Using Predefined Constants¶
Introduction¶
InstallForge supports various predefined constants enclosed in < > characters. These constants are validated by the
native setup engine during runtime and can be used to increase the flexibility of your setup packages.
Info
All predefined constant names are case-insensitive.
In InstallForge constants are divided into the following two groups:
Setup Constants¶
Setup constants contain specific information provided by the user when creating a setup package as well as data entered by the end-user when running a setup.
Info
One exception is the <InstallPath> constant which contains the installation path selected by the user on the
Select Application Folder dialog of the setup. This constant belongs to the Path Constants group.
Path Constants¶
Path constants can be used to determine the path of a Windows special/shell folder on the target machine during runtime.
Setup Constants¶
The following table lists the supported setup constants.
| Setup Constant Name | Description |
|---|---|
| <AppName> | Application name provided in the InstallForge Builder Environment when creating a setup package (see the Product Name field ). |
| <AppVersion> | Application version provided in the InstallForge Builder Environment when creating a setup package (see the Product Version field) |
| <Company> | Company name provided in the InstallForge Builder Environment when creating a setup package (see the Company Name field) |
| <Website> | Website URL provided when creating a setup package (see the Website URL field in the InstallForge Builder Environment) |
| <Language> | Language selected by the user at startup of the setup. The content of this constant corresponds to the name of the language file without extension as it was defined when building the setup package. When setup package is monolingual the content will be empty. |
| <UserName> | User name entered by the user on the setup serial validation dialog. |
| <Organization> | Organization entered by the user on the setup serial validation dialog. |
| <Serial> | Serial entered by the user on the setup serial validation dialog. |
Path Constants¶
Info
Paths provided by the Path Constants do not include an appending backslash.
Important
Setup packages created with InstallForge usually require administrator privileges. If you remove this configuration and the user running your setup package does not have elevated rights, changes in per-machine folders will not be possible.
| Constant Name | Folder Type | Folder Description | Typical Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| <AdminTools> | Per user | Folder for administrative tools | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools |
| <ApplicationData> | Per user (roaming) | Folder containing application-specific data | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming |
| <CDBurning> | Per user | Folder for files waiting to be written to an optical disc storage | C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Burn\Burn |
| <CommonAdminTools> | Per machine | Folder containing administrative tools for all users | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools |
| <CommonApplicationData> | Per machine | Contains application-specific data | C:\ProgramData |
| <CommonDesktop> | Per machine | Folder that contains desktop items which appear on the desktop of all users | C:\Users\Public\Desktop |
| <CommonDocuments> | Per machine | Documents folder for all users | C:\Users\Public\Documents |
| <CommonMusic> | Per machine | Music folder for all users | C:\Users\Public\Music |
| <CommonPictures> | Per machine | Pictures folder for all users | C:\Users\Public\Pictures |
| <CommonProgramFiles> | Per machine | nan | On a 64-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files. On a 32-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files\Common Files |
| <CommonProgramFilesX86> | Per machine | nan | On a 64-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files. On a 32-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files\Common Files |
| <CommonPrograms> | Per machine | Program groups folder for all users | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs |
| <CommonStartMenu> | Per machine | Start menu folder for all users | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu |
| <CommonStartup> | Per machine | Start menu folder for all users | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp |
| <CommonVideos> | Per machine | Videos folder for all users | C:\Users\Public\Videos |
| <Cookies> | Per user | Folder for internet cookies | C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies |
| <Desktop> | Per user | Folder that represents the Windows user desktop | C:\Users\username\Desktop |
| <Favorites> | Per user | Contains favorite items of the user | C:\Users\username\Favorites |
| <Fonts> | Per machine | Contains font files | C:\Windows\Fonts |
| <History> | Per user | Contains Internet history items | C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History |
| <InstallPath> | Per machine or per user | Installation path selected by the user on the Select Application Folder dialog of the setup | - |
| <InternetCache> | Per user | Contains temporary Internet files | C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache |
| <LocalApplicationData> | Per user (local) | Contains application-specific data | C:\Users\username\AppData\Local |
| <MyDocuments> | Per user | Documents folder of the user | C:\Users\username\Documents |
| <MyMusic> | Per user | Repository for music files | C:\Users\username\Music |
| <MyPictures> | Per user | Repository for image files | C:\Users\username\Pictures |
| <MyVideos> | Per user | Videos folder of the user | C:\Users\username\Videos |
| <ProgramFiles> | Per machine | Program files folder for 32-bit applications | On a 64-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files (x86). On a 32-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files |
| <ProgramFilesX64> | Per machine | Program files folder for 64-bit applications. Only applicable on 64-bit Windows systems. | C:\Program Files |
| <ProgramFilesX86> | Per machine | Program files folder for 32-bit applications. Equivalent to <ProgramFiles>. | On a 64-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files (x86). On a 32-bit Windows version: C:\Program Files |
| <Programs> | Per user (roaming) | Contains program groups | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs |
| <Recent> | Per user (roaming) | Contains shortcuts to the most recently used documents of the user | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent |
| <Resources> | Per machine;Resources folder for all windows | C:\Windows\Resources | nan |
| <SendTo> | Per user (roaming) | Contains send to menu items of the user | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo |
| <StartMenu> | Per user (roaming) | Contains start menu items | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu |
| <Startup> | Per user (roaming) | Contains startups items of the user. Programs in this folder are started whenever the user logs on. | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
| <System> | Per machine | Windows system folder. On a 64-bit Windows version this folder contains 64-bit system files. | C:\Windows\System32 |
| <SystemX86> | Per machine | Windows system folder for 32-bit system files | On a 64-bit Windows version: C:\Windows\SysWOW64. On a 32-bit Windows version: C:\Windows\System32 |
| <Templates> | Per user | Common repository for document templates | C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates |
| <UserProfile> | Per user | Profile folder of the user | C:\Users\username |
| <Windows> | Per machine | Windows folder | C:\Windows |