InstallShield Express - Full Version

InstallShield Express ‚ Full Version

For both of the Visual FoxPro Limited Editions there is a corresponding full version of InstallShield Express with the same version number, but with all its features enabled. Naturally, no version of InstallShield Express has as many features as the top-of-the-line InstallShield Developer (now DevStudio), but the full version of InstallShield Express is still a much more powerful product than the Visual FoxPro Limited Edition. Also, the full version of InstallShield Express has now moved two major versions beyond the version that was the basis for the one that ships with VFP 8.

The newer versions of the full InstallShield Express product ‚ version 4.0 and 5.0 ‚ provide you with even more features than those available in the full version of ISX 3.5 SP4. Two of the features this author found to be the most useful in ISX 4.0 and 5.0 are the ability to create a patch package and the ability to see what ‚ s inside a merge module when adding it to a setup project. The latter is extremely useful because it allows you to verify the merge module you are adding does in fact contain the files your app requires. Unlike opening a merge module in Orca, viewing merge module information from within the ISX IDE does not alter the merge module ‚ s Modified date nor does it allow any changes to be made, so it ‚ s a safe way to see what ‚ s inside.

A comparison chart of features in ISX VFP LE vs. ISX full version 5.0 vs. InstallShield DevStudio 9 is at http://www.installshield.com/products/express/features/le_compare.asp . Whether or not the features gained by moving up to the full ISX version 4.0 or 5.0 are worth the cost ($349 at the time of this writing, although special offers are sometimes available) is something you have to decide for yourself, but if you ‚ re doing any serious setup work this author ‚ s opinion is that you owe it to yourself to get the full version.