Folder aliases

In addition to the visible folder names in the tree, each folder also has an alias. This alias must be unique across the entire InstallMate project and serves as a symbolic reference to the folder's installation path. You can use it with the same <name> syntax that you use for symbolic variables.

Folder aliases are an extension of the symbolic path variables that Tarma QuickInstall 2.x used, although many of the symbolic names have changed in InstallMate 7. Similar to Tarma QuickInstall 2.x, you can use expressions such as <ProgramFilesFolder>\<ProductName> to refer to symbolic paths that will be resolved at installation time.

To make the folder aliases visible in the folders tree, right-click on any folder in the tree, then choose Show aliases. To revert to the normal view, execute the same command again. In alias view the folder tree icons are shown ghosted, and instead of the folder names the folder aliases appear. Below are screen shots that illustrate this effect: on the left is the normal view, on the right is the same folders tree in alias view.

Note: If you edit a folder name directly in the folders tree (using Edit > Rename or the F2 key), you change the folder's installation name. However, using the same command in alias view changes the folder's alias, not its installation name.

Each folder alias appears automatically as a pseudo-variable on the Symbolic Variables page. The value of the folder alias variable is the folder's installation path, defined recursively as the alias of its parent folder plus the folder's own installation name.

For example, the Windows\assembly folder in the screen shots above appears as the variable GlobalAssemblyCache on the Symbolic Variables page (because its alias is GlobalAssemblyCache) and has the value <WindowsFolder>\assembly (its parent's symbolic path plus the installation name of the folder itself). You could use the expression <GlobalAssemblyCache> in turn to define other paths.

For a complete list of predefined folder aliases, see Standard folders.
See also the topic About INSTALLDIR and PRIMARYFOLDER.

Folder aliases

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