What features are available?

The modern installers used to deploy applications to the Windows platform have a variety of features. Some use the Windows Installer technology built into Windows and provided by Microsoft, and other tools provide propriety mechanisms to install your solutions. See Table 1 for a list of features you can find in modern installers.

You will discover over time, based on your experience with various customer requirements and types of deployments, which of these features are important to you. Once you understand what features are needed for the deployment, you can start to evaluate which tool or tools you might want to use for the various applications you deploy. This is the topic of the next section.

Professional look and feel, compatible with all versions of Windows

Intuitive development environment

Create Windows Installer MSI files

Installs all file types including executables, runtimes , data files, text files, help files, document files, etc.

Create and edit Windows Registry entries

Update INI configuration files

Configure operating system level environment variables

Establish ODBC data sources (DSN)

Register file extensions on user machine

Add the installation to the Add/Remove Programs list

Uninstall capability (with intelligence to not remove shared components )

Repair a broken installation (replace or add necessary files that were deleted)

Prompt users for selection of multiple directories (one for the application, one for the data)

Create shortcuts on desktop/start menu

Optionally display licensing and ReadMe text during setup

Verify minimum requirements for memory, processor, operating system version, hard drive space, color depth, browsers, and screen resolution

Verify and install necessary Windows Installer components

Rollback the system to the state it was before the installation started if any component fails to install or the user aborts the installation

Custom actions so you can run processes before, during, and after the installation

Incorporate Merge Modules for Windows Installer technology

Determine file dependencies

Register COM objects, ActiveX controls, and other DLLs

Ability to configure features the user can install

Configurable setup dialogs

Ability to create CD-ROM, DVD, and custom media sizes

Test the installation process without installing the files on development machine

Compressed Web download installations

Web update service

Create Virtual Directories on the Web server

Register the application via a Web service

Run SQL Server scripts

Editing setup script files

Language support for international deployments