Installer - Installer features

  
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On this tab of the Installer step you configure the screen flow in the GUI installer as well as custom actions and custom screens.
  The list of Installer features shows all available screens for the GUI installer. Each screen name is preceeded by a check box that allows you to disable or enable the corresponding screen. In the Detail section, some screens require additional user input to customize their behavior.

The following standard screens are available:

  • Welcome
    This screen displays a welcome message. It is mandatory and cannot be disabled.

    In install4j Enterprise Edition, the Detail section allows you to specify a custom banner on the left side of the installer. To do so, please check use custom banner and enter an image file in the text field below or use the chooser button next to it to select an image file (in PNG or GIF format) from your file system. A relative path will be interpreted relative to the project file. The banner will be aligned at the top, its width is arbitrary, although you might want to adjust the installer size on the GUI options tab if the width is greater than 200 pixels. The default banner has a size of 164x314.

    For custom banners, the background color selector allows you to specify a color for the vertical extent that is not covered by the banner. Press the [...] chooser button to bring up a color selector.

  • License agreement
    The license agreement screen is disabled by default. It show the text of a license agreement and requires the user to accept it before continuing. If you enable it, the Detail section requires you to specify an HTML or plain text file that contains your license agreement. You can use the [...] chooser button to select a file from your file system. A relative path will be interpreted relative to the project file.
  • Installation location
    This screen allows the user to choose the directory where the application is installed. If you disable it, the default installation directory specified by the media file definition will be used.

    If you disable show disk space needed for installation, the approximately required disk space will not be shown on the installation location screen. This useful for installers which copy their own data files in custom install actions.

    If you disable suggest application directory, the default installation directory defined in the media file wizard will not be appended when users select directories. This is only useful in combination with a custom directory validator where users must point to an existing folder. Otherwise, deselecting this checkbox is not recommended.

  • Installation components
    The installation components screen is only relevant if installation components have been defined in the files step. In that case, the installation components screen is displayed with checkboxes for each installation components, otherwise it will not be shown, even if it is enabled.

    To choose the initially selected installation components, click on the  [Set selected components] button. The Selected components dialog will be displayed.

    To choose the mandatory installation components that cannot be deselected by the user, click on the  [Set mandatory components] button. The Mandatory components dialog will be displayed.

  • Program group
    Note: This screen is only relevant for Microsoft Windows.

    This screen allows the user to choose the program group in the Windows start menu. If you disable it, the default program group specified by the media file definition will be used.

  • File associations

    This screen allows the user to set up associations between file types and launchers. If no file associations are defined, this screen will not be shown, even if it is enabled. File associations are only performed on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. File associations are displayed as checkboxes.

    To configure your file associations, click on the [Configure file associations] button, and the file associations dialog is displayed.

  • Services (enterprise edition only)
    Note: This screen is only visible in install4j Enterprise Edition.

    This screen allows the user to customize the installation of the distributed service executables. If no service launchers have been defined in the launchers step, this screen will not be shown in the installer.

    On Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, this screen allows the user to select which services are installed. On Microsoft Windows, the user can additionally decide whether the service should be started on bootup. On Unix-like platforms the user is alerted to the existence of the start/stop scripts that can be integrated in the boot system.

    To choose the initially selected services, click on the  [Set selected services] button. The Selected services dialog will be displayed.

    If you disable this screen, the platform-dependent default installation of all services will be performed.

  • Additional tasks

    This screen allows the user to perform additional tasks like creating a desktop and a quick launch icon. Standard tasks are enabled in the media file wizard. If no additional tasks are defined, this screen will not be shown, even if it is enabled.

    Checkboxes for custom tasks can be contributed to this screen. The user selection of these custom tasks is then available in the InstallerContext for custom actions and custom screens. To configure your custom tasks, click on the [Configure custom tasks] button, and the custom tasks dialog is displayed.

  • Pre-install information
    The pre-install information screen is disabled by default. It shows a message to the user just before the installation is started. If you enable it, the Detail section requires you to specify an HTML or plain text file that contains your message. You can use the [...] chooser button to select a file from your file system. A relative path will be interpreted relative to the project file.
  • Installation
    This is the screen where the actual installation is performed. It is mandatory and cannot be disabled.
  • Post-install information
    The post-install information screen is disabled by default. It shows a message to the user after the installation has been completed. If you enable it, the Detail section requires you to specify an HTML or plain text file that contains your message. You can use the [...] chooser button to select a file from your file system. A relative path will be interpreted relative to the project file.
  • Finished
    This screen displays a completion message. It is mandatory and cannot be disabled.

    In install4j Enterprise Edition, the Detail section allows you to specify a custom banner on the left side of the installer. Please see the help for the "Welcome" screen above for an explanation of how to choose a custom banner.

  In install4j Enterprise Edition, you can add custom screens at arbitrary positions in the screen sequence. To the right of the list of Installer features you find the controls for adding deleting and moving custom screens:
  •  Add a custom screen (key INS)
    Adds a new custom screen. An custom screen is a Java class derived from com.install4j.api.CustomScreen. Further help on writing custom screens is available in the API description. When adding a new custom screen, a custom class selector will be brought up that shows all appropriate classes present in the custom jar file. If you expect a class to be shown and it is not there, please check whether your jar file is packaged correctly.

    The new custom screen will be added at the bottom of the list of installer screens. You can then move it to a new position with the arrow buttons (see below).

    If a custom screen is placed after the "Finished" screen, it will never be shown in the normal screen flow. However, you can progammatically switch to such a screen from another custom screen. Please check the Hello World demo project for an example of this kind.

  •  Remove a custom screen (key DEL)
    Removes the currently selected custom screen after a confirmation dialog. Also available from the context menu.
  •  Move custom screen up (key ALT-UP)
    Moves the selected custom screen up one position in the list of installer screens. Also available from the context menu.
  •  Move custom screen down (key ALT-DOWN)
    Moves the selected custom screen down one position in the list of installer screens. Also available from the context menu.

In the list of Installer screens, the two types of screens are shown as

  •  Standard screens
    Standard screens are provided by install4j. They cannot be moved or deleted. You can disable all screens except for the
    • "Welcome" screen
    • "Installation" screen
    • "Finished" screen
  •  Custom screens
    Custom screens are added by yourself. You can move, delete and rename them. Renaming a custom screen is done by right-clicking it and choosing Rename from the context menu.

Note: Please check the Hello World demo project for examples of custom screens.

  If you want to prevent users from performing unattended installation, you can deselect the allow unattended installation checkbox. This is useful if you have custom screens that have to be filled out, or if your custom actions unconditionally assume that an InstallerWizardContext is passed to them.