Step 2: Adding Application Files

On this step you can add application files to your installation package.

The page displays the package files panel on the left and a host file chooser on the right. The package files panel represents the structure of the installation on a target machine. The host file chooser allows you to select the files to be added to the installation.

• Adding files using filechooser
• Adding files using difference tracker

Adding files using filechooser

To add file(s) to the installation, do the following:

1. Select file(s) in the host file chooser at the right.
2. Drag selected file(s) to the package files panel or click button.

Note that files are not actually copied — the project being created contains just links to file locations. You can check that all referenced files do actually exist on disk by selecting the File/Refresh menu item. In general, you should avoid physical deletion of files already added to the installation.

Adding a directory results in inclusion of its entire contents with subdirectories and respective (sub)directories are created in the package files panel. Note that adding large directories may take a while.

To create an empty directory in the installation, use button.

Note, when you add a JET-compiled executable to the package, Packager recognizes that and warms you about. It recommends to use Excelsior JetPackII to deploy a JET-compiled executable correctly. If you have already all necessary files for a JET-compiled executable, including JET run-time libraries, you can use Packager as well.

When creating an update package, you can replace files included in the previous installation by dropping a newer file version over the older one. Such files will be added to the package to replace the previous copies of the files when updating a client installation of the application.

Adding files using difference tracker

Another way to include files in the update package is using difference tracker that enables you to:

• check the differences between the content of the original package and respective files/directories on the disk
• quickly add the necessary files/directories to the update package

The difference tracker dialog is invoked automatically when you start preparing an update package. The dialog contains the Summary of changes panel that displays files and directories as a tree with the layout similar to that of the packages files panel (see Package Files Panel).

The tree highlights the differences between the content of the original package and files/directories located on the disk. To the left of each tree element, one of the following icons appear:

		“new”: files and directories not included in the original package;
		“changed”: modified files and directories that contain new and/or modified files.
		“identical”: files and directories identical to those included in the original package;

Note that the difference tracker treats files as identical if they have the same name and size, and meet either comparison criteria:

• by date - files have the same time of the last modification
• by content - files have identical binary content

Comparison by date works faster but it is less accurate. You may select the desired comparison method by selecting the radio button in the Comparison method panel on the right.

The tree nodes displayed in the Summary of changes panel have checkboxes that appear to the left. Select the checkbox, you to mark the respective the file or directory (including all its content) as "to be added" to the update package.

Once you have selected the desired files and/or directories, click Ok at the bottom of the dialog to commit the selection and include the items in the update. For your convenience, the checkboxes of the changed files and directories have the selected state by default so you may add them at once by simply clicking Ok.

The checkboxes displayed close to the tree nodes may have one of the following states:

• not selected and not grayed — the component is not included in the package. You may select it.
• not selected and grayed (disabled) — the component cannot be added to the update because it was not changed.
• selected and not grayed — the (new or changed) component will be added to the update package after you click Ok in the dialog.
• selected and grayed (disabled) — the (new or changed) component has already been added to the package.

When preparing an update package, the difference tracker dialog may be invoked manually through the Options/View and commit changes item of the main menu.