The MSIcode View

The code is remarkably simple and easy to follow. While you could probably become very familiar with its scripting language, you really don’t need to. There is a list of drag and drop script commands that make the job easy by prompting you with a simple form to fill in the details of the command when you drag it into your project (see list at right).

InstallAware Customization Options

As a result of how InstallAware operates, transforms are not supported. It instead provides other ways to custom install packages in InstallAware. Naturally when we are talking about transforms, we are talking about customizing vendor MSI (after all, if it were a package you created you could manipulate it directly or by customizing variables from the command line). However, if you want to implement the powerful features of InstallAware in all your packages you can: While there are certainly many possibilities, the best is to have your InstallAware package "shell" to a vendor provided setup. This allows your MSI to run the vendor-provided MSI and allows it to run natively as part of a larger setup. This method even natively captures and displays the progress, questions, and errors of the "shelled to" setup. It even suppress the external user interface, to provide a single, "master" install wizard (though you will probably be pushing yours silently). This Un/Install MSI Setup command provides you with full access to the installation command line of the MSI that you are shelling to so you can pass any command-line customization you wish. Of course, the Un/Install MSI Setup command can also maintain/repair an existing installation, as well as remove it. Anything you could pass on the MSI command line, you can pass here.

For customization of an existing MSI you created with InstallAware, you'll be happy to know that every variable is exposed as a public property so it can be overridden from the command line using the form VARIABLE=VALUE.

Finally, if you have repackaged MSI setups (that you created, not one from a vendor) you can very quickly very quickly import them using the Database Import Wizard to create a InstallAware project.  

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