Component attributes

Enter the name of the component. This name is used to refer to the component in conditional expressions and symbolic expressions elsewhere in the project, but is not visible to the user. Each component must have a name that is unique within the project.

Enter the GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier) for the component. When you create a new component, Tarma ExpertInstall automatically generates a new GUID for the component. Unless you have a good reason to change this GUID and are aware of the implications, we recommend that you keep the GUID that was generated for you.

The component GUID must be unique across all Windows software; it is used, among other things, to uniquely identify your components on Windows systems. If the GUID accidentally or intentionally matches the GUID of a different component (whether yours or someone else's), the information for the two components will get mixed up.

The component GUID must have the following format:

{aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee}

Each group of characters must consist of uppercase hexadecimal digits, i.e., the characters 0-9 and A-F.

Check this box to protect the GUID field against accidental changes (the field will be made read-only); clear it to allow editing of the GUID field. Because it is very important that the GUID of your components remain unchanged throughout their lifetime, we recommend that you keep this box checked.

Click this button to generate a new GUID and copy it to the GUID field. The GUID is generated by the Windows UuidCreate function and is guaranteed to be globally unique if your computer contains a functioning network card.

Note: No network access takes place when the GUID is generated, but the network card's unique identifier is used as part of the new GUID. This is combined with time and date information and a counter, and the result is then securely hashed to make it impossible to reconstruct any of the original information.

Tip: If you want to use the project for a new product (or if you want the product to behave as an independent version), then you can also use the Project > Generate New GUIDs command to generate new GUIDs for the product and all its componenents.

Check this box to re-evaluate the condition during each installer run; clear it to evaluate the condition only once. If this option is checked, the installer re-evaluates the conditon during each UpdateComponents action; with the option cleared, only the first such action evaluates the condition.

Click this button to open the Select Installation Platforms dialog box that allows you to select the Windows versions on which the component must be installed. This platform selection acts as an additional condition for the component.

Note: Platform selection can occur during build time or installation time. When a Build Configuration is being built Tarma Installer will include or exclude components depending on the overlap between the component's Platforms selection and the build configuration's build platforms. A BLD:Q0062 diagnostic message will be issued if a component is excluded based on the build platforms. Further platform selection may occur at installation time.

Click this button to open the Select Installation Languages dialog box that allows you to select the languages for which the component must be installed. This language selection acts as an additional condition for the component.

Note: Language selection can occur during build time or installation time. When a Build Configuration is being built Tarma Installer will include or exclude components depending on the overlap between the component's Platforms selection and the build configuration's build platforms. A BLD:Q0063 diagnostic message will be issued if a component is excluded based on the build languages. Further language selection may occur at installation time (for multilingual installers).

Enter a conditional expression that determines if the component will be included in the build, or leave empty if the component must be included in all builds. The build condition is evaluated during the preflight test for each Build Configuration; you can use the Build variables attribute in the Build Configuration pane to control if the component will be included for a particular configuration.

If the condition evaluates to false, the component and all the installation objects that are controlled by it are excluded from the build process for the configuration.

Select the desired packaging option for the files that belong to the component. The packaging option that you select here overrides the packaging option from the build configuration. The following choices are available: