CODEWITHSUNDEEP
installshield
Darqer
Darqer

Reputation: 2887

how to add directory to SupportFiles in InstallShield

Is there a possibility to add directory (with sub directories) to SupportFiles section in installshield. I have dynamically created content (list of files changes constantly) that I use to support my installation.

Is there any other method to add dynamically whole directory to installation package. I need files from this directory only during installation process. At the end of the installation I want IS to remove these files automatically ?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 4757

Answers (2)

ashes999
ashes999

Reputation: 10163

Although I'm late to the party: @BuvinJ mentioned in a comment that you can add directories to "Advanced Files" under "Disk1." In this case, they do appear in the temporary directory (support directory), eg. SUPPORTDIR\Disk1

SUPPORTDIR is a temporary location where the installer dumps files, and cleans them up afterward. An example is C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\Temp\2\{F6B9B2D6-2A5A-4146-9297-E80A199CB0CB}.

This could be a quicker/cheaper/faster solution to writing custom actions and/or packaging up files by hand in, say, a self-extracting zip file.

Upvotes: 1

Christopher Painter
Christopher Painter

Reputation: 55581

The ISSetupFile table ( which drives the Support Files pattern ) only supports extracting files to a single directory. There is no way in the UI to tell it to be dynamic although you could have a build automation step that reflects the contents of a directory and wires it up to the table using the automation interface. This still couldn't do sub directories though.

What you probably want to do is creating a self-extracting zip of the files you need as part of your build and add that EXE to Support Files. Then write custom actions that call the EXE to extract the payload to Support Files and another CA to clean it up. Look for the custom action ISSetupFilesExtract and ISSetupFilesCleanup to figure out the best way to do this.

Upvotes: 5

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