Excelsior Installer 1.8

Excelsior Installer 1.8 offers an effective tool which helps you to create good-looking and compact installers for your Windows applications.

It is designed to be as easy to use as possible. To build the installer you use its wizard-style Packager which guides through the packaging process and suggests a rich set of reasonable default parameter values so that only a few items have to be filled-in manually.

Setup packages are produced in form of self-installing EXE files, which is most suitable for Internet distribution. Good data compression and small installer overhead in the package allows avoid using additional compression software for your code and data.

Each setup package supports English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian and Spanish installation languages with automatic or manual language selection.

Major Features:

1. Installation
   • Installation wizard from the Excelsior Installer provides a commonly used look and feel and supports most basic installation scenarios:
   • • ask user about installation settings
     • copy files to an installation folder
     • create shortcuts and registry keys, and register the uninstaller
   • User dialog contains up to eight steps depending on the package features. Each step allows the user to set up one parameter. The user can skip most of them and run an actual setup with default settings.
2. Packaging
   • To create a setup package, you normally use Package Editor, or Packager, which asks you about installation settings via a wizard-style GUI and builds the package. It also saves a special project file, which can be modified later or used to rebuild the package in batch mode.
   • While the Packager has a number of various options, there are only five that you have to fill in manually:
   • • application files and folders
     • shortcuts to create during installation
     • name of your company
     • name of your product; and
     •  the product version
   • Packager calculates defaults for all other options based on the above ones. You may leave them all intact or you may tune your package to your preferences or the requirements of your application by using these options. Available features are described below in ‘Package Options’.
3. NSIS integration
   • NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional opensource installation platform that offers a rich set of features and the widest flexibility available.
   • Since version 1.8 Excelsior Installer provides integration with NSIS, you can export all necessary scripts for your project and run NSIS compiler from within the Packager to build an NSIS installation package for your application.
   • It is possible to use the Excelsior Installer as a GUI wizard for NSIS or you may use this feature to migrate your project to this powerful installation platform if necessary.
4. Package options
   • Splash Screen
   • • Splash screen is a picture that installer displays while unpacking files. The picture helps your user to pass the time, but it also allows you to impress him/her in whatever way you need to, or say something important about your product.
     • You may add a splash screen to your package. Any ".BMP", ".JPG", ".GIF" or ".PNG" file is allowed, but it is wise to use a really nice and/or useful picture for this.
   • License agreement
   • • Excelsior Installer supports the commonly used procedures of license agreement confirmation.
     • If you have such an agreement for your product, then give its text to the Packager. Installer will then display it to your user and ask him/her to confirm the agreement with a separate mouse click.
     • Actual installation starts if and only if the agreement is confirmed.
   • Installation folder selection
   • • Windows traditions require that you unpack application files to an appropriately named folder somewhere inside Program Files. Excelsior Installer supports this tradition and proposes to name the installation folder in honor of your company and your product.
     • You can, however, change that default folder name and its location. You can also disallow your user to change this setting during installation. In this case, your application will always be set up to the same disk location, and your users will have to make one mouse click less.
   • Installation type
   • • Your software may be set up for "current" user (personal mode) or for all users of the computer (common mode).
     • You can select installation type yourself or allow the installer to select it automatically, based on the user's privileges. You also can let your user decide, and the installer will ask him/her to make the choice.
   • Additional shortcuts
   • • In addition to the commonly used Start Menu shortcuts, you can also create shortcuts in other convenient and useful places of Windows: Start Menu root, Desktop, Quick Launch bar, and Autorun folder.
     • If you choose to do so, the installer shows these shortcuts to your user and allows him/her to refuse some or all of them. This helps to keep the computer environment convenient to its owner.
   • Installation language
   • • The default installer peeks at language settings in Windows and selects an installation language that is more or less native to your user. English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Japanese and Russian are available from the box, and we can help to add more languages if necessary.
     • You may select one of the installation languages for your package in case your distribution and marketing policy requires restrictions of this kind.
   • Registry key
   • • The installer can create a registry key for your application. Just choose the section and type the key name into the Packager to achieve this. This key will be automatically removed by the uninstaller to help you keep your user's system in proper order.
   • Package verification
   • • Excelsior Installer protects packages from modifications that were not authorized by you. The packager supplies MD5 hash to the package, and the installer checks whether the hash still conforms to the package contents after it has traveled through hostile Internet areas. Installation stops immediately with an appropriate warning message if the package has been changed.
     • This does not offer complete protection from viruses and Trojans, but it helps your user know about the danger and allows you to become aware of unsafe distribution channels in the area.
     • You may, however, turn this protection off.
   • Post-installation actions
   • • When the installation is completed, it may be useful to open the readme file, run the application or even restart the computer just for more fun. You may set up any number of actions of these kinds for your package.
     • The installer will then show an actions list to your user and allow him/her to refuse some or all of them.

Enhancements:

• NSIS integration.
• Excelsior Installer is now able to build your setup package with NSIS.
• You may use Excelsior Installer as a GUI front-end for NSIS or use this feature to migrate your project to NSIS whenever necessary.

Requirements:

1. Developer System
   • CPU:
   • • Intel Pentium II
       
     • compatible at 266 MHz or higher
   • RAM:
   • • 128 MB minimum
     •  256 MB or more recommended
   • Disk Space:28.5 MB
   • OS:Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Server 2003
2. Enduser System: Microsoft Windows 98, NT 4, 2000, XP, Vista or
   Server 2003