Excelsior Installation Products

About the Project

Our main goal in this project is to make software distribution as simple and effective as we can. Ideally it shall be completely invisible for the Authors and their Clients. Or at least it shall be a fun.

We want to save the creative energy of our Authors and their Clients for the things they like doing most. We hope that would make our world a somewhat better place.

Priorities

1. It must always work as expected.
2. It must be easy to understand.
3. It must be convenient.
4. Let it be nice.
5. Technical perfection does matter.

Nearest plans

Our development plans are based on the requests of our users. Let us use the moment and invite you again to let us know what new features do you need or what shall be improved in our product.

Project history

06-Sep-2010: version 2.1

Full 64-bit Windows folder access

64-bit variations of special Windows folders, such as  Program Files, Common Files and SysWoW64, are made available for selection as a target for installation roots. If the package uses such targets then the installer will not set it up on 32-bit Windows.

OLE and ActiveX controls registration (Delivery only)

You can now easily register and un-register OLE controls such as DLL or ActiveX Controls (OCX) files that are self-registerable via the RegSvr32 tool.

Subfolders for shortcuts

It is made possible to create subfolders of shortcuts folder at Start Menu \ Programs of the target system.

Custom icons for file associations (Delivery only)

It made possible to set up custom icons for the file associations that will be registered for your product. These icons will be displayed in Windows Explorer for files with specified extensions instead of the application icon which is the default.

Low resolution screens supported

If your screen is too small for the Packager window (1020 х 670 pixels), it will now automatically expose appropriate scrollbars to make it possible to work on, say, netbooks.

Uninstallation completion check

The uninstaller now supports two new parameters which help to wait for the uninstallation completion and to check if it was successful.

Less restrictions in evaluation and non-commercial edition in Excelsior Delivery

The non-commercial and evaluation edition of the Excelsior Delivery now provides fully functional means to customize images used in the installer dialogs. Now there is only one restriction of the evaluation edition, besides the license terms: the text "Excelsior Delivery" in installer dialog window title may not be removed.

Automatic update check

The Packager is now able to check Excelsior site for updates of the product you use. The check is performed once a month by default. You may choose the option to perform only manual update checks.

Bugs fixed

• The "Install" button was by mistake active when the application folder was not set up yet.
• "Runtime error #3(trap)" arose during export to NSIS of projects with long filenames.
• Preview of installation dialogs did not update the icon if it was removed.
• The Packager did not restore uninstaller shortcuts when the uninstaller suppress option was switched off then on.
• File install.log was created regardless of was the uninstaller suppressed or not.
• Minor German translation improvements.

01-Mar-2010: version 2.0

Multiple installation roots (Delivery)

It is made possible to install application files to any number of folders in addition to the main installation root.

Special Folder support

It is made possible to set up default locations for installation folders of your application in any of standard Windows locations, like Windows, Desktop, Application Data, My Documents etc.

Folder for temporary files

If there are files in your package that are used during the installation only, you may now put them to a special temporary folder of the package. The installer removes such files after the installation is completed and they will not waste you user's disk.

Select icons from executable and dll

Icons used in the package now can be extracted from any EXE or DLL file, so it is not necessary to put them into the package as separate *.ico files.

New installation language

Brazilian localization is added to existing eight installation languages.

Keep folders after uninstall (Delivery only)

Any additional installation folder, but not the main one, now may be left alive after the application is uninstalled, for example to keep user's data files or shared components.

Installation package without Uninstaller (Delivery only)

In case the uninstallation is unwanted for some reason, or trivial, the new feature allows you to create a package without uninstaller. All your user will get are your files and shortcuts and not a single bit of the installer footprint.

06-Apr-2009: version 1.8

NSIS integration

Since v1.8 our installation products can produce all scripts that are necessary to build your installer with NSIS. You may also run NSIS compiler from within the Packager, so it is possible to use it as GUI wizard for NSIS, but such use was not our main goal. 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 platform with ease. We hate vendors lock-ins just as you do.

Usability enhancements

• All project options that control installer appearance are moved to a new Appearance page of the Packager
• Windows Explorer integration of the Packager now can be switched off, that was done by request of our customers.
• Special button of the Packager allows you to copy shortcut to any set of other shortcut folders simultaneously.
• Graphics in *.jpg, *.gif, *.png along with *.bmp is now allowed for splash screen.
• Packager now builds your company name, product name and version into the package .EXE-file
• Application name and version is now added to standard Windows “Add-Remove Programs” list.
• In batch mode the installer now provides three different codes depending on the process result
• (Excelsior Delivery only) You may set your own icon for the package .EXE-file instead of standard one. It was done by request of our customers.

Bug fixes

• The installer window could be unexpectedly covered by another open window when user click “Next” button, that may look like the installer was instantly canceled. Now this effect is eliminated.
• When the user have no rights to write files into a given installation folder, the installer will not stop with an error message but it will ask user to choose another location.
• (Excelsior Delivery only) In previous version the uninstaller always removed file association info. It could cause problems when the info was modified, for example if the newer version of the application was installed before uninstalling the older one. Now the info is removed only if it was not changed.

