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InstallScript MSI Support
Just the word “InstallScript” can send Windows Administrators into a frenzy.
Vendors employing InstallScript MSI installation projects (a hybrid of the two
installation technologies) typically deliver setup.exe wrappers to bootstrap the
installation of InstallScript which must be used to call the Windows Installer
setup. While command line support for these wrapped installations is robust,
those that wish to assign the included MSI setup using Active Directory are
prevented from doing so. Creating a transform, detecting conflicts, and patching
and upgrading are all much more difficult issues to deal with when working with
an InstallScript MSI installation. While there are some work-arounds to the
issues, InstallShield now comes to the rescue with a solution of its own.
InstallScript Scan is a tool for converting an InstallScript MSI Setup to a
Basic MSI Setup. It preserves the original components and much of the
InstallScript installation logic, architecture, and maintainability of the
original installation package.
Against best practices, administrators often resort to repackaging an
InstallScript MSI Setup in order to get a package they can deploy how they wish.
With AdminStudio 6.0 it is actually okay to do! InstallScript Scan functions as
a component of the AdminStudio Repackager tool by converting the InstallScript
code, while also working to preserve the original MSI. In the end, it is simply
the InstallScript code that is repackaged. Using the Installation Monitoring
method (or creating a Single Step snapshot) Repackager will automatically
determine if the setup is an InstallScript-based MSI. You are then prompted to
use the InstallScript Scan to convert the setup (click
here for image).
The installation is actually performed by the Repackager, just as if you were
working with a legacy setup. It just doesn’t seem right walking through a
repackaging process with a MSI-based setup and so you should listen to that
voice in your head and take a close look at the results. Using
the MSIPackageDiff tool to compare the original MSI against the newly created
one I could see that there appeared to be a case sensitivity issue that resulted
in the repackaging of several MSI components (giving them new GUIDs). At the
time of this review, a new release was on the horizon and I'm told the feature
will be further enhanced. For now take caution. In the end, this is a great new capability provided by InstallShield that we obviously won’t
see anywhere else. I think this one feature could tip the scale for many
considering similar products.
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