Symbolic Variables

The Symbolic Variables page lists all symbolic variables that are defined in your project. Symbolic variables are used for text strings that need to be replaceable, such as the location of system folders (which depend on the target system), product information, and target system information, among others.

You can recognize the variables by their icon, as shown in the following table:

Icon	Description	Notes
	Variable contains generic text.
	Variable represents a file or folder path.
	Variable represents a folder alias.	You can find the folder to which the variable refers by clicking on the button in the toolbar.
	Variable represents a registry key path.
	Variable represents a registry key alias.	You can find the registry key to which the variable refers by clicking on the button in the toolbar.

Predefined variables

To help you locate the most appropriate symbolic variables for a particular purpose, the variables are broken down into categories that reflect their recommended usage or purpose. The Alphabetical reference topic contains a full list of all predefined symbolic variables.

• Build-time variables
• Product information variables
• System information variables
• System folders variables
• Registry paths variables
• Internal variables
• User interface variables

Tarma Installer 2.x upgrade notes

Symbolic variables in Tarma Installer 5 are mostly the same as the symbolic variables in Tarma Installer 2.x. The main differences are:

• In Tarma Installer 5 all value strings can be localized; Tarma Installer 2.x did not support this.
• Variables that represent installation folder paths are now automatically generated based on the folder's alias; in Tarma Installer 2.x the opposite happened and installation folders were defined using symbolic variables.
• The names of many variables have changed since Tarma Installer 2.x to make them more consistent, more descriptive, and more in line with MSI conventions.
• Many new variables have been added.

For more information, see Advanced - Variables page and Symbolic variables conversion in the Upgrading from Tarma QuickInstall section.

Related topics

Symbolic Variable, Working with project pages