Summary
Discussion on why the Always Overwrite file functionality is not available for Dynamically linked filesSynopsis
Sometimes it is necessary to circumnavigate Microsoft file versioning rules and force files to always overwrite another file during an installation.
This functionality is easily available with statically linked files by right clicking the file in Installshield and checking the box Always Overwrite.
A limitation of using Dynamic file linking however is that this option is not available. This is due to the dynamic file linking creating components "on the fly" at build time meaning that information in the file table is not available.
Discussion
When the "Always Overwite" check box is selected, Installshield will artificially inflate the files version number to 65535.0.0.0 in the MSI table. This fools the windows installer to believe the file has a higher version than the file it is replacing and so it always installs.
This can be seen in Installshields Direct Editor when viewing the File table:
When using Dynamic file linking the file entries will not be available in this table until after the MSI is built
Workaround
The recommended solution to allow "Always Overwrite" would be to include the necessary files in your project statically therefore removing the limitation of dynamic file linking.
However in some circumstances this may not be possible and the following workaround can be used.
In these circumstances the MSI can be built as normal via Installshield and then opened using Installshield Direct Edit mode.
The necessary files can be located in the file table and the version numbers artificially inflated to 65535.0.0.0
Special caution should be taken when using this as a solution as changes being made to the MSI post build will not be documented or recorded within the Installshield project.
Additional Information
Further information on other limitations when using dynamic file linking can be found here:
http://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/installshield23helplib/installshield23helplib.htm#helplibrary/DFL-Limitations.htm
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Case id: 00001065
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