Is there a free tool to modify IsM InstallShield files?

Question

We have two licenses for the installation screen - one for the installer developer, and the other for the CI server.

Often there is a situation when another developer moves the project DLL to another location, thereby disrupting the installer.

I was wondering if there is a free tool that will allow you to make small changes to ISM files. I am only talking about small changes, such as fixing the path to the DLL or completely removing the DLL. I do not intend to "cheat" the license.

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you go to the project properties, you can save the ism file in XML format. (It looks like your project is already set up that way.) If so, the structure of the XML file is fairly easy to understand.

Using any text or XML editor, you can update the path to the DLL.

I would not suggest it for making big changes, but for small changes this is not a problem.

Just find the name of the DLL. It will be in the XML tag. The original path to be changed must be an attribute of this tag.

I did this using InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects. If you are using a clean MSI project, your size may vary.

Answer 2

InstallShield projects (.ISM) are stored in XML (DTD) format or in the binary installer format of Windows (indeed, MSI is just written back and the circuit is in a pre-compiled format), therefore, it is not possible to create automation for updating these files without any Dependence on InstallShield.

You do not say which version or version of InstallShield you are using, but if you are entitled to any Stand-Alone Build Licenses, you can place this on the CI server and release one license for another developer. In addition, the IDE and SAB come with a COM automation interface that you can use to perform all kinds of interesting automation to solve this problem.

But I really suggest you do what I do. Use Windows Installer XML to abstract the installer components into the back-end modules, and then attach the merge modules to your InstallShield functions. This requires a monolithic installer project and turns it into support for distributed expansion. I even wrote my own tool called IsWiX , which gives you the option of using InstallShield to support WiX modules.

Answer 3

Or you can see the contents of the .msi file with the Orca tool to modify the contents of the .msi database (which is really necessary for making minor changes), this tool will be delivered with the SDK installer.

To change it, you must know the basic MSI tables.