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 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.
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.
Project files can be opened via the File menu, by dragging and dropping them onto the program or by passing the file name to the program on the command line.
Note: SIBuilder can either natively compile install programs or it can use 32 bit Borland Delphi to compile it.
SIBuilder has been tested with Windows 2000. It is believed to operate on the Windows 9x and NT platforms from NT4.
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 into the default folder simply navigate in Explorer
to where you downloaded 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 the File Manifest.html which is installed in the Docs
sub-folder.
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 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.
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 has been fixed in release 3.1.1.
The program's update log is available from the SIBuilder home page at http://www.delphidabbler.com/sibuilder.
This program is copyright © 2000-2003 - delphiDabbler (P.D. Johnson ), Llanarth, 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.
If you discover any bugs in this implementation, or if you have any update suggestions, please contact the author on peter.johnson@openlink.org.
I'm Peter Johnson - the "Delphi Dabbler" - a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West Wales, UK writing mainly in Delphi. My programs are available for download on my web-site: http://www.delphidabbler.com/.
I can be contacted by e-mail on peter.johnson@openlink.org.