Setting General Information Properties

InstallShield 11 Universal

The properties that are set in the General Information view are categorized as listed below. Set them as described for each category.

Product Properties

In addition to the Product properties that display when you select the Installation Design view, the following Product Properties determine the basic information for the product to be installed such as the application name, version, etc.

Property	Description
Name	This property represents the name of the product/application to be installed. It is used in the dialogs and messages that display to the end user at run time.
Version	This property represents the complete version number for this product. This property should be set in the Advanced/Key* property of the root product in the Installation Design view instead of here.*
Company Name	Specify the name of your company as you want it to display on the Welcome and Uninstall Welcome dialogs.
Company Web site	Specify the URL of your company's Web site as you want it to display on the Welcome and Uninstall Welcome dialogs.
Install Location	This property represents the main directory to which the product(s) will be installed. Type the location using a forward slash to separate subfolders, and Universal will normalize the path for each targeted platform. Macrovision Corporation recommends that an absolute path not be used for this property when multiple platforms are targeted due to the differences in the way an absolute path is resolved on different platforms. For example: `/mydirectory` on UNIX systems resolves to /mydirectory, and on Windows systems to C:\mydirectory. The default value for this property is as follows: `$D(install)/$P(vendor)/$P(displayName)` where $D(install) resolves to the default installation directory on each targeted platform (see Named Directories) $P(vendor) resolves to the value of the General Information/Company Name product property $P(displayName) resolves to the value of the General Information/Name product property Subdirectories for the files to be installed can then be specified for each feature and/or each component in product projects, in each assembly in projects that will be built as an assembly (Premier edition only), and in each Static Product Reference in Universal Static Suites (Premier edition only).
UUID	This 32-character, alphanumeric value represents the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) for the root product, which *must* contain only alphanumeric characters and be unique for each project. If you want to change the default value, click the ellipsis ("...") and either type 32 alphanumeric characters or click Generate to have a new one created for you. If you include any characters that are not alphanumeric, then the Update Service Support function will not work.

Build Categories

Property	Description
Build Categories	This optional property represents the categories that you can assign to the software objects in your project. You can add as many Build Categories to your project as you desire and assign them to the software objects you want to be able to exclude from a build. Then, in the Build Configuration/Advanced/Build Configuration Exclusion property, select the build category(ies) to exclude from that build.

Property

Description

Build Categories

This optional property represents the categories that you can assign to the software objects in your project. You can add as many Build Categories to your project as you desire and assign them to the software objects you want to be able to exclude from a build. Then, in the Build Configuration/Advanced/Build Configuration Exclusion property, select the build category(ies) to exclude from that build.

RPM Properties (Premier Only)

These properties only apply to RPM Installer projects. They are directives that are supported in the RPM .spec file. The values for these properties are used by the Universal builder when it generates the .spec file when it creates the embedded .rpm package.

Property	Description
Summary	Specify a summarized, one-line description of the package. The default is "This RPM package is created by InstallShield Universal."
Group	Specify the type of function that this package provides. For example, `Applications/Editors`. This value is used primarily by the RPM package management tools to display packages in a hierarchical fashion.
License	Specify the licensing model that applies to this package. For example, `GPL` would indicate the GNU Public License, `LGPL` would indicate the Limited GNU Public License, etc. This property replaces the old, now obsolete RPM "Copyright" property.
Description	Specify an optional, detailed description of the package.
Distribution	This property defines which collection of packages this particular package is a part of. It is analogous to Linux distributions such as RedHat, Suse, Mandrake, etc. If you are creating this package as part of a distribution or suite of applications, then specify the name of that distribution or suite in this field.
Provides	Specify the capabilities that this package provides. A capability in RPM is a descriptive string that represents a functionality that the package provides. When an RPM package is installed, the values in its Requires property are looked for in the installed RPM packages' Provides property. If there is no match, then that package cannot be installed. For example, if this package includes `KillerApp`, you would specify that here. When RPM attempts to install a package that has `KillerApp` as a member of its *Requires* property, it looks at all of the installed RPM package's Provides property for the value `KillerApp`. If it finds an installed package that includes `KillerApp` as a member of its Provides property, then that package is installed. Click the ellipsis ("..."), and a List of Values dialog box opens. Click Add, and a blank line is added to the dialog box. Add one capability (a string) per line. To edit an entry, double-click the field and type the new information. To delete an entry, select the field and click Delete.
Requires	Specify the capabilities that this package requires in order to run successfully, if applicable. For example, if this package requires `KillerApp`, when RPM attempts to install this package, it looks at all of the installed RPM package's *Provides* property for the value `KillerApp`. If no installed package includes `KillerApp` as a member of its Provides property, then this package cannot be installed. Click the ellipsis ("..."), and a List of Values dialog box opens. Click Add, and a blank line is added to the dialog box. Add one capability (a string) per line. To edit an entry, double-click the field and type the new information. To delete an entry, select the field and click Delete.
Conflicts	This property is the logical complement to the Requires property. Specify the capabilities that cannot be present on the machine when this package is installed, if applicable. For example, if the `KillerApp` functionality conflicts with a functionality of this package, you would specify `KillerApp` here. When RPM attempts to install this package, it queries the installed RPM packages' Provides property. If any installed RPM package includes `KillerApp` in its Provides property, this package cannot be installed. Click the ellipsis ("..."), and a List of Values dialog box opens. Click Add, and a blank line is added to the dialog box. Add one capability (a string) per line. To edit an entry, double-click the field and type the new information. To delete an entry, select the field and click Delete.
Obsoletes	Specify the capabilities that will become obsolete after the installation of this package, if applicable. The strings you type can include specific version information, for example, `httpd 2.3.0`. Click the ellipsis ("..."), and a List of Values dialog box opens. Click Add, and a blank line is added to the dialog box. Add one capability per line. To edit an entry, double-click the field and type the new information. To delete an entry, select the field and click Delete.
Upgrade Behavior	Select the order in which an upgrade to this package should occur. When using an `rpm –U` command, RPM first installs the new package and then attempts to remove all of the old versions. However, when used with relocatable packages, the processing of an upgrade in this manner causes the intersection of the two packages' payloads. Select one of the following options: "Erase, Install" (the default)—This option means that the old version of the package will be erased first, and then the new version will be installed. Select this option if any files will be installed to relocatable folders. "Install, Erase"—This option performs the traditional `rpm –U` command, that is, RPM will first install the new package and then attempt to remove all of the old versions.

