InstallAnywhere 2011 supports the evolving needs of agile teams to develop, package, install and iterate in the fast-paced, dynamic environments that mark today’s development shops. The new release provides significantly advanced merge module handling in a number of areas to provide a better multi-platform software installation experience from install to uninstall for developers and end-users. The following takes a closer look at InstallAnywhere 2011’s new features surrounding merge modules.
External Resource Bundle Support for Merge Modules
In InstallAnywhere 2011, merge modules can now access their own external resource bundles and are also able to access the external resource bundles of their parent installer during the installation and uninstallation phases. This is applicable to one-level nested merge modules and to multiple-merge modules which get installed with a single parent. This feature helps prevent duplicating resource bundle keys in the parent and merge module. The merge module has free access to the resource bundle keys from the parent.
Common Uninstaller for Merge Modules
In earlier InstallAnywhere versions, the user had to take care of uninstalling merge modules either during the start of post-uninstall or during the end of pre-uninstall. InstallAnywhere 2011 now manages the removal of all merge modules. You can choose to implement a single uninstaller which can uninstall both your main project as well as your merge modules.
To specify this option for a dynamic merge module, select the Uninstall Merge Module when parent is uninstalled option on the Install tab of the Dynamic Merge Module customizer on the Organization > Modules subtask for the specific merge module. The point of uninstallation of merge modules can also be configured using the Uninstall Merge Modules uninstaller action in the Uninstall task. You can specify this option for an individual merge module by selecting the Uninstall Merge Module when parent is uninstalled option on the Install Merge Module action customizer in the Install task.
Unified Progress Bar for Merge Modules
In previous InstallAnywhere versions, the user was not aware of the progress of the merge module installation and if the merge module was large, it could appear as though the installation was hung.
In InstallAnywhere 2011, the installation progress of merge modules is merged into the main installer’s progress information. Therefore, the end user is able to see the installation progress of a merge module reflected in the main installer’s progress bar on the Install Progress panel.
Consolidated Logging for Parent and Merge Modules
InstallAnywhere 2011 allows a merge module’s installation log to be consolidated into the parent’s installation log by selecting the Add merge module log to parent log option available in the merge module's customizer. For merge modules that are imported as a dynamic merge module from Organization > Merge Modules subtask, then this setting is available in the Install section of the customizer.
Stay tuned to InstallTalk for closer looks into how the specific new features in InstallAnywhere 2011 are saving time and resulting in better cross-platform installers. If you’d like to find more information in the meantime, please visit the InstallAnywhere 2011 page on our Website. As always, we also welcome hearing your specific examples of how the new features will impact your efforts.
