Welcome to Tarma ExpertInstall
Main topics
Advanced topics
Technical support
Other information
Introduction
Welcome to Tarma ExpertInstall. Tarma ExpertInstall helps you to create installation
("Setup") programs for your own software product. Its major features
are:
- Support for Tarma native installers and Windows Installers
- You can create Tarma native installers, Windows (MSI) installers, or both,
from a single project.
- Fully editable installer dialogs and dialog sequences
- Using the built-in dialog editor, you can completely redefine any and
all dialogs in the installation wizard, add any dialogs that you need,
or even remove all of them completely.
- Fully editable installer action sequences
- You have complete control over the installer's actions, even to the point
(for Tarma native installers - MSI has its own requirements) that it's
not an installer at all, but, for example, a CD-ROM AutoRun menu application.
- Comprehensive language and localization support
- Virtually any piece of text that is visible to the user can be localized,
including, but not limited to: dialogs, messages, file and folder names,
shortcut titles, and registry data. You can build a single installer that
includes all languages (Tarma native only), or separate installers for
each language (both MSI and Tarma native) from a single project.
- Unicode through-and-through
- The Tarma ExpertInstall development environment, its project files, and
the Tarma native installation database and Setup program are Unicode-based
from the ground up to ensure that all localization remains intact. (For
Windows 95, 98, and Me, an ANSI-based Setup program is supplied, which
uses the same Unicode installation database. MSI installation databases
are ANSI-based and use code pages instead of Unicode internally.)
- Feature- and component-based installation
- Following the MSI model, features are pieces of functionality that
the user can select for installation in a tree-like structure, while components
are groups of installation items defined by the developer that must be
installed or removed together.
- Add-on and update installers
- Add-on and update installers allow you to install and remove updates and
add-on packages separately from the main application's original installation,
while still allowing the main application to be uninstalled together with
all its dependants. (Tarma native installer only.)
- Import MSI databases and merge modules
- Tarma ExpertInstall can import MSI databases and merge modules, and use
the result for both Tarma native and MSI installers.
- Wide range of installation items
- You can install files, folders, shortcuts, registry keys and values, INI
file values, environment variables, file extensions, COM and DCOM classes
and servers (including ActiveX controls), type libraries, and services,
with a comprehensive range of options.
- Small and fast
- The Tarma native installer is small (only 75 KB), fast, and has excellent
compression, making your installation packages as compact as possible,
thus saving download time and disk space.
- Extensive preflight checking
- More than 450 different preflight checks spot potential problems before
you deploy your installation.
- Intuitive development environment
- An easy to use development environment with clearly subdivided project
sections and pages, plus extensive help and toolbars.