Hi.
Does anyone knows where to download an installshield compiler
(only a command line compiler ) for v.5-v.6
Thanks

I know where to find the decompilers.
The problem is that I can't find a suitable Installshield compiler
that compiles the sourse to *.ins, *.inx scripts files.
The one included in VC6 is with restricted use.
I think it would be very suitable to download from somewhere
the commandline compiler from the IS pack.I tried to do this from
w*w.installshield.com but there is a lot of scarbage and you must download hundreds of MBs before finding this little proggy(installshield compiler)

It can usually be quite useful to use the search button on the top of the forum before you post a question because it is always possible that your question has already been asked and possibly answered. If you use the feature and type in "installshield" you will find 26 previous posts about the subject, some even with post from you, which discuss the general subject. Several of them refer to the installshield utilities which are used to compile .inx files and several have suggestions where you might acquire those files.

I make this reference, not in any way to give you a hard time, but to try to reinforce the value of learning how to search for information, because that is how we find information when someone helpful is not right there to answer our questions. If you master this skill, and there are extensive articles on the fravia site devoted to learning this craft, you will find most things that you want on the web.

If you can't find them anywhere else after you do a search with the names revealed in the previous posts, send me a message and I'll try to provide them. I downloaded Installshield some time ago and believe I still have the files on my HD.

Searching for them will help teach you something. Giving them to you without some effort on your part teaches you nothing and does not advance your skills, which is what this is supposed to be about.

Good hunting.

Hello karakochev !

Sorry, but there is no Command Line Compiler available for InstallShield. The only way is to use the build-in compiler in InstallShield. The program's size grows with every version, the demo version has about 100MB, the full version about 400MB (I'm lucky that I'm receiving updates on CD ).

The only available InstallShield 'compilers' are the programs to pack and unpack .CAB files. But they can only pack files which were created with the same version of InstallShield. I tried I5Comp and I6Comp too, but I wasn't able to pack anything with it.

Thanks DakienDX ,
I thought that there isn't a command line comiler only in the demo versions( like it is in Borland Delphi's demos).
So it is not so easy for one who does not have the entire IS suite(400MB) :-).
I know the rest of the information about the IS unpackers.
Thank for your time
and have a nice day

Guys, I believe you are mistaken to believe (say) that there is no "command-line" compiler in (for) Installshield, unless we are having a misunderstanding about the term itself. I quote from a programmer's site

h**p://www.ticz.com/homes/users/nlewis/Menu.htm#HTML/

who distributes, free, a program designed to assist the compilation process. He states:

"1. InstallShield Professional 6 provides two command line utilities that can be used to build a previously created project: Compile.exe, which is used to compile script files, and ISBuild.exe, which is used to build the media defined in the project. Designed to be run from a DOS batch file, these utilities offer a powerful and flexible way to create automated builds of an installation project.
One drawback to using these utilities is the fact that the command lines needed to successfully compile a project's script files and build its media tend to be quite long. And because these utilities rely heavily on the use of hard-coded DOS paths, build scripts created on one computer system may not function properly on another if Compile.exe and ISBuild.exe have been installed into different locations on the two systems. And finally, these utilities do not support the automation techniques commonly used today, such as the VBScript support offered by the Microsoft Windows Scripting Host.
The ISProjBuild control was created to provide an automation interface to the InstallShield Professional build tools in a system-independent manner. Instead of using hard-coded paths to the location of Compile.exe and ISBuild.exe, it reads this information from the registry so that these utilities can be launched regardless of where they were installed on the local system. And the various include paths, flags and other options normally passed on the command line have been wrapped up a set of automation objects."

This suggests to me that there is, indeed, a "command line" compiler for scripts in the program. It is indeed available with the "demo" version and on my Win98 SE machine is stored in C:\*\common files\InstallShield\IScript. It is only 163K and there is also compiler.dll, iscript.dll, ISDBG.exe, and Isdbg.chm files. (Although I confess I've not tried any of them yet. ISDBG appears to be a script debugger, but I'm not sure yet.) It would seem that if you can use a decompiler on the script, you should be able to re-compile the script with this program.

There is also a tutorial on the installshield compilation process at

h**p://www.cs.duke.edu/~jjw2/installshield.html

which includes at

h**p://www.cs.duke.edu/~jjw2/setup.html#includedir

a template to go with the tutorial which might provide some insight on the workings of a "compiled" script.