Advanced Properties

Property Description

Property	Description
VPD Location (Premier Only)	You can customize the location for the Vital Product Data (VPD) registry for this product. The default value is a platform-specific location followed by a directory named common. This property enables VPD isolation. The recommended usage is for you to specify a single string, for example, your company name, which will automatically replace the common directory. This creates a vendor-specific, isolated VPD. For example, if a relative value is specified, then that value is appended as follows on each platform: `<platform-specific folder>/InstallShield/Universal/<relative value>` If this property is set to an absolute path, then that path is used verbatim as the VPD Registry location for each targeted platform. You cannot use string resolver methods for this property because they require that the VPD be open for them to be resolved. Since the VPD does not yet exist at this point in the run time, there is no way for them to be resolved.
Log File	This is the name of the optional log file for the installation process. This property can be set here or in the Sequences view Installation and/or Uninstallation/Wizard Log property. It should only be set in one of these places. If left set to `log.txt` (the default), then the log will start in the `$D(temp)` directory, but after the Install action runs, the log will be copied and continue to be appended to in the product installation directory that was selected in the Destination dialog. You can also specify an absolute file name rather than a string resolver, for example, install.log. If you also specify a directory path, it is taken relative to the Install Location of the root product. If a Wizard Log action(s) is added to the Installation and/or Uninstallation Sequence, then the settings in that action override any settings made here. Use a Wizard Log action instead of setting this property if the installation/uninstallation requires more than one log file.

VPD Location
(Premier Only)

You can customize the location for the Vital Product Data (VPD) registry for this product. The default value is a platform-specific location followed by a directory named common. This property enables VPD isolation. The recommended usage is for you to specify a single string, for example, your company name, which will automatically replace the common directory. This creates a vendor-specific, isolated VPD.

For example, if a relative value is specified, then that value is appended as follows on each platform:

<platform-specific folder>/InstallShield/Universal/<relative value>

If this property is set to an absolute path, then that path is used verbatim as the VPD Registry location for each targeted platform.

Note

You cannot use string resolver methods for this property because they require that the VPD be open for them to be resolved. Since the VPD does not yet exist at this point in the run time, there is no way for them to be resolved.

Log File

This is the name of the optional log file for the installation process. This property can be set here or in the Sequences view Installation and/or Uninstallation/Wizard Log property. It should only be set in one of these places.

If left set to log.txt (the default), then the log will start in the $D(temp) directory, but after the Install action runs, the log will be copied and continue to be appended to in the product installation directory that was selected in the Destination dialog. You can also specify an absolute file name rather than a string resolver, for example, install.log. If you also specify a directory path, it is taken relative to the Install Location of the root product.

Note

If a Wizard Log action(s) is added to the Installation and/or Uninstallation Sequence, then the settings in that action override any settings made here. Use a Wizard Log action instead of setting this property if the installation/uninstallation requires more than one log file.