<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> RayPack > 7.3 u6 > User Guide > PackDesigner > MSI / MST / RPP Based Projects > Visual Designer Mode > System Configuration > Files and Folders  Editing File Properties

Once a file has been imported into one of the folders of a packaging project, its properties can be adjusted.

 

To do so, users

•right-click the file within the right window of the package file browser.

oTo edit the file properties within the Visual Designer interface, users select the Properties option from the context menu.

oTo edit the file properties directly within the resembling row of the File table of the TABLES view of the Advanced mode, users select Go to row from the context menu.

•left-click the file within the right window of the package file browser and use the key combination Alt + Enter
 

The FILE PROPERTIES dialog is displayed and reveals five tabs of property groups for manipulation:

•GENERAL

•ATTRIBUTES

•SOURCE

•SELF-REG

•PERMISSIONS

 

As soon as all required changes are executed, users can either use the Apply button to save the changes to the file object and keep the FILE PROPERTIES dialog open or use the OK button to save and close the dialog.

With a click on the Cancel button, the dialog is closed without applying unsaved changes.

The GENERAL Tab

Name

This is the name of the file as it appears on the target machine. It has to be unique among the files within one directory. A file name may not contain special characters or be empty. See MSDN for details regarding limitations for values of FileName columns.

 

Identifier

The identifier is the unique internal pointer to the file. The Identifier data type is a text string. Identifiers may contain the ASCII characters A-Z (a-z), digits, underscores (_), or periods (.). However, every identifier must begin with either a letter or an underscore.

 

Component

Select the parent component of the file from the list of available components of the current packaging project. A file always has to be related to a specific component. Therefore, when a file is added to a packaging project, RayPack automatically creates a wrapping component if required. The naming convention for these automatically generated components can be changed within the pack designer settings section of the settings profile editor.

 

If the list of existing components does not contain the required component yet, use the browse button [...] right next to the select control to open the SELECT COMPONENT dialog. See the section about common dialogs to get information about the handling of this dialog.

 

Key Path

If a file is marked to be the key path of a component, the existence of the key path determines the health state of that component. If the file does not exist on the target machine, the Installer's Repair functionality assumes that the component needs to be repaired.

 

File Size

The size of the file in bytes has to be a non-negative integer value. Even though the file size value may be edited manually, it is recommended to keep the automatically calculated values. Nonetheless, exceptional size value manipulations may be necessary to manage storage space requirements beyond the boundaries of best practice procedures.

 

Override Default Version

Activate this checkbox to gain access to the version value for the file. The version may be set manually, following the standard format guidelines for file versions.

 

Override Default Language

A list of decimal language IDs separated by commas as demanded by the standard format guidelines for language values.

Font files should not be authored with a language ID, as fonts do not have an embedded language ID resource. Thus, this column value should be left null for font files.

 

The ATTRIBUTES Tab

Read-only

This attribute indicates that a file should not be altered. Upon opening the file, file system API usually will not grant write permission to the requesting application, unless the application explicitly requests it.

 

Hidden

Tools like Windows Explorer do not show hidden files by default, unless asked to do so.

 

System

This attribute indicates that the file is a critical system file that is necessary for the computer to operate properly. Tools like Windows Explorer do not show system files by default even when hidden files are shown, unless asked to do so.

 

Vital File for Installation

Activate this checkbox if the installation process cannot be finished successfully without the correct installation of this file.

If a file is marked to be vital for the accurate operation of the component to which it belongs and its installation fails, the whole package installation stops and is rolled back. If files are not vital, users may ignore failed installations and resume the setup routine.

 

The SOURCE Tab

The source tab shows the details of the actual source file. Depending on the compression configuration and project type, the source file may be available as:

 

•External uncompressed file

•File compressed to external cabinet

•File compressed to embedded cabinet

 

Depending on the source location, the options presented in the source tab may differ.

 

File Name

This is the name of the source file. The name is unique within the same CAB file or folder. This value is read-only.

 

Source

This field shows the source location of the file. The badge on the left side shows the source type and can be one of the following values:

 

•FILE – the file is stored as external uncompressed resource. Its full path is presented on the right side.

•CAB – the file is stored in the external cabinet file. The full path to the cabinet file is presented on the right side.

•EMBEDDED CAB – the file is stored in the embedded cabinet file. The name of the CAB file is presented on the right side.

 

File Size

This shows the size of the source file (in bytes). This value is read-only.

 

Version

This shows the version of the file. If the file is non PE-executable, the n/a string will be shown instead. This value is read-only.

 

Language

This shows the numeric language identifier of the file. If the file is non PE-executable, the n/a string will be shown instead. This value is read-only.

In case any of the three values (size, version and language) are different than the values stored in the MSI tables, the data can be synchronized again by clicking on the Update the MSI information to match these data button.

 

Modified on

This shows the modification date of the file. This value is read-only.

 

Created on

This shows the creation date of the file. If the file is stored in cabinet file, the n/a string will be shown instead. This value is read-only.

 

Saved by

This shows the name of the person who saved the document. If the file is stored in the cabinet file, the n/a string will be shown instead. This value is read-only.

 

The SELF-REG + FONT Tab

The SELF-REG + FONT tab shows the details of the self-registration performed by the MSI engine when the package is installed or uninstalled, as well as font registrations. Self-registration uses the Windows Installer table SelfReg.

 

Using Font Table to Register Fonts

Fonts in various formats (for example .ttf, .otf, .fon) can be automatically registered by enabling the checkbox Use Font table to register this font. In most of cases, additional settings are not required.

 

In case the font contains a name that is not embedded in the font file (for example in case of .fon files), it is required to enter the name in the Font name field. Once the value is entered you must ensure it is identical to the name of the registered font. True Type fonts (.ttf, .otf) already contain an embedded name, and it is recommended to leave this value empty for them.

 

 

Using SelfReg Table to Self-register Files

The installer calls the DllRegisterServer function during installation of the module; it calls DllUnregisterServer during uninstallation of the module.

 

 

In order to enable the self-registration by the Windows Installer engine, the checkbox Use the SelfReg table to self-register this file has to be enabled. When the self-registration is enabled, an additional text field will be visible, providing a way to specify a size that should be reserved for the registration. The value is expressed in bytes and the default value is 0 (do not reserve any additional cost because of registration).

 

 

The PERMISSIONS Tab

Permission handling is a common task in RayPack, occurring for files, folders, registry objects, and the like. Therefore, please refer to the general description of the Object Permissions management in the Common Dialogs section.