Again, just a small sample of what I was able to locate in just a few minutes with a google search for "installshield compiler." There are still more then 15 hits I haven't looked at yet. Give it a try.
I would guess that a search for "compile.exe" would generate a great many hits of non-related compilers, but one never knows (how about Installshield & compile.exe) and there is probably an ftp site with the Demo program on it somewhere, from which you might be able to download just the compiler.exe.

Don't give up without a search.

Hello JMI !

I know Compile.exe and ISBuild.exe, but I don't see them as command line compilers, since you can't compile any projects with only using these two files and it's .DLLs. Even if you've installed the full version, you can only use them in a very limited way to compile a project. Most features need to be pre-'compiled' with the GUI, only the final steps can be done by those programs (which is done by the GUI also). So you can't use them to recompile a decompiled and changed script, which I suppose was the reason for starting this thread.

Hi DakienDX, glad to see you have your avatar to yourself again, but still at a loss to understand how the pink pussy suddenly became a little pervert. Talk about a lifestyle change. Anyway, on to the business at hand.

Please don't misunderstand my question as anything other than a request for further knowledge. I've stated I have zero experience actually using InstallShield, but have been reading a lot on the subject and a "little" knowledge can be (is) a dangerous thing. From your statement that you are receiving updates by CD I am assuming you are a knowledgable user.

Having seen several programs on the InstallSite which claim to permit their editors to work with Installshield scripts and some of then even claiming to invoke the Installshield "compiler", I'm wondering if your statement, that one can't decompile, edit and then recompile with compile.exe, is based upon an unsuccessful attempt to do so, something you may have read, or have been told?

It would seem, logically, that Installshield would have to have provided its users with a facility to edit their scripts, which after all is simply a company constructed language, which their compiler, compiles. Do I understand you to be saying that the problem is that one can not decompile, edit and then recompile, only edit, and compile? And if this is so, does this mean that the "decompilers" don't actually give you an editable script to work with? I was under the impression that the script itself was a file with extension ".rul", but again, because of lack of actual experience, this may only be the file that gets compiled, and one which isn't effectively decompiled.

What is unclear, and again I don't doubt your statement, why, especially if one has the program (full or demo), one can't decompile the file, edit the script and recompile. Is it because we would not have the original project files and the decompilation process does not give us enough materials to have a "project" to recompile?

I'm not trying to make this into Installshield 101, mostly seeking advise on whether my assumptions are headed in the right direction.

Thanks for your help in this and many other threads. Keep it coming.

Hi, rednik Karakochev

If you find a small command line compiler which is _compatible_ with InstallShield please mail me the url at unknone@mail.com

starshinka Unknown One

Hello JMI !

Of course you can do some research on your own. I won't kill you for this. Anybody can make mistakes, so it's better if someone checks if there are any.

The .RUL files are the InstallShield script files, and a decompiler (at least the two I know) tries to produce the original source, but it won't be able to get it in a recompilable form for several reasons. Even if it would get it, the right project file, to compile it with InstallShield, would be missing. I tried the decompiler on one of my own source files and got a similar source which worked with my project with just a few warning messages.

But the usual user or cracker will not have the project files available. So he can decompile the script and see how it works (i.e. how a serial is calculated, which file is checked for the file version to be able to install an update, ...), but he won't be able to change anything (skip register dialog, skip file check, ...) and recompile it to be working.

I think this is what the post was originally started for: A command line compiler which doesn't need the big demo or even the bigger full version. Not how the author of a project can make minor changes to a decompiled source script, when he lost his original .RULs, but has still his project file and all required components left.

If it is interesting to someone the compiler could be downloaded from ftp://ftp.inet.ru/pub/ISWI15BASE/iswi/Common/InstallShield/IScript/Compile.exe
or ftp://ftp.inet.ru/pub/ISWI15BASE/iswi/Common/InstallShield/IScript/
using the same version of compiler.dll ,which the script you have decompiled had used makes you recompile exactly the same
Just have to find the original compiler.dl

Maybe you can ask the software's publisher for it.

I know the problem. With InstallShield's .CAB tools, you can only add/replace files to/in archives made with the same version and build number as your InstallShield copy.