InstallShield AdminStudio 2.0 WinPlanet Tests Tuner D. E. Levine
Because Microsoft recommends customizing Windows Installer-based installations via a transform file to insure that modifications are made outside of the base package, I launched Tuner.
After selecting Create a New Transform File from the display panel, I browsed through my Base Windows Installer Package area and selected the Author project that I wanted to customize. I clicked Open on that project.
Then I browsed through the Windows Installer Transform area and navigated to the appropriate Tuner\Output directory, created a file called PFTW.mst and saved it.
I then ran a prevaliation on the original Windows Installer package. This process ensured the Windows Installer package I was customizing was valid according to predetermined guidelines. By using Microsoft's Full MSI Validation Suite of over 70 guidelines, I was assured that the package was created according to Microsoft standards.
My packaged didn't have any validation errors so I was assured of being able to continue. In the event that I'd had errors, there is an online help area provided by InstallShield AdminStudio 2.0.
I could have used Tuner for additional customization but decided against it because I wasn't interested in additional customization. In the future I may want to take advantage of features that permit me to add files to a setup or create additional shortcuts, but at the moment I didn't need them.
It was necessary for me to postvalidate the base Windows Installer package and transform after the customization and prior to packaging. The purpose of this was to make certain that my transform didn't introduce any validation issues that weren't present in the base Windows Installer package.
After that I had to package the original Windows Installer package and transform into a single executable file (Setup.exe). It's this file that will begin the installation. Packaging is done by using the Packaging Wizard.
While time consuming to go through all of the necessary steps, the actions themselves were relatively simple. All of the action was done by following the Wizard's panels and directions. Of course it's important to remember that I didn't run into any problems during the process which explains why everything went smoothly.
