Creating or Changing Properties

InstallShield X

You can create and change project properties using the Property Manager. The properties you set in the Property Manager are project-wide values that are placed in the Property table and compiled into your setup project. When you need to change a property, you need to change only the value in the Property Manager to have it take effect throughout your project. For an overview of properties, see Using Windows Installer Properties.

Creating Properties

You can create your own project-wide properties through the Property Manager. These properties allow you to set a value in one place and use it throughout your setup project.

To create a property:

1. Double-click the last row of the Property Manager.
2. Enter a name for the new property in the Name column.
3. Enter a value for the property in the Value column.

Creating Properties Associated With String-Table Entries (Localizable Properties)

If you want to define a property that can have different values based on the language your installation uses, you can create a project-wide property associated with a string-table entry.

To create a string-table-enabled property:

1. Right-click in the Property Manager.
2. Select New Localizable Property.
3. Rename the property by double-clicking its name in the Name column.
4. Open the Select String dialog by clicking the ellipsis [...] in the Value column.
5. Edit the string-table identifier and value by double-clicking the items in the Identifier and Value columns.
6. Click OK to dismiss the Select String panel.

If you want to create a property that can be changed at the command line, use all capital letters in the property's name. For example, INSTALLDIR is a property that can be set or changed from the command line.

Changing Existing Properties

To change an existing property:

Double-click its value and enter a new one.

The Property Manager does not provide any validation on the information that you enter into these fields. For example, if you change the value of the ARPHELPLINK property to MyCompany instead of http://www.mycompany.com, the link fails when a user clicks on it. No error message is displayed at build time. To ensure that you have the correct information and syntax for that information, see the Windows Installer Property Reference.

Changing Non-Localizable Properties to Localizable

You can change a non-localizable property to localizable in the Property Manager. The property value remains the same, but it is stored in a string ID.

To make a non-localizable property localizable:

1. Right-click on the property.
2. Select Make Localizable.

Clearing Properties

You can clear a property's value without deleting the property from the Property Manager. This functionality works for localizable and non-localizable properties. For example, you might want to clear a string-table enabled property like ARPCOMMENTS.

To clear a property:

1. Right-click on the property.
2. Select Clear Property.

Clearing a property makes the property non-localizable because it does not have a string ID.