Feature Dialog

InstallShield 11 Universal

When the Feature dialog is located in the Product Sequences/Installation Sequence of the Sequences view, it displays the features and nested features of the installation to the end user for their selection to install.

In a typical installation project, each feature/nested feature usually represents a major element of the application, and can be flagged as required or optional. For instance, a product demo could be a feature offered to the end user. By selecting that feature, the end user indirectly selects its nested features, components, and actions. The end user can, however, deselect any or all nested features whose Visible property is set to "True."

(Premier only) At run time, if any required assemblies are not located on the target machine and have not been included with the product to be installed, then the feature that requires that assembly will be hidden or disabled on this dialog.

Features display on this dialog in the following states:

Not selected
Selected with all of its child features selected
Selected with some of its child features selected

For example:

Changing the Install Location property either through a Destination dialog or a custom bean may cause the entire preinstallation sequence to be reloaded, thus throwing away any changes that could have been made to it at that point by the Install Types and/or Feature dialogs. The Feature dialog should therefore be placed after the Destination dialog in the Sequences view to avoid all of the features being installed regardless of what was selected by the end user.

If a condition on a feature fails, including any immutable condition(s) that has not been met, then that feature will not display on this dialog in console mode and, subsequently, will not get installed.
If the Visible property of a feature is set to "False," or if it is a nested feature and the Visible property of its parent feature is "False," then the feature/nested feature will not display on this dialog, regardless of the Visible property value of the nested feature.

In the Condenser Sequence (Premier Only)

This dialog is automatically included in the Condenser Logic Sequence in the Condenser Sequence of the Sequences view in Condenser Installer projects. When the project is run in condenser mode, the end user selects the locales and platforms that they want to be included in a condensed, rebuilt installation. Then the features that reference an assembly(ies) whose root product's Locale and/or Platform property value matches the selections made display in this dialog. This enables the end user to filter out features that they do not want to be included in the newly built, condensed installation.