the target computer before your installation begins.

The existence of the prerequisites is verified by the .EXE setup file. This is why the corresponding option must be checked in the Bootstrapper page.

The prerequisite's setup files can be bundled with the installation package or placed online available under some URL. At install time, if the prerequisite is not found, the .EXE setup file will install it from the bundled package or it will download the setup kit and launch it.

Products

In this section you can manage the prerequisites used by your package.

Adding prerequisite software

Use the [ New... ] button, or the "New..." list context menu item. You will be prompted to pick the prerequisite's setup files. If you cancel the dialog, you will have to write the details yourself in the dialog box.

Adding well-known prerequisites

Use the [ Add... ] button, or the "Add >" list context sub menu. A list of well known prerequisites was prepared. It contains, among others: Windows Installer, JRE, .Net framework, DirectX, etc.

In order to make sure that the target machine can run the installation package, you can include in the EXE file the installation package of Windows Installer for Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT/2k/XP or both, depending on the target operating system. These predefined prerequisites will have the "Location" set to File in package and the "File Path" to <InstMsiA.exe> for Windows 9x/Me or <InstMsiW.exe> for Windows NT. When building the project, the installation package of the prerequisite is downloaded automatically. If the download fails or you cancel it, an error message will be displayed and the build process is aborted.

Editing a prerequisite's attributes

Use the [ Edit... ] button, the "Edit..." list context menu item, press the Space key while the focus is on the list or double click on the prerequisite. You will be able to edit its attributes in the Prerequisite Properties dialog.

Removing prerequisites

Use the [ Remove ] button, the "Delete" list context menu item or press the Delete key while the focus is on the list.

Reordering prerequisites

The order in which the prerequisites are displayed in this list is the order in which they will be installed on the target computer. Use the [ Move Up ] button to move a prerequisite up or the [ Move Down ] button to move it down.

Options

These options are for the EXE setup file, which downloads and installs the prerequisites.

Download Folder

Specify the default download folder for the prerequisites files. If the folder doesn't exist on the target machine, it will be created. Right-click into this field to insert a reference to a default Windows folder or to Windows Installer properties. Also, this field can contain environment variables.

Do not remove extracted prerequisite files

This option is useful if you want to allow the end-user to repair or modify the prerequisites software installed by your package. When using this option you must also choose not to delete the MSI and CAB file from the Bootstrapper tab of the Media page.

Check predefined launch conditions before searching for prerequisites

If this option is enabled, the predefined launch conditions that are specified in the Launch Conditions page will be checked by the EXE setup before the prerequisites are launched. If at least one of the launch conditions is not met, nothing will be installed.

The custom launch conditions that you specify are not taken in consideration by the bootstrapper and they will be evaluated when the MSI installation starts.

Bootstrapper pages

Do not display the Information page

Select this option if you don't want to display the predefined Information page in the prerequisites wizard.

Custom welcome text in Information page

This option enables you to specify a cutom text for the Information page in the prerequisites wizard. Select the RTF file which contains the text in the "File Path" field.

Display License Agreement page

This option allows you to display an EULA page in the prerequisite wizard. Select the RTF Eula file in the "EULA Path" field.

Bootstrapper UI

UI level

Select the UI level for the prerequisites wizard. The available options are:

• Silent Install (no UI) - this option will make the prerequisites install silently without showing any dialog or progress bar
• Basic UI and progress - this option will show a progress bar which reveals the installation status of the prerequisite and error dialogs (if there are any)
• Full UI - this option will show all the dialogs used by the prerequisites wizard

Use custom dialog image

This option enables you to specify a custom image that will be displayed as the background of the Information page in the prerequisite wizard.

Use custom banner image.

This option enables you to specify a custom image that will be displayed as banner on the prerequisite wizard dialogs.

The bootstrapper dialogs are slightly larger than the installation dialogs. Therefore you should make sure that the banner and dialog images you use have been resized for them.

The default sizes of the images used by Advanced Installer are:

• 533 x 64 for a banner image
• 533 x 350 for a dialog image