400+ New and Improved Features and Windows 7 Support Drive InstallShield 2010

fact sheet

Vendor: Flexera Software (flexerasoftware.com)

Vendor's Information:
About InstallShield
About Flexera Software

Virtually every developer creating applications for Windows has tried InstallShield software from Flexera. For more than 20 years InstallShield has been the No. 1 Windows installation software in the world.

With the release of InstallShield 2010, Flexera claims it's releasing a substantial upgrade over previous versions, including many features suggested by the community of developers that use InstallShield.

InstallShield 2010 includes more than 400 new and improved features, including support for all the latest Microsoft technologies like Windows 7 and MSI 5, and even includes support for Microsoft App-V application virtualization.

With the release of Windows 7 scheduled for the second half of 2009, now is a good time for developers to upgrade or try InstallShield 2010 to ensure their applications are compatible with the new OS. InstallShield 2010 makes it easy to create applications that meet Microsoft's requirements for the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo.

With the InstallShield 2010 support for Windows Installer 5, which is available with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, developers can take advantage of new MSI 5 features, including the ability to create per-user applications and see quicker installations for large packages. InstallShield 2010 also has support for SQL Server 2008 SP1 and SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1.

Developers who build an MSI with InstallShield 2010 can simultaneously build it as an App-V virtual package. Virtual formats like App-V are useful for software vendors offering evaluation versions of their products. Many end users are hesitant to install evaluations because of the potential risk to their machines or conflicts with existing applications. With InstallShield 2010, developers can offer evaluation downloads as virtual packages, eliminating those fears and increasing evaluations.

A new IDE will also greet developers who use InstallShield 2010. New toolbars, views, customizable grids, and dynamic search tools make the InstallShield 2010 user interface the best InstallShield has ever offered.

The Direct Editor view displays a new toolbar for adding, finding, and editing data in a table. The Property Manager view contains a new toolbar with buttons for adding and deleting properties and other tasks. Developers can also drag and drop column headings onto a new group box area to organize the rows in the view in a hierarchical format. The Redistributables view features a new toolbar and group box area that provide robust search and organizational functionality.

The General Information view displays all of its settings in one grid, instead of as separate grids associated with nodes. The settings are grouped into several categories to make them easier to find. The Path Variables view contains a new toolbar that has buttons for performing tasks such as adding and deleting path variables. It also has support for dynamic searches and a new group box area for organizing rows in a hierarchical format.

The InstallShield 2010 Internet Information Services view was redesigned to look similar to IIS 7, making it much easier to use and build setups for Web applications. The software also significantly improves IIS-related functionality, making it even easier to create and manage new IIS Web sites, Web applications, virtual directories, application pools, and Web service extensions. With InstallShield 2010, developers have the ability to add IIS Web applications to IIS Web sites and configure as needed. They can also create an IIS virtual directory without an application.

InstallShield 2010 has a new IIS Scanner that analyzes and records IIS data about a Web site's settings—including its virtual directories, applications, and application pools—and imports it into the Internet Information Services view. Developers no longer have to spend time manually entering data; InstallShield 2010 finds it and adds it, and developers can then make any changes to the IIS settings.

Developers can also add InstallShield prerequisites to their InstallScript projects. InstallShield prerequisites are redistributables that usually install a product or technology framework required by the application. Developers who work on a mix of different project types can simplify their testing matrix by reusing this type of redistributable in all of their Basic MSI, InstallScript, and InstallScript MSI projects.

Software vendors that don't want their products to run on virtual machines because of licensing or compliance issues can get help from InstallShield 2010. It can now build installations that detect when they are being run on virtual machines like Microsoft Hyper-V and Virtual PC or VMware and optionally block the installation.

Developers and software marketers will find several enhancements in InstallShield 2010 that will foster increased communication with end users during the software installation process.

InstallShield 2010 includes support for HTML controls on dialogs in InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects. HTML controls enable developers to use HTML markup for dialog controls. Developers can include on dialogs links to Web pages, installed HTML files, and HTML support files. If an end user clicks the hyperlink on the runtime dialog, they can have an HTML page open in an Internet browser, or developers can trigger other behavior that defined through their InstallScript code. The HTML control lets developers use any valid HTML markup, including styles, to control the appearance.

MSI, InstallScript, and InstallScript MSI projects created with InstallShield 2010 can display billboards to end users during the installation process. Billboards can be used to educate end users about new features and to advertise related products. Each billboard is a file that developers or designers create for complete control over the look and feel of the file transfer. InstallShield 2010 supports the use of Adobe Flash application file (.swf), .bmp, .gif, .jpg, and more as billboards.

Installations using InstallShield 2010 that are run on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 can now show a progress bar on the Windows taskbar during file transfer.

Flexera calls InstallShield 2010 the product its users have always wanted. Download the trial edition to see for yourself.