1、1,Developing multilingual installation programs using InstallShield for Windows Installer,David L. Cole IBM Corporation Research Triangle Park, NC ,2,Why were here.,No matter how good your application is, Your customers first experience is.,The install program!,New technologies exist,- The Windows I
2、nstaller,- Development tools (InstallShield),Thats what were here to talk about!,3,Topics,A background on Microsofts Windows Installer service A description of the InstallShield for Windows Installer tool Examples of multilingual install programs Details on how to design and develop multilingual ins
3、tall programs Explanation of how and where Unicode is used in the process Hints, tips, and gotchas References,4,What is a multilingual installation program?,Installation Program,5,What is the Windows Installer?,Microsofts Windows Installer is a new installation service that consists of: an operating
4、 system resident installation service a standard format for component management a management API for applications and tools. Is a key component of Windows 2000, also available for other Windows versions (Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0) Also known as “MSI” Not an authoring environment! 3rd party vendors
5、 (e.g., InstallShield, Wise) provide development tools,6,Why Windows Installer?,Better management of shared resources Consistent enforcement of installation rules Easy customization by administrators Facilitated selection of desired application features Automatic repair of configuration problems In
6、essence: reduced support costs for software providers a much improved experience for administrators and end-users,7,An operating system resident installation service.,Part of the operating system! Enforces consistent installation rules Service is “engine” for install program data Manages shared comp
7、onents on behalf of an application Can run at elevated privilege level on Windows NT/2000 e.g., non-administrators may install services Built-in to Windows 2000, and available on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 Use is required for new “Certified for Microsoft Windows” logo (except for ser
8、ver products, for the time being),8,A standard format.,“Data” for operating system install “Engine” Install program is actually a collection of data tables Establishes product / feature / component hierarchy Incorporates “standard” actions such as installing fonts Extendable with custom actions “.ms
9、i” file extension May be opened and extended with development tools such as InstallShield for Windows Installer,9,Components and features,“Atomic” unit of installation Collection of files, registry keys, etc. that are all installed together Uniquely defined and automatically shared by OS Not visible
10、 to the user Typical method of distinguishing OS-specific and language-specific resources,Groupings of components How groups of components are selected to be installed or uninstalled Exposed to the user Maintains “feature state” Install locally Run from source Install on demand Do not install,Compon
11、ents,Features,10,Product (Office),Products, Features, & Components,11,Product (MyProduct),Products, Features, & Components,12,Feature selection example,13,Feature selection example.,14,Data table example,15,A management API for applications and tools.,Tightly coupled with the Windows Shell Manages f
12、ile paths on behalf of an application enables roaming user support Ensures that requested applications/features are both installed and complete enables install-on-demand (Advertising) enables self-repair Maintains an inventory of installed applications/features Plays role in enforcing system policie
13、s,16,InstallShield for Windows Installer (ISWI),A development tool for authoring Windows Installer-based install programs Creates data tables which compose the .msi file Includes wizards for stepping you through creating a standard project compiling the .msi file and building the output media creati
14、ng custom action controls creating components adhering to best practices Also includes support for creating multilingual installs!,17,ISWI input and output,I SWI,Note: numerous different build options exist,18,Setup.exe function flow,Determine default language (via user locale) Display language sele
15、ction panel Query Windows Installer version Install Windows Installer service, if needed Launch Windows Installer service (msiexec.exe) Apply selected language transform Install product Pass command line parameters,19,Product (Demo),Resource (cards.dll),A demo of ISWI,20,Localizing an install progra
16、m,Add entries to English (or default) string table for any translatable text used in messages or added to dialogs Ensure that custom messages and dialogs reference string table entries Export string table of default language and translate into supported languages Import translated string table for e
17、ach language InstallShield-provided strings are already translated but may be edited Verify controls on custom dialogs are properly sized Thats it!,21,Designing a multilingual install program - Type I,Language chosen at product build time Set of supported languages selected via Project Wizard or Pro
18、ject Properties Language-dependent components identified via Languages field of each component (Setup Design view) At build time (using the Release Wizard), filter application by selected language (Filtering Settings dialog) Include only the selected language and make default (Setup Languages dialog
19、) Result: single language version of application, with matching language of install program,22,Designing a multilingual install program - Type II,Language chosen at product install time Set of supported languages selected via Project Wizard or Project Properties Language-dependent components identif
20、ied via Conditions field (ProductLanguage property) of each component (Setup Design view) At build time (using the Release Wizard), do not filter application by language Include all languages, and check “Display the Setup Languages dialog” (Setup Languages dialog) Result: setup.exes language selecti
21、on panel chooses language version of application and language of install program,23,Designing a multilingual install program - Type III,Language chosen at product run time Applications user interface should include controls to choose language (good to couple with install on demand) Set of supported
22、languages (for install program) selected via Project Wizard or Project Properties Design feature/subfeature tree to list supported languages (allows user to easily add or remove languages) At build time (using the Release Wizard), do not filter application by language Include all languages, and chec
23、k “Display the Setup Languages dialog” (Setup Languages dialog) Result: setup.exes language selection panel chooses language of install program; user selects language version(s) of application to be installed.,24,Use of Unicode,Character strings within the .msi file Exported string files (both Unico
24、de and ASCII text) License Agreement text (.rtf file) MSI program interfaces,25,Hints, tips, and gotchas,Must install Windows language resources New Language Wizard command syntax for logging MsiZap Additional tets scenarios,Multiple files of same name to same target directory Filtering components w
25、ith a property set in the UI sequence Windows 95 bug re: dropdown list on language selection panel Adding language packs to an existing project,26,Resources,The Windows Installer Service, a white paper from Microsoft, available at http:/ “Roadmap to Windows Installer Documentation“ in the Microsoft
26、Platform SDK, and online at http:/ Application Specification for Microsoft Windows 2000 for distributed applications Version 1.0, available at http:/ InstallShield for Windows installer web page at http:/ InstallShield Knowledge Base at http:/ InstallShield for Windows Installer news groups at news
27、server installshield.iswi.general installshield.iswi.customaction installshield.iswi.international InstallSite web site at http:/www.installsite.org/,27,Supplemental Slides,The following slides show the language features of InstallShield for Windows Installer, and the accompanying text explains how
28、 these features are used to create the different types of multilingual installation programs.,28,Language features of ISWI,29,Language features of ISWI.,30,Language features of ISWI.,31,Language features of ISWI.,32,Language features of ISWI.,33,Language features of ISWI.,34,Language features of ISWI.,
