inno_setup

Inno Setup is a free installer system for Windows available at http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php. This helper fills in a template .iss file with the files and folders in your application each time you package your application. The resulting file is placed in the package folder alongside the windows folder.

If you run this helper on Windows then it can be configured to automatically compile the resulting .iss file using a local installation of Inno Setup. If you are running it on macOS or Linux then Wine can be used to compile the .iss file. If you are using Wine you will not be able to sign the installer using the Inno Setup SignTool setting, however.

Contents

• Activate the inno_setup helper
• Generating an .iss file when packaging your application
• Setting up the .iss file

Activate the inno_setup helper

To add the inno_setup helper to your application you must download it and add the inno_setup folder to your application helpers folder.

Click on the green Clone or download button on the GitHub page and select Download ZIP from the menu that appears. Grab the folder from the archive and rename it to inno_setup. Add the renamed folder to your application helpers folder.

Generating an .iss file when packaging your application

The Inno Setup helper works by inserting references to all of the files and folders in the root directory of your application folder into an existing .iss file. The helper will replace the variable [[FilesAndFoldersToInstall]] with the file and folder references. If your application contains any root level folders that are empty then they will be used to replace the [[DirectoriesToCreate]] variable in the [Dir] section of the .iss file.

You will add configuration information to two locations within the app.yml file.

inno setup section

The first location will be a new configuration setting named inno setup. It looks like this:

# app.yml

inno setup:
  file flags:
  folder flags:
  sign executable files: false
  windows compiler:
  wine compiler:

The file flags and folder flags properties specify the flags that will be added to the file and folder entries in the .iss file. Set sign executable files if you are using SignTool in your .iss file to sign file. The helper will now find all .exe and .dll files in your application and, for each one, add a Source entry to the .iss file with a sign flag. The windows compiler property is set to the path to Inno Setup Compil32.exe or ISCC.exe compiler. Use Compil32.exe to see a the script being compiled in a dialog. When running on Windows or when wine is installed the helper will try to compile the .iss script.

file flags: Flags that will be added to all files added to the .iss file. folder flags: Flags that will be added to all folders added to the .iss file. sign executable files: Boolean windows compiler: Windows path to the Inno Setup Compil32.exe file. wine compiler: Wine path to the Inno Setup Compil32.exe file. compiler: If using the same compiler under both windows or wine then this property may be used instead of windows compiler and wine compiler.

If any of the paths to the compilers are not found an attempt will be made to find the compiler in the Inno Setup folder with the highest version number inside the x86 program files directory.

Here is an example using separate full paths to the compilers:

# app.yml

inno setup:
  file flags: ignoreversion
  folder flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs
  sign executable files: true
  windows compiler: C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 5\Compil32.exe
  wine compiler: /Users/myusername/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Inno Setup 5/Compil32.exe

Here is an example specifying a compiler to be found:

# app.yml

inno setup:
  file flags: ignoreversion
  folder flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs
  sign executable files: true
  compiler: ISCC.exe

# .iss file
...

Source: ".\windows\Externals\WinSparkle.dll"; DestDir: "{app}\Externals\WinSparkle.dll"; Flags: sign
Source: ".\windows\Externals\*"; DestDir: "{app}\Externals"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs
Source: ".\windows\helpers\*"; DestDir: "{app}\helpers"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs
Source: ".\windows\locales\*"; DestDir: "{app}\locales"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs
Source: ".\windows\ui\*"; DestDir: "{app}\ui"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs
Source: ".\windows\app.livecodescript"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion
Source: ".\windows\behaviors.livecode"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion
Source: ".\windows\frontscripts.livecode"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion
Source: ".\windows\levure.livecodescript"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion
Source: ".\windows\libraries.livecode"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion
Source: ".\windows\revsecurity.dll"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion
Source: ".\windows\ScreenSteps.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion sign

...

Specifying the installer name

You can configure a name for the installer that can then be inserted into the .iss file using the [[INSTALLER_NAME]] variable. The following example shows how to configure different installer names for release and for beta.

# app.yml

build profiles:
  ...
  release:
    installer name:
      # Name to use for the DMG that will be created
      all platforms: My App
  beta:
    installer name:
      # Name to use for the DMG that will be created
      all platforms: My App Beta
  ...

Note that installer name is a generic name intended to be shared by other helpers that create installers. For example, the Auto Updater helper uses installer name as does the dropDMG helper. If you want to use a different name for Windows then use the windows key rather than the all platforms key.

copy files section

The second location you will be in one or more copy files sections under build profiles. You will add an inno setup section with references to the .iss file(s) that you want to copy over into the package folder when you package an application. Here is an example that copies the ./build files/MyApp.iss file for all build profiles. Note the optional compile parameter. Set to false if the helper should not try to compile the script.

# app.yml

build profiles:
  all profiles:
    post build script:
    copy files:
      inno setup:
        - filename: ../build files/MyApp.iss
          compile: true

Setting up the .iss file

When setting up the .iss file that the Inno Setup helper will use you will configure every setting except for your application files in the [Files] section. In the [Files] section you will include the string [[FilesAndFoldersToInstall]] on a line by itself. There are some other variables you can use in the file as well.

[[NAME]]: The name property from app.yml. [[INSTALLER_NAME]]: The installer name property from app.yml. [[APP_VERSION]]: The first two numbers from version in app.yml (e.g. 2.0). [[MAJOR_VERSION]]: The first number from the version property in app.yml (e.g. 2). [[BUILD]]: The build property from app.yml. [[BUILD_PROFILE]]: The build profile used to package the application.

Example:

...
[Setup]
SignTool=signtool
AppName=[[NAME]]
AppVerName=[[NAME]] [[APP_VERSION]]
OutputBaseFilename=[[INSTALLER_NAME]] [[VERSION]]-[[BUILD]]
...

[Files]

[[FilesAndFoldersToInstall]]

[Dir]

[[DirectoriesToCreate]]

[Tasks]
Name: "desktopicon"; Description: "{cm:CreateDesktopIcon}"; GroupDescription: "{cm:AdditionalIcons}"; Flags:
...

Installing Wine on OS X

The helper will try to detect if Wine is installed on non-Windows computers. If Wine is installed and the wine compiler property is set then the helper will try to compile the scripts. For instructions on installing Wine on OS X see the following url:

https://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/

TODO

Use SignTool feature with Wine

You can define a SignTool to use with Inno Setup. This allows you to sign files added to the installer as well as the uninstaller and installer that are created. When running under windows you can use the signtool.exe executable that comes with the Windows SDK. This executable doesn't appear to work under Wine, however.