25-Aug-2008: version 1.7

Two-click package creation

Integration with Windows Explorer makes it possible to create installation package in just two mouse clicks:

• watch this demo to see how it looks like
• read this page to learn how it works

Installation package integrity verification

An installation package is now supplied with MD5 hash. The installer checks the package against that hash and stops installation if the package has been changed.

Quick Launch shortcuts

Excelsior Installer is now able to add shortcuts to Windows Quick Launch toolbar.

Ignore hidden files and folders

By default, files and folders with the hidden attribute are not added to the installation package. It helps when you use something like CVS that puts auxiliary files to hidden folders. You may disable the  hidden files and folders filter using by unchecking a box on page Files of the Packager.

Installation type enforcement

Now you may choose whether the application must be installed for all users of the system or just the user that runs the installer. The options are:

• Always install the application for all users (requires administrative rights)
• Always install the application for the current user only
• Install for all users if the current user has administrative rights, otherwise install for the current user only
• Let the end user decide (this used to be the only option in Excelsior Installer 1.6 and below)

Usability enhancements

1. Update creation is now more straightforward. Simply open the previously saved "updatable" package (.eui file).
2. The final screen now shows the installation package size and disk space requirements.

Uninstall feedback (Excelsior Delivery only)

Do you want to know why people uninstall your product? Excelsior Delivery can ask them about. New feature allows you to invite your client to your web page or send you an e-mail to give some feedback about his/her reasons to uninstall.

Icons for installation wizard (Excelsior Delivery only)

Now you can replace the icon of installation wizard dialogs. New icon can be set in branding dialog that invoked by button "Branding..." on page Details, tab "Installer appearance".

12-Feb-2008: version 1.6

Excelsior Delivery rebranding (Excelsior Delivery only)

Now you can replace images, texts and titles on the dialogs of the installation wizard to create a uniform appearance for your software product setups (see screenshots).

Rebranding dialog is invoked by button "Branding..." on page Details, tab "Installer appearance". For more details see section "Specifying Installation Settings"/"Installer branding" in the User's Guide.

Callback DLLs  (Excelsior Delivery only)

Excelsior Delivery now allows you to specify a custom callback DLL that will be invoked once just before copying files and once after the copying process is finished. This DLL can adjust package files or settings to a specific machine environment and/or perform extra installation actions.

As well you can specify a custom callback DLL that will be invoked once just before uninstallation is started, so it can perform custom uninstallation actions.

Both callback DLLs can be specified on page Details, tab "Extra facilities". For more information on the programming of the callback DLLs see section "Installer"/"Callback DLLs" in the User's Guide.

File associations (Excelsior Delivery only)

When preparing an Excelsior Delivery setup, you can specify a program from the installation to be associated with a particular file type depending on the file name extension. The functionality is available through the Packager wizard. If a file association was specified, Excelsior Delivery will display a dialog that shows the file name extensions, description of the associated programs and checkboxes to enable/disable a particular association.

Post-install actions

You may now add typical post-install actions to the last page of the installation dialog. Examples are launching the application just installed, viewing the readme file, restarting the computer, etc. etc.

Version information from executables

The version information, such as company name and product version,  is propagated from Windows executables and used as the default settings for Excelsior Installer setups.

Difference tracker for updates

When preparing update packages for the created installations, Excelsior Installer now enables you to easily inspect and commit changes between the original installation and the respective files and directories on the disk. As a result, you can add the new and modified files and directories to the update package in a few mouse clicks.

The difference tracker is invoked automatically when you start preparing an update, or can be invoked manually through the main menu of Excelsior Installer.

Deleting all files from installation folders

Excelsior uninstaller can be configured to remove all files from the installation folder including those created by the application after installation.

When preparing the installation package, you can set this option on page Details, tab "Extra facilities" (see "Specifying Installation Settings"/"Extra facilities" in the User's Guide).

Project history

Excelsior Installer wizard now allows you to quickly open one of the recently saved projects (see "Opening a project" sections in the User's Guide for details.)

14-Nov-2007: Excelsior Installer 1.5

This release introduces a Windows Vista support. Other improvements are:

• Italian localization of the installation dialogs added (our thanks to Giacomo Margarito and Giuseppe De Stefano for their kind help in translation)
• Quick Install button is added
• Update packages for previously installed applications implemented
• Java Runtime Slim-Down technology is used to reduce the download size of the Excelsior Installer itself

12-Apr-2007: Excelsior Installer 1.1

The key improvement is the reduced installer overhead, illustrated in the following table:

Application	Package size
	v1.0	v1.1
Empty installation, 0 KB unpacked	580 KB	180 KB
Sample application, 728 KB unpacked	1050 KB	372 KB

7-Feb-2007: Excelsior Installer 1.0

The first release of Excelsior Installer as separate product. It supports the most common installation scenario.

15-Dec-2006: Excelsior Installer is started

The project was started. Work on the Excelsior JET product have led us to the understanding that it must be equipped by its own installation toolkit. Then Excelsior JET customers asked us many times if they could use it to distribute their other software products. For several years we had to answer "no".