Excelsior Installer provides integration with third-party installers, you can export all necessary scripts for your project and run third-party installer tools from within the Packager to build an installation package for your application.
In the design of Excelsior Installer, we valued ease-of-use over feature set and flexibility. Should your needs extend beyond the capabilities of our product in the future, you will be able to switch over to a more powerful installation platforms with ease.
It is possible to use Excelsior Installer as a GUI wizard for third-party installers or you may use this feature to migrate your project to other setup authoring tools if necessary.
NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open source installation platform that offers a rich set of features and the widest flexibility available.
Excelsior Installer can optionally export your project as a set of scripts for building your installer with NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) 2.40 or later, and invoke the NSIS compiler for you.
To generate NSIS scripts for the current project select the File / Export to NSIS item from Packager main menu. The Packager may also run the generated scripts through the NSIS compiler, so it is possible to use Packager as a graphical front-end for NSIS.
The Packager automatically founds the path to NSIS compiler installed on the computer. You may change it by selecting the Options / NSIS Settings item from the main menu.
NSIS scripts generated by Excelsior Installer provide the same functionality with the following differences:
Splash screen
NSIS: splash screen is displayed first, before installation dialogs.
Excelsior: splash screen is displayed when application files are copied to the destination location.
Post-install actions Run and Open
NSIS: only one Run and one Open post-install actions are allowed.
Excelsior: up to four Run and Open post-install actions are allowed.
Post-install action Restart Windows
NSIS: Restart Windows post-action cannot be combined with Run and Open post-actions.
Excelsior: there is no restriction for Restart Windows post-action.
Welcome and dialog screen images
NSIS: images are resized to fit the respective area.
Excelsior: large images are clipped, small images are centered.
Interface language auto-detect
NSIS: the interface language matches Windows UI language.
Excelsior: the interface language matches user’s regional settings.
Example: On an English version of Windows with German regional settings Excelsior installer will display the installation dialogs in German, whereas NSIS installer will display them in English.
Note: Export to NSIS script is not supported for update package.