On this page you'll find a number of little snippets or addons that I've written for Inno Setup, which is my favourite installation software :-)

All of these snippets/files may be used freely, in both commercial and noncommercial installers. I ask only that if you use them, you give credit where it is due -- don't try to pass it off as your own creation. If you need help with using any of these (or if you have any suggestions or improvements), simply contact me -- either with the feedback page on the left or with the email address provided in the script in question.

Descriptive Types

DescriptiveTypes.isi; this is an addon file for Inno Setup 4.2 or later. (I'm not sure exactly what the minimum version is -- I do know it requires at least 4.0, and I don't think it works correctly on the first few versions.)

What does it do? Well, sometimes your setup contains multiple installation types which you want the user to choose between. And sometimes you just can't convey enough information with just the name of the setup type or the components that it selects. Enter this mod. When included in your setup, it rearranges the controls on the type/component selection screen so that a new descriptive field is added to the right of both the type combo and component list. This field displays the name and lengthier description of the currently-selected setup type. Full instructions on how to use it are included in the file.

Limitations: this is intended only for setups that have multiple components and multiple setup types. It's not really useful in single-type or single-component setups. Also, it automatically disables the component list for all setup types except the "custom" one. This means that if you want the user to select custom components, you must define a custom setup type, or they will not be able to. Note that this is not an arbitrary restriction; it's due to the way Inno Setup provides notification about changes in the setup type.

[Code] Tips & Tricks

An article covering the basics (and not-so-basics) of Inno [Code]. It seems to have ended up as some sort of weird hybrid of an FAQ and a tutorial. But hopefully people will find it useful.

Inno Setup Dialog files

For Inno Setup 5.0.2 and higher only. A long explanation (with examples) of what I think is an excellent design pattern to follow when creating custom wizard pages in IS5. You should read this. Especially if you are writing or have written an automated form designer :-)

.NET Framework 1.1 installation

I have a little script that I use for installing the .NET framework. It contains logic to detect whether the framework is installed or not, and also can be configured to either compile the framework installer directly into the setup or to read it from the installation source folder.

It's not quite in a publically-releasable state at the moment, but if there is sufficient demand then I can make the last few tweaks and then publish it here.