MAKEMSI quickly and reliably creates MSI files in a non-programmatic way
Have your say! Join the MAKEMSI discussion list or view archive! Suggest improvements. No question too simple or too complex.
[Bottom][Contents][Prev]: /FileComment[Next]: FilesExclude
Have your say! Join the MAKEMSI discussion list or view archive! Suggest improvements. No question too simple or too complex.
\->Source Code->Commands->Files

The "Files" Command

This command adds all files that match the file mask(s) you supply. This command can include all or parts of a whole directory tree and can also be supplied a list of files or filemasks to process.

The "File" command adds a single file at a time (and allows "renaming"). Also have a look at the "Create Macro For Adding Files" tip for an example of one way of simplifying file addition.

If you are adding a large number of files and this is a bit slow then you should have a look at the performance section!

If MAKEMSI has problems and ignores (or doesn't find) files whose names or directories contain "international" characters then please see the documentation for the "MAKEMSI_MM_CODEPAGE" environment variable.

With the default MSI schema it can have a maximum of 32,767 files, however MAKEMSI will take a while to create this MSI and Windows Installer will be very slow to install and uninstall it. If you have large numbers of files I recommend you read the "performance" and "TABLES_FILE_SEQ_NUMBER_LIMIT" sections of this manual!

I recommend that you read the "Resource Life Cycle" section.

The command takes these parameters:

Main File Related Options

Please see the "options for commands" section of the manual. 

#define? DEFAULT_FILE_WANT_FILEHASH                  T         ;;Generate MD5 (Y=YES, N=NO, T=TRY). MD5 needs Windows Installer 2.0+
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_ATTRIBUTES                     Vital     ;;Only use if user did not supply
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_ATTRIBUTES_TO_COPY                       ;;Choose one or more from hidden/system/readonly
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_LANG_WHEN_GETLANGUAGE_FAILS    1033      ;;Can be ""
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_ACCESS
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_REMOVE                         N         ;;Don't remove files by default!
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_DATE                                     ;;""= file date or date in "YYYY-MM-DD" (exactly 10 characters)
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_TIME                                     ;;""= file time or time in "HH:mm:SS"   (exactly 8 characters and seconds even)
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_DOCO                           Y         ;;"N" = Don't add to doco (by default)
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_OPTIONS4COMPONENT                        ;;Any options for autocreated components
#define? FILE_HTMLRPT_INSTALLTIME_COMMENT_TEXT          *          ;;What the user sees
#define? FILE_HTMLRPT_INSTALLTIME_COMMENT_HTML          <span title='The install time of the file will be &quot;{?}&quot;'><font color=red><$FILE_HTMLRPT_INSTALLTIME_COMMENT_TEXT></font></span>     ;;Don't use Double quotes and ONLY the text in the "FILE_HTMLRPT_INSTALLTIME_COMMENT_TEXT" macro should be visible to user (or sorting won't work correctly)!!!
#define? FILE_GENERATED_COMPONENT_PREFIX                c          ;;Begins any components generated by the "file(s)" commands, followed by unique number ("" means don't add unique prefix)
#define? FILE_GENERATED_COMPONENT_USE_FILE_AS_KEYPATH   Y          ;;Must be "Y" unless you have set a keypath in the "Options4Component" parameter (in which case should be "N")!
#define? FILE_GENERATED_COMPONENT_MAX_LENGTH            <$TABLES_LNG_COMPONENT_COLUMN>  ;;Should be shorter than or equal to value in "TABLES_LNG_COMPONENT_COLUMN" (see doco for error code 2716)
#( ';'
   ;--- Semi colon (";") delimitered list of file extensions ----------------
   #define? FILE_EXTENSIONS_WHICH_NEED_OWN_COMPONENT    ;;"*" means all
   .exe
   .dll
   .ocx
   .hlp
   .chm
#)
#define? FILE_COMMAND_ALLOWED                                      ;;If not blank then not allowed and is the error message. You can use "{NL}" to represent newlines
#define? FILE_VERSION_FOR_UNVERSIONED_FILES
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_ROWKEY_CASE                                  ;;Can be "" or "L" or "U"
#define? DEFAULT_FILE_ROWKEY_MAXLNG               <$TABLES_LNG_FILE_COLUMN>-4   ;;0 = no restriction (this limit is WITHOUT any possible number added to make unique!)
#define? FILE_HTMLRPT_HR                          <$SUNDRY_HTMLRPT_HR>
#define? FILE_HTMLRPT_ROWKEY                      MAKEMSI_Documentation     ;;Name of special case which does not exist when code generated!
#define? FILE_HTMLRPT_MAX_EXTENSION_WIDTH         7
#define? FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR                    color:red
#define? FILE_STYLE_TEXT_OK                       color:green
#define? FILE_VERIFY_STYLE_FILENAME_DEFAULT_LOCN  color:blue
#define? FILE_VERIFY_OUTPUT_BACKGROUND_COLOR      #dfdfdf
#define? FILE_VERIFY_SHOW_COMPONENT_OK_MESSAGE_WHEN_FILES_ALSO_OK N
#define? FILE_VERIFY_ATTRIBUTE_SET.H              <b>H</b>
#define? FILE_VERIFY_ATTRIBUTE_SET.R              <b>R</b>
#define? FILE_VERIFY_ATTRIBUTE_SET.S              <b>S</b>
#define? FILE_VERIFY_ATTRIBUTE_RESET.H            h
#define? FILE_VERIFY_ATTRIBUTE_RESET.R            r
#define? FILE_VERIFY_ATTRIBUTE_RESET.S            s

