InstallShield Express - Visual FoxPro Limited Editions

InstallShield Express ‚ Visual FoxPro Limited Editions

VFP 7 Edition

The version of ISX that ships with VFP 7 identifies itself as version 3.03 in its Help About dialog. The version 3.03 Visual FoxPro Limited Edition, however, has several disabled features as compared to the corresponding full version of ISX. Below is a list of the disabled features in ISX VFP7 LE. ^[2]

• Billboards

• Custom Actions

• Dynamic File Linking

• Environment Variables

• Globalization

• Import and Export String Tables

• Scanning Wizards

• Support Files

• Text and Messages

• Upgrade Paths

Of the features on this list, perhaps the one of most concern to developers is the lack of ability to create an ‚“upgrade path . ‚½ With this feature disabled you cannot create a major upgrade package for your application, which seriously limits your ability to deploy updates. See Chapter 5, ‚“Windows Installer Inside and Out ‚½ for more information on major upgrades and updates in general. Another feature sorely missed in this version is the ability to create custom actions. Disabled features notwithstanding, though, this version of ISX VFP LE can certainly be used to create functional setup packages for deploying VFP applications.

VFP 8 Edition

With the release of VFP 8, VFP developers got a much-improved version of InstallShield Express as compared to the one that came with VFP 7. This version of ISX identifies itself as version 3.5 Service Pack 4 in the Help About dialog. Although it still has certain features disabled as compared to the corresponding full version of ISX, the Upgrade Paths feature is enabled in this version. This is important because it allows VFP developers to create ‚“major upgrade ‚½ packages for their applications, and overcomes one of the most serious limitations in the version of ISX that ships with VFP 7.

Another important change in ISX VFP8 LE is the addition of Windows XP to the list of operating systems you can select in the Requirements view. Setup packages created with ISX VFP7 LE can be installed on Windows XP only if you allow ‚“Any OS ‚½ in the Requirement view. If you want to disallow installation of your product on any particular version(s) of Windows ‚ for example, Windows 95 ‚ you have to do this by selecting the specific versions of Windows that are allowed. In ISX VFP7 LE, the list from which you can choose does not include Windows XP, but in ISX VFP8 LE it does.

Among the features still disabled in ISX VFP8 LE are Custom Actions, Dynamic File Linking, Globalization, and File Dependency Scanning. Although you can get along without these and the other disabled features, you may wish you had them if you ‚ re doing a lot of setup development. Following is a list of the features disabled in ISX VFP8 LE compared to the full version of ISX. ^[3]

• Support for Visual Studio .NET

• Billboards

• Custom Actions

• Dynamic File Linking

• Environment Variables

• Globalization

• Import and Export String Tables

• Objects

• Scanning Wizards

• Setup Files

• Text and Messages

• Web Deployment

^[2] Source: InstallShield Express ‚ Visual FoxPro Limited Edition for VFP 7 Help file.

^[3] Source: InstallShield Express ‚ Visual FoxPro Limited Edition for VFP 8 Help file.