The Official InstallShield for Windows Installer Developer's Guide (with CD-ROM) [Paperback]

Bob Baker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764547232 | ISBN-13: 978-0764547232 | Publication Date: February 15, 2001

The Official InstallShield for Windows® Installer Developer's Guide explores the Windows Installer Service (WIS) and the industry-leading InstallShield tool for putting this new Windows 2000 feature to work. Written by Bob Baker, an InstallShield insider, this title is a comprehensive, one-volume guide to WIS and the Microsoft policies governing its use. In addition, the book shows you how to build client installations using a simple editing tool or the full-blown InstallShield for Windows Installer commercial package. An accompanying CD includes a fully functional evaluation copy of InstallShield for Windows Installer version 1.52.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you want to get your software officially blessed as Windows-compatible, you have to endow it with an automated installation routine. If your software is for Microsoft Windows 2000, you have to use the Windows Installer service. The Official InstallShield for Windows Installer Developer's Guide is the best available treatment of the subject, and it's empirically quite good.

Author Bob Baker first walks readers through the installation-routine creation process the hard way--that is, with the Orca tool that ships with the Windows Installer Software Development Kit (SDK). He then delves much more deeply into the widely used InstallShield for Windows Installer (ISWI) product from InstallShield Software, at which company Baker works as an instructor. A demonstration copy of ISWI 1.52 (as well as the Windows Installer SDK) appears on this book's companion CD-ROM.

The Official InstallShield touches on several instructional techniques as it reveals aspects of the Windows Installer Service and of ISWI. Some of Baker's work is simple documentation of the ISWI user interface; other chapters are language documentation for InstallScript and its Component Object Model (COM) links.

The eclectic style of the book fits the subject, which is multifaceted and capable of dealing (almost by definition) with diverse configurations. Baker's careful, one-at-a-time exploration of features will help developers untangle problems they encounter. It's far better than the Windows Installer SDK documentation, no question about it. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Windows Installer Service and the process of creating installation wizards for programs that run on Microsoft Windows 2000, primarily with InstallShield Software's InstallShield for Windows Installer (ISWI). After covering Windows 2000's architecture for deploying software, this book documents the ISWI user interface and the essentials of its use. Custom actions, user interfaces, scripting, shared components, software patching, and localization are covered in turn.

From the Publisher

The Windows Installer is a departure in many ways from traditional installation technologies. Because of this it seems that developers who are new to the area of software installation can pick up Windows Installer concepts more readily than those who are more experienced with traditional script-based installers. Bob Baker's book is a great reference to both sets of developers, whether they are starting with the Windows Installer or want to understand what new ideas the Windows Installer brings to the table.

-- Ben Chamberlain, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

This book covers it all--from the history of installations on Windows up to InstallShield for Windows Installer and its use of the latest Microsoft Installer technology. A reliable installation has always been critical to the success of an application, and this book will get you there.

--Phil Wilson, Software Engineering, Unisys Corporation

Finally, we have a book that takes the mystery out of the Windows Installer! Bob Baker's The Official InstallShield for Windows Installer Developer's Guide carefully connects the dots to reveal the detailed blueprints. This book will be essential for anyone wishing to develop a well-designed Windows Installer setup.

--David L. Cole, author of "Developing Multi-lingual Installation Programs Using ISWI", a presentation for the Sixteenth International Unicode Conference (IUC16)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 950 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (February 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764547232
• ISBN-13: 978-0764547232
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of information -- poorly organized and written., September 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Official InstallShield for Windows Installer Developer's Guide (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

I'm a senior software engineer who is trying to learn about InstallShield and Windows Installer technology. While this book contains alot of useful information, I found the book to be very poorly organized and poorly written.

In a book like this I expect the author to be give an introduction/overview and then to build from there in a logical manner. The book should explain why things are as they are and not just how they are. This book fails at this.

If you already know InstallShield and/or Windows Installer and are looking to firm up your knowledge, this book may be able to fill in some gaps and firm up your knowledge. If you are trying to learn these products this book will likely be confusing, cumbersome, and frustrating.

It is a shame that this is currently the only book available on this subject.

There are a number of editors (technical editors, copy editors, etc.) listed in the credits. I can't believe the number of grammatical and other errors that they let through.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless, November 1, 2002

By 

"silvercitizen" (Silver City, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official InstallShield for Windows Installer Developer's Guide (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

After reading and re-reading this book for most of a year, I have yet to glean any useful information from it. The author has a very wordy writing style, which tends to obscure an already complex subject. He spends many pages essentially repeating what is in the InstallShield online help, giving lots of detail on what to do, but nothing on when or why to do it.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Does anyone remember CalvinBall?, January 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Official InstallShield for Windows Installer Developer's Guide (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

If a dyslexic writer wrote a treatise on the U.S. tax code, it would read like this book.

My advice is that if you're an experienced programmer and the boss ever comes to you and asks if you'd take over the Installshield duties from the last person who (inexplicably) is no longer going to handle them, don't spend your money on this book -- put it directly into a new resume or job-hunting service.

PS -- CalvinBall was the favorite game of Calvin, from comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, in which Calvin simply did whatever he wanted, and pronounced that as the rules as he went.