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SIBuilder (Small Installation program Builder) is a software installation program creator that creates a stand alone executable software installer with little overhead taken up by the installer. This makes the program ideal for creating a single, self-extracting installation program for distribution over the Internet. SIBuilder is part of the SI Tools suite of programs and libraries. The other programs in the suite are either used to perform the installation and uninstallation of projects created with SIBuilder or are extra, bonus, programs.
To keep down the overhead required for the Installer and the optional uninstall program SIBuilder creates these programs as Windows console applications.
The user specifies the files to be installed which are compressed before being compiled into the installer. Different installation folders can be specified for various groups of files. The registry can be updated with the required keys and data. The installer can run one or more external programs after the files have been copied and the installation completed. The install program can be configured to run differently on specified operating systems.
An uninstall program can optionally be created and installed. If this is done the installed program appears in Control Panel's "Add/Remove progams" applet and the installed program can be uninstalled from there. The un-installer optionally deletes files and folders that were installed and can tidy up the registry. It can also run other programs (before any deletion or registry tidying) and may unregister COM servers registered by the install program.
A license dialog box that can be displayed and the user can be required to accept the license before installation begins.
Applications and DLLs can be registered with Windows, as can COM server DLLs.
A small console application that can create shortcuts (shell links) is provided. This program can be executed as part of an installation to create the required shortcuts. The same program can be used by the un-installer to remove the shortcuts.
Information needed to create an installation project is entered using a
wizard style interface. Project information can be stored in and read from
.sip project files.
Note: SIBuilder can either natively compile install programs or it can use Borland Delphi versions 4 to 7 to compile them. You are strongly advised to use native compilation since the Delphi support is deprecated and likely to be removed from a future version.
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SIBuilder has been tested with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It is believed to operate on the Windows 9x and NT platforms from NT4.
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SIBuilder is provided in a self-extracting install program –
SIB3Inst.exe. The installation program is a console
application that executes in a terminal window. SIBuilder was in
fact used to create its own installation program – so if the
installation succeeds you know that SIBuilder works!
SIB3Inst.exe may be distributed within a zip file, along with
ReadMe.txt. If this is the case, unzip the .zip
file and then execute SIB3Inst.exe, after reading
ReadMe.txt for further information.
To install the program simply navigate in Explorer to where you downloaded
or extracted SIB3Inst.exe and double click the file. The
installer will open a console and will display its welcome message before
pausing for you to enter an installation path. Either press return to accept
the suggested path or enter the required path and press return. The license
agreement will then be displayed. Click the Accept button to
continue. Clicking Decline will abort the installation.
By default SIBuilder is installed into the
DelphiDabbler\SIBulder3 sub-folder of your Program Files
folder, and most files are installed there or in sub-folders. Some files
are also installed in a DelphiDabbler sub-folder of the
system's Common Files folder. Details of installed files are provided in
File Manifest.html which is installed in the Docs
sub-folder.
A shortcut to SIBuilder is created on the desktop.
Note: The installation program will uninstall any previous SIBuilder 3 versions before proceeding with the installation of this version.
To uninstall SIBuilder use Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet.
To take care of uninstallation on behalf of Add/Remove programs
SIB3Inst.exe installs a console based uninstall program
(UnInstall.exe) into the root installation folder
(DelphiDabbler\SIBuilder3 in the Program Files folder by
default). This program requires a data file –
UnInstall.xml and a DLL – InstallLib.dll
– which are also installed in the same location. Care should be taken
not to move or delete these files as they are required by Add/Remove
programs.
UnInstall.exe deletes most files, the desktop shortcut, and
cleans the registry. However, UnInstall.exe can't delete itself
or InstallLib.dll. Once SIBuilder has been uninstalled
it is safe to manually delete these files along with the
installation folder.
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Until release 3.2.1 SIBuilder always extracted files to be installed into the system's Temp folder. This could causes conflicts on the rare occasion that two installers were running at the same time. This was fixed in release 3.2.1 and each installation now extracts its files into a unique sub folder of Temp.
In release 3 of Delphi up to v3.1 to "Hot links" do not work correctly on some versions of Windows (depends on version of rich edit control installed). This was fixed in release 3.1.1.
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The program's update log is available from the SIBuilder home page at http://www.delphidabbler.com/sibuilder.
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This program is copyright © 2000-2006 by P.D. Johnson, Llanarth, Ceredigion, Wales, UK.
The program and its source code (where supplied) are placed in the public domain. It may be freely copied and circulated on a not-for-profit basis providing that:
No warranty is made about the suitability of this software for any application. It is provided "as-is" and is used at your own risk.
Some third party software has been used in creating this program as follows:
All registered trademarks are acknowledged.
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I'm Peter Johnson, a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West Wales, UK writing mainly in Delphi.