Duplicate files in installer

[Tom H.]

Just to verify something...

SB7 doesn't do any checking to see if the same file is included in the installer executable more than once, does it? It just includes anything in the list, regardless?

Not an issue (well, maybe on my part), I just want to be sure I understand what's going on.

Thanks,
Tom

[linder]

Hi Tom,

Yes, that is correct. By design, you can have the same file and/or file name multiple times in your installer. For quite a few developers this is a must have feature.

Friedrich

[Tom H.]

Okay. It just seems more efficient to only store a file once regardless of how many time it is referenced in the script...

Tom

[linder]

Hi Tom,

From the technical-point-of view, it's not possible to store it only once. Why? Because your SetupBuilder installer processes the files "on-the-fly" at runtime. In other words, it does NOT unpack all files from a setup.exe before the real installation process begins. You'll never see a "Unpacking files. Please wait X minutes...." from a SetupBuilder installer.

But you can work around this. If you have duplicate files and you would like to store it only once, add the file as "Support File". As a result, this will "unpack" the file into the temporary folder -- but please note that this might have a negative effect on the setup.exe startup time (depending on the size of the file). Then, in your installation script, copy the file from the temporary folder to the final location(s).

But in fact, it's a "suboptimal" design if the same file is referenced multiple times in a project. SetupBuilder gives you the freedom to do this, because sometimes it's the only possible solution.

Friedrich