Which version to edit existing .uip?

[Loyal_Parsons]

I would like to setup a sort of "template" for other developers in my engineering group to use for making customized versions of our project. If I create the .uip file with InstallShield X Universal Premier what edition of Universal would the other developers need in order to do basic editing of that .uip file? They will at least need to be able to add content, change Feature names, and edit string values.

Anyone set something like this up already?


Thanks,

-Loyal

[brianl]

Hi,

Of course, we'd love for you to buy several more copies of IS X Premier. Volume discounts for Premier begin at 3-5 copies, and continue up to site licenses. If you're interested in getting a quote, contact sales@installshield.com, or post your company name and business address, and one of our sales representatives can contact you.

Otherwise, the considerably more difficult method would be for your colleagues to modify your projects by writing XSL files to modify the .uip file. The .uip file is an XML document, so you could even write a home-grown app that modifies the XML if you are so inclined.

Your colleagues won't be able to buy copies of IS X Express or Professional to modify a Premier project, since if the Premier project contains any Premier-specific features, they will get an error when they attempt to open it in a lesser version.

[Loyal_Parsons]

Thanks for the reply! I don't believe the XSL file solution would really work. Don't you still need to somehow compile the .uip after modifying it with the XSL? That would mean having a Universal Install somewhere anyway.

The product comparison chart only shows Premier having two features that Professional does not: Collaboration Design & Assemblies and a Question Dialog. Are there some other features that would make a project not work in Professional?

We are trying to add Universal to the list of tools used in our various offices and departments. Being able to use a less expensive version for the minor development tasks would go a long way toward selling this tool "in-house".

-Loyal

[brianl]

There is a "stand-alone build" tool that is available free of charge for IS X Universal. This tool allows any developer to build .uip projects into universal installers, and they do not require a separate license of IS X. So possibly, the developer could make minor changes to the distributed .uip project using XSL or some other XML tool, then build using the SAB.

To download the SAB, select "Check For Updates" under the Tools menu in the Universal IDE, or go to support.installshield.com.