Control Your Setup: Write InstallScript Custom Actions

InstallScript custom actions offer a ready-made programming environment for setup authoring. If, like most setup developers, you've written routines in InstallScript, you may be able to reuse much of that code in your Windows Installer setup.

The InstallScript supported in this version of InstallShield is a subset of the complete programming language found in InstallShield Professional. For a list of the differences, see the help topic Supported Functions and Event Handlers.

To begin writing your entry-point function

  1. Navigate to the Actions/Scripts view.
  2. Click the InstallScript icon in the Actions/Scripts explorer. All of the script files in your project, if any, are visible in the file list to the right.
  3. Right-click in the file list and select New Script File.

For help with syntax and individual functions, see the InstallScript Language Reference help file.

Text and Messages

NOTE: This feature is supported only in the full edition of InstallShield Express.

The Text and Messages view gives you access to every string in the installation. Each string has a default value associated with it, but you can modify the contents of any of these values if you wish. For each dialog or message box, InstallShield displays a sample image of what your user will see, so you can get an idea as to which string shows up where on the user interface.

For translation purposes you can edit these strings directly in the IDE, or you can export them to a string file, have the strings translated, and then import them back into InstallShield. The process of creating a localized setup is that simple.

See Text and Messages for more information.