About Path Variables - Symantec WINDOWS INSTALLER EDITOR 8.0 Reference

About Path Variables

Windows Installer Editor Reference
2. On the Visual MSIDiff Key dialog box, take note of the symbols and colors that
indicate changes and click OK.
If the Visual MSIDiff Key dialog box does not appear, you might have clicked its Do
not show this dialog again check box. You can reactivate this dialog box on the
Prompts tab in Wise Options.
3. On the Tables tab, scroll through tables, looking for the symbols for changed tables.
Click changed tables to view differences in rows, which are indicated by symbols and
colors.
As you work in the installation file, the symbols indicating changed items are
updated dynamically.
4. To turn the compare off, which closes the comparison file and returns to the current
file, select Tools menu > Visual MSIDiff > End Current Compare. Closing the file also
ends the compare.
Another command in the Source Control menu, Show Differences, lets you use the
compare technology offered by your SCCS.
See Showing the Differences Between Installation Files
See also:
Using Source Control on page 308
Adding an Installation to Source Control
When you add a file to an installation, its source path is stored. During compile, the
source path information is used to find the file and compile it into the .MSI or .EXE. The
Path Variables page lets you define variables to replace commonly-used source paths.
However, it has no effect on files that are already part of the installation. For these files,
see Source Paths in an Installation
matches one of the paths defined on the Path Variables page, the variable that
represents the path is stored instead of the hard-coded path.
Example: Suppose the source files for your test build are in C:\Application\Test, and the
source files for your production build are in C:\Application\Production. You could create
a user-defined path variable named Application_Files and set it to C:\Application\Test. If
you then add the test build source files, their source path would contain the variable
name. You could then change this path variable to C:\Application\Production for your
production build.
Note
Do not create more than one variable that refers to the same path, because only one of
them is used when you add files.
Predefined Path Variables
Commonly used paths, particularly system-related paths, are predefined on the Path
Variables page. By default, they are enabled, which means all files you add from
common folders contain path variables as part of the source path. You cannot modify
predefined path variables, but you can turn substitution off.
See Turning Path Variable Substitution On and Off
on page 314.
on page 309
on page 318. If you add a file, and its source path
on page 316.
Working With Source Paths
315