Visual Installer - A powerful and easy-to-use setup tool




SamLogic Newsletter - Special 1 (of 5) - Visual Installer

CONTENT

Foreword

Visual Installer - A powerful setup tool

Resources

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Schneider Electric uses SamLogic Visual Installer

FOREWORD

This is the first special newsletter in a series of five for those who had downloaded a trial version of Visual Installer from SamLogic Software. The newsletters contain articles and practical tips about Visual Installer.

First in this newsletter is a brief presentation of the Visual Installer setup tool. After that we list some useful resources for the program and answers to some common FAQ questions. Last in the newsletter you can read about a company (Schneider Electric) that uses Visual Installer.

If you have questions about Visual Installer, please feel free to contact me. If you want to read another issue in this special newsletter series they are available here:

#2 - The setup wizard in Visual Installer

#3 - How to make a good first impression of your application

#4 - Code signing, installation of VB applications and Excel Add-Ins

#5 - 64 bit and localized installations

Sincerely,
Anders Persson
SamLogic Software

VISUAL INSTALLER - A POWERFUL SETUP TOOL

Installing files can sometimes be a very complicated process, and often is the actual copying of files just the easy part. Besides that you must often update Windows Registry, add shortcuts to menus and desktops, register binary files, show graphics and text during the setup process, verify license keys, handle updates, install databases, handle different operating systems etc.

SamLogic Visual Installer
We created the setup tool SamLogic Visual Installer to make these things easy for you. We have long experience (around 20 years) of installations in Windows environments and we used all our knowledge when we made this tool. The tool is very intuitive and no programming is required to create setup packages. Visual Installer can create setups for all Windows since Windows 98 to Windows 8.

Distribution via CD, DVD, USB flash drive or the Internet?
With Visual Installer you can create setup packages for distribution via CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives or the Internet. You can optimize your setup program for the media type you want to use for your distribution.

Distribution of programs, documents or drawings?
Visual Installer can be used to distribute all kind of files, including programs, documents and drawings. Special functions for Office documents and AutoCAD files are included.

Can handle license keys
With Visual Installer you can handle license keys in an easy way. A special license key generator is included in the tool, but you can also specify your own license keys. During the setup process, the setup program will ask for a license key and will not continue the installation before correct license key has been entered by the end-user.

Built-in setup dialog boxes
There are many built-in and ready-to-use setup dialog boxes included in Visual Installer, and you can easily select those you want to use for your setup programs. You can add images and text to these dialog boxes in an easy way.

Can co-operate with Visual Studio
Visual Installer can for example import a Visual Basic project and create a setup package of it. Also Visual Basic 6.0 is supported.

More information about Visual Installer
More information about SamLogic Visual Installer is available on this product page:

More information about SamLogic Visual Installer

RESOURCES AND DETAILED INFORMATION

There are lots of resources and detailed information available for Visual Installer (and other software) on our web site and some other web sites. Here are links to some web pages with resources and information:

User's Guide - Describes how to use Visual Installer (PDF)

Tips and Tricks - Practical tips / how to use common functions

YouTube - Contains tip videos and other videos about our software

Article Archive - Technical articles with useful information

SamLogic Blog - News and information about SamLogic products

SamLogic Twitter - Contains the most important news

Help documentation
If you need help in the program you can press the F1 key, whenever you want, to get more information about a specific function.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

There is a FAQ page available for SamLogic Visual Installer. On the FAQ page you will find answers to both general questions and questions about specific functions in the program. Below are some of the most common questions listed (and the answers):

Q: What's the difference in function between the full version and the demo (trial) version?

A: All created setup programs can only be run the same day they were created. There is also an information text ("Visual Installer Demo") placed on the setup screen (background window). All these restrictions are removed in the full (paid) version. There is no time limit in the Visual Installer editor, so you can evaluate the program so many days that you need.

Q: What's the difference in function between the Standard version and the Professional version?

A: The Professional version has more functions than the Standard version, for example a project manager, a scripting language for advanced software installations, functionality to install 64-bit applications, the system utility program SamLogic Selector etc. Read more about the differences on Visual Installer's features page.

Q: If I buy a license of SamLogic Visual Installer. Is there any additional costs, for example must I pay some fee for every installation I distribute?

A: No. There are no additional costs. When you have bought a license of SamLogic Visual Installer you can use the tool to create and distribute so many installations you want.

Q: In how many computers can I install the program?

A: The license is per user. So if you, for example, need to install SamLogic Visual Installer both at your office and in your home you can do it. If there are 2 or 3 more users you can buy a 3-license.