How do I install InstallShield Express?

With the exception of version 5.0, only one of the versions of InstallShield Express listed in Table 1 can exist on the same machine at the same time. If you install the version of InstallShield Express that comes with VFP 7, and then install the version that comes with VFP 8, the VFP 7 version is uninstalled . The same holds true if you upgrade to a full version of InstallShield Express and install it over an existing installation of one of the Visual FoxPro Limited Edition versions. The exception is version 5.0, which installs to a different folder than previous versions and can therefore coexist with a previous version.

None of the various versions of InstallShield Express ‚ including the Visual FoxPro Limited Editions ‚ really have anything specific to do with Visual FoxPro, other than how the ISX VFP LE versions are distributed. InstallShield Express is a general purpose product that can be used to build setup packages for applications created with all kinds of development tools other than VFP. Any version of InstallShield Express can be used to create a setup package for an application developed with any version of VFP. ^[1] Projects created in an earlier version of InstallShield Express can be imported into a later version of InstallShield Express, so if you upgrade you shouldn ‚ t have to recreate any work you ‚ ve done on setup projects under earlier versions of ISX. We have seen at least one instance where a project file became corrupted after upgrading 3.5 to 3.54 (SP4), however, and although we can ‚ t say for sure what caused this, our advice is to make a backup of your original project file and keep it until you ‚ re sure the updated one is okay.

Installing ISX VFP LE

InstallShield Express ‚ Visual FoxPro Limited Edition is included on the Visual FoxPro CD, but must be installed as a separate step. To install ISX VFP LE, load the VFP CD and choose InstallShield Express from the setup window. The setup window for VFP 8 is shown in Figure 1 . The setup window for VFP 7 is virtually identical.

Figure 1. InstallShield Express ‚ Visual FoxPro Limited Edition is installed from the VFP CD, but as a separate step from installing VFP itself.

Installing the VFP runtime redistributable files

In order to be able to deploy and run a VFP app on a computer that does not have VFP itself installed on it, you need to include the VFP runtime support library files in the setup package you distribute. Depending on the nature of your application, you may also need to include other redistributable files such as the VFP HTML Help runtime support files, ODBC components, ActiveX controls, and so on. When working with a Windows Installer-based setup tool like InstallShield Express, shared components such as these typically come prepackaged in special files known as merge modules.

The merge modules for the VFP runtime support library files and for other redistributable controls and resource files that come with VFP are installed on your computer as part of the installation of VFP itself, not as part of the installation of ISX VFP LE. This means if you install ISX VFP LE on a machine that does not have VFP on it, you will not have the VFP merge modules on that machine unless you get them from another source.

Upgrading from ISX VFP7 LE to ISX VFP8 LE

If the version of ISX from VFP 7 is already installed on your machine when you install the version that comes with VFP 8, the VFP 7 version is uninstalled. You are prompted before this action is taken, as shown in Figure 2 , but your only choices are to overwrite the previous version or to cancel the installation of the newer version. This is because, as we noted earlier, only one version of ISX can be installed on the same machine at the same time.

Figure 2. You are prompted to overwrite ISX VFP7 LE when you install ISX VFP8 LE.

Overwriting the previous version of ISX does not remove any existing setup projects you may have created. When you first open an ISX VFP7 LE project in ISX VFP8 LE, the program notifies you that the project was created in an earlier version of ISX and offers to convert it to the newer format, as shown in Figure 3 . When you convert the project to the newer format, InstallShield Express creates a copy of the project in the older format as a backup.

Figure 3. ISX VFP8 LE offers to convert your older projects from ISX VFP7 LE.

As with VFP 7, the merge modules for VFP 8 are installed as part of the installation of VFP 8 itself, not by the installation of ISX VFP8 LE. The merge modules for VFP 8 have different file names than those for VFP 7, so unlike the two versions of InstallShield Express itself, both the VFP 7 and the VFP 8 merge modules can coexist on the same machine at the same time.

^[1] Because InstallShield Express is a Windows Installer-based setup tool, the VFP runtimes are made available in the form of Windows Installer merge modules. Merge modules for the VFP runtime files are available for VFP 8, VFP 7, and VFP 6 SP5.