Install Sets, Features, and Components

Install sets, features, and components are one of the most important concepts to understand when using the InstallAnywhere installer development environment.

InstallAnywhere provides levels of granularity for end-user installation options. Install sets and features may be selected by the end-user. Install sets are groupings of features such as Typical Install or Minimal Install. Features are meant to identify the specific units of functionality of your product. While both install sets and features are made up of files, there is not necessarily a direct correlation between these larger organizational groupings and the files.

Components are groupings of the specific files and actions of your product and are invisible to the end-user. A component may also include a group of registry changes or other elements needed to make a feature work properly. Components are used for the organized sharing of resources and for versioning; they are uniquely identified and are the organization tool of the installer developer, not the installer user. A developer could create a component for each feature in the application, a component for shared libraries used by all the features, and a component for the help system.

Although developers may assign files, folders, and actions directly to product features, it is best to think of features as groupings of components. Install sets such as typical or minimal install are groupings of features. The interaction between the three levels should be addressed when planning which options to present to the end-user.