1. Essential Documentation: Understanding the Prerequisite Files Section

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Registration
• Using Advanced Installer
  • GUI
  • Working with Projects
  • Installer Project
    * Product Information
    * Resources
    * Package Definition
    * Requirements
    * Prerequisites
    * Predefined Prerequisites
    * Prerequisite Installation Tab
    * Prerequisite Files Tab
    * Prerequisite Conditions Tab
    * Chained Package Behavior
    * Edit PseudoFormatted Type Dialog
    * Windows Features
    * Windows Server Roles
    * Specify Builds Tab
    * Launch Conditions
    * Merge Modules
    * User Interface
    * System Changes
    * Server
    * Custom Behavior
  • Patch Project
  • Merge Module Project
  • Updates Configuration Project
  • Windows Store App Project
  • Modification Package Project
  • Optional Package Project
  • Windows Mobile CAB Projects
  • Visual Studio Extension Project
  • Software Installer Wizards - Advanced Installer
  • Visual Studio integration
  • Alternative to AdminStudio/Wise
  • Replace Wise
  • Migrating from Visual Studio Installer
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Shell Integration
  • Command Line
  • Advanced Installer PowerShell Automation Interfaces
• Features and Functionality
• Tutorials
• Samples
• How-tos
• FAQs
• Windows Installer
• Deployment Technologies
• IT Pro
• MSIX
• Video Tutorials
• Advanced Installer Blog
• Table of Contents

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Prerequisite Files Tab

This page allows you to configure the prerequisite files.

Location

A prerequisite package can be retrieved from one of the following locations:

• Use files from disk - this option allows you to specify an installation file on the disk that will be added to your installation package files. Additional prerequisite files can also be selected.
• Download single file from URL - this option allows you to specify a URL which points to the prerequisite setup file. You can use the installation package exact size and MD5 signature to verify if the prerequisite is downloaded correctly or not. This option supports only single-file prerequisites. You cannot select additional files.
• Open website in default Internet browser - this option will allow the user to browse the specified website and select the prerequisite version that he wants to install. In this case, the prerequisite wizard will wait until the user clicks “Finish” button in the wizard before verifying if the prerequisite was installed correctly or not.

Main Setup File

File path/URL

This field lets you specify the exact path, URL or website address which contains the prerequisite installation package. The URL field can be PseudoFormatted Type or Formatted Type (for Feature-based prerequisites only).

Use the [… ] button to edit the URL using the Edit PseudoFormatted Type Dialog .

Folder

The folder name specifies the location where the prerequisite files will be extracted for installation. This is a path relative to the Application Data folder.

For online prerequisites with the location “Open website in default Internet browser,” this field is ignored. The download folder is computed automatically during installation to guarantee that there are no conflicts between prerequisites.

This field is used extensively for our Predefined Prerequisites to specify a local download folder and an optional custom file name like this:

DIRECTORY?FILE

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If the “?FILE” construction is missing (just the “DIRECTORY” name is specified), the download file name from URL is used automatically.

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Save return value in this property

This field holds the name of the property in which the prerequisite installer will store its return value. You can use this property during the install process of your main MSI.

This field is forced to uppercase characters due to the fact that onlypublic properties set during Wizard Dialogs Stage will be passed to Install Execution Stage.

Action to be run before the package installation

Using this option you can select any of the custom actions declared in the project to be ran before the prerequisite is installed. You can pick an action from the dropdown list or click on Go To shortcut hyperlink to open Custom Actions page. The dropdown list contains all your custom actions without sequence

Action to be run after this package installation

Using this option you can select any of the custom actions declared in the project to be ran after the prerequisite is installed. You can pick an action from the dropdown list or click on Go To shortcut hyperlink to open Custom Actions page. The dropdown list contains all your custom actions without sequence.

Additional Files

In this list, you can add additional files required by your prerequisite.

Adding files

You can specify additional files for your prerequisite by using the [Add Files… ] and [Add Folder… ] buttons.

Only files that are in the primary setup file folder or one of its sub-folders can be added.

Removing files

The selected file can be removed from the list by using [Remove ] button.

Compression

Archive prerequisite files using LZMA Compression

This allows you to enable LZMA Compression for your prerequisite files.

In order to use compression, your prerequisite files must be included in the EXE bootstrapper. This setting can be changed in the Configuration Tab page.

Logging

Enable Logging

Enables logging for the prerequisite package. The log will be created at the path specified in Log File field.

Command Line

Specify the command line for logging.

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