Inno Setup 4

Keywords:

Installer, Windows, setup, install, compiler, setup software, installer software, installation

Overview

I couldn’t but share my thoughts about this software, because we use it to make setup files for our applications. We tried several other installers but they either didn’t satisfy our needs or were too complex to cope with.

Inno Setup 4 is a free installer for Windows programs. It supports all 32-bit Windows versions in use today - Windows 95, 98, 2000, 2003, XP, Me, and NT 4.0 (no service packs are required). It provides the means of creating rather sophisticated installation packages.
Inno Setup compiles your distributive files into one setup.exe file. It provides not only an installer, but an uninstaller as well.

Its interface contains one script per project that you use to program the behavior of the installer, and to debug it. Inno Setup scripts are programmed using its own meta language. It reminds INI files, with their sections and consequent pairs of variables and values.

Installation

The installation is simple and looks very much like the action of setup files generated by Inno Setup itself. They associate files having *.iss extension with Inno Setup. *.iss is an extension for Inno installation scripts.

Process description

Working with Inno Setup compiler requires certain initial knowledge of their interface from you. A good start is to start with the Inno Setup Script Wizard and then customize the script for your special needs.

One of our usual scripts consists of 5 sections: [Setup], [Tasks], [Files], [Icons] and [Run]. In the [Setup] section we specify the title of the application, its version, the URL, license files etc. [Tasks] creates Desktop and Quick launch shortcuts. [Files] selects and combines the necessary files into the distributive. [Icons] specify what icons will distinguish our application from other programs on a user’s computer. And finally [Run] gives the installer instructions as what to do after the setup has completed (registering libraries, adding something to the register, arranging files etc.).

Inno Setup provides default messages for all the actions during the installation, but you can customize it with special messages, and in different languages.

There are meta-words for special directories that are detected on a user’s computer, such as:

• The directory where the application will be installed
• Windows system directory
• Windows directory
• Desktop directory
• Program Files
• Current user application data

Having composed your script you may compile it and launch to test the installation. You can debug the installation using “Step Into” and “Step Over” commands. If there is any error in the script (either syntax or logical) the compiler will let you know.

Output format

The output format of Inno Setup is either *.exe (for ready installation executables) or *.iss (for Inno Setup scripts).

Encryption function of Inno Setup deserve additional attention. You can protect your distributive files with a password that will be stored in md5 hash. You specify a password you want to prompt the user for at the beginning of the installation. All the files inside the distributive will be encrypted using ARCFOUR encryption, and one can’t review their contents using – say – reverse engineering.

To apply the encryption you must download a small DLL from the website and copy it to the Inno Setup directory. Then add Encryption and Password commands to the [Setup] section of your script.

Interface, wizards, help files

Interface contains only critical options and menu items. There are some settings of the program environment, but they are minimal. Script’s contents are highlighted, but you can’t edit color settings (though you may change the font).

On start-up Inno offers you to take advantage of its Script Wizard. It is very thorough and clear. Using it you’ll create your first fully functioning and ready-to-go installer in a minute.

But if you want to enhance the capability of your script, you’ll have to read the documentation. There is a help file attached to the system. As for me, it’s somewhat hard to understand at a first glance. At least I had to guess the syntax and purpose of some commands. More examples would come in handy.

Competitors

I don’t think that InstallShield is a competitor to Inno Setup, so I’ll list some of the installers of the same class:

Microsoft Windows Installer, Ghost Installer, Setup Factory 6, Installer2Go.

Prices, where to buy, URL

Inno Setup is a free installer. You can download it here: http://www.jrsoftware.org. I don’t tell you the support email here, because Jordan Russell, the author doesn’t reveal it obviously on his website, but you’ll find his email on the contact page.

The website has a discussion board (newsgroup). New versions of Inno Setup are released very frequently (the last one was issued a week ago).

My personal conclusion

Well done, though requires some efforts to cope with the interface.

You're welcome to discuss this article at WellDone Software Forum.