#( '<?NewLine>'
   #define? FILE_STYLES

   .FileCmtPlus             {font-size:9pt;}
   .FileCmtName             {<$HTMLRPT_STYLE_VALUES_KEY>}
   .FileCmtValue            {<$HTMLRPT_STYLE_VALUES_VALUE>}
   .FileCmtSFI              {color:maroon}
   <$FILE_STYLES_VERIFY>
   <$FILE_STYLES_VERIFY_COMPONENT_CHECKS>
#)
#( '<?NewLine>'
   #define? FILE_STYLES_VERIFY

   .FileVerify_DoesNotExist    {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerify_FileNameDefault {<$FILE_VERIFY_STYLE_FILENAME_DEFAULT_LOCN>}
   .FileVerify_CantAccess   {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerify_OK           {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_OK>}
   .FileVerify_MisMatch     {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerifyNoActiveX     {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerifyProductErr    {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerifyProductOK     {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_OK>}
#)
#( '<?NewLine>'
   #define? FILE_STYLES_VERIFY_COMPONENT_CHECKS

   .FileVerify_ComponentUnmanaged                      {}
   .FileVerify_ComponentNotInstalledAndFileDoesntExist {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_OK>}
   .FileVerify_ComponentInstalledAndFileOk             {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_OK>}
   .FileVerify_GuidUnknown                             {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerify_ComponentNotInstalledButFileOk          {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerify_ComponentNotInstalledAndFileDoesntMatch {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
   .FileVerify_ComponentInstalledButFileDoesntMatch    {<$FILE_STYLE_TEXT_ERROR>}
#)

EXAMPLES

;--- Add files to a specific component ---
<$Component "MainFiles" Create="Y" Directory_="INSTALLDIR">
   ;--- Add ".MMH" (header) files ---
   <$FilesExclude "SelfReg*.mmh" EXLIST="NotThese">   ;;Don't include these!
   <$Files        "*.mmh"        EXLIST="NotThese">
<$/Component>

;--- Now add a whole directory tree automatically creating components ---
<$Files 'c:\SourceTree\*.*' SubDir='TREE' DestDir='INSTALLDIR'>

Microsoft awarded me an MVP (Most Valuable Professional award) in 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007 for the Windows SDK (Windows Installer) area.This external link was OK when tested at 12 Jun 2008Please email me any feedback, additional information or corrections.
See this page online (look for updates)

[Top][Contents][Prev]: /FileComment[Next]: FilesExclude


MAKEMSI© is (C)opyright Dennis Bareis 2003-2008 (All rights reserved).
Wednesday June 25 2008 at 7:16pm
Visit MAKEMSI's Home PageThis external link was OK when tested at 21 Jun 2008 HTML page dated Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:11:11 GMT
Microsoft awarded me an MVP (Most Valuable Professional award) in 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007 for the Windows SDK (Windows Installer) area.This external link was OK when tested at 12 Jun 2008