MAKEMSI quickly and reliably creates MSI files in a non-programmatic way\Source CodeCommandsCabinet

---

The "Cabinet" Command

This command will be used for these main reasons:

• To vary the compile (MakeCab.EXE) options, for example some already compressed files take ages to process if you try to recompress them or they may compress faster with different options.
• You can separate frequently modified files from others to improve the usage of the cached cabinet files (you want to minimize the recompilations required for typical file changes).
• You may wish to control the size or composition of the cab files.
• You may need to work around one of the cabinet file limitations.

Compiled cab files are now cached by default for better build performance.

The main cabinet (compile) related options are:

;---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;--- GLOBAL DEFAULT options when option not specified on the "Cabinet" command ---
;---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#define? CABINET_ALIAS_DEFAULT                 [DEFAULT]             ;;If no or empty alias provided
#define? CABINET_ALIAS_FREQUENTLY_CHANGES      [FrequentlyChanges]   ;;
#define? CABINET_CACHE                         Y                     ;;Y/N cache results
#define? CABINET_CABDDF_Compression            ON                    ;;ON/OFF - Want to compress files?
#define? CABINET_CABDDF_CompressionType        <$COMPRESS_MEDIUM>
#define? CABINET_CABDDF_CompressionLevel       7                     ;;Valid 1-7
#define? CABINET_CABDDF_CompressionMemory      21                    ;;Valid 10-21
#define? CABINET_CABDDF_ClusterSize            4096                  ;;Safe for CD-ROM, floppies (512) etc
#define? CABINET_CAB_FILE_NAME_FORMAT          MM_*                  ;;Name of generated 8.3 formatted CAB filename (without extension). MM01.cab, MM01_2.cab etc.

This command provides default cabinet options for any files nested between this command and the associated "/cabinet" command.

The command takes these parameters:

• Alias (positional)
  

  This value represents a set of compile related options which can be specified by the following parameters.

  You can refer to this value using the "cabinet" parameter of the "File" and "Files" commands.

  This value will influence the cabinet related directories and files and should only include characters that are valid in a Windows file name.

  The first time an alias is used (case insensitive) the "MakeCab.EXE" options are saved away.

  The following aliases are created by MAKEMSI:

  1. [DEFAULT]
     (aka "<$CABINET_ALIAS_DEFAULT>") is used as a default when file commands are not nested within cabinet commands otherwise when you specify it on a "cabinet" command (where you can also use an empty string to represent it).

  2. [FrequentlyChanges]
     (aka "<$CABINET_ALIAS_FREQUENTLY_CHANGES>") should be used to hold files that frequently or always change from build to build (you can also use "!" to represent it this as the alias).

     You want to separate the files from others so the cabinet caches are more efficiently utilized.

  All files with the same alias are compiled into a windows compressed cabinet together.

• Cache (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CACHE" ("Y", cabinets are cached).

• Compression (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CABDDF_Compression" ("ON", files are compressed into the cab file).

• Type (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CABDDF_CompressionType" (medium compression by default):

  #define  COMPRESS_NONE      NONE                ;;2007-09-12: Doesn't appear to work?
  #define  COMPRESS_MEDIUM    MSZIP
  #define  COMPRESS_BEST      LZX                 ;;Builds smallest MSI

• Level (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CABDDF_CompressionLevel" (7, maximum).

• Memory (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CABDDF_CompressionMemory" (21, the most).

• ClusterSize (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CABDDF_ClusterSize" (4096).

• CabinetName (optional)
  Default is "CABINET_CAB_FILE_NAME_FORMAT" (MM_?_*).

  This determines how the cabinet files/folders are named and these characters have special meaning:

  • ?
    This mask character will be replaced with the cabinet number (01, 02, ...).

  • *
    This mask character will be replaced with the cabinet alias.

• Default4 (optional)
  This parameter defaults to "" and allows you to map one or more file extensions to this current compile type (alias). This will be used if the compile alias would normally default to that defined by "CABINET_ALIAS_DEFAULT" (you haven't indicated another cabinet it should go into).

  If specified the "/cabinet" command is not required and extensions should begin with "." and be delimited by "|".

Define Some Cabinets

;--- Put graphics in their own cabinet file (potentially using their own compression settings) ---
<$Cabinet "{DEFAULT.Graphics}" Default4=".jpg|.bmp|.gif">
<$Cabinet "{DEFAULT.EXE}"      Default4=".exe">

;--- Add some files into specific cabinets ----------------------------------
<$Cabinet "FILES.1">
    <$Files "D:\tmp\1.txt"  DestDir="[INSTALLDIR]">
<$/Cabinet>
<$Cabinet "FILES.2">
    <$Files "D:\tmp\2.txt"  DestDir="[INSTALLDIR]">
<$/Cabinet>

;--- These will default, see "Default4" definitions above -------------------
<$Files "D:\tmp\SomeExe.exe"  DestDir="[INSTALLDIR]">
<$Files "D:\tmp\SomeGif.gif"  DestDir="[INSTALLDIR]">
<$Files "D:\tmp\SomeBmp.bmp"  DestDir="[INSTALLDIR]">

Please email me any feedback, additional information or corrections. See this page online (look for updates) MAKEMSI© is (C)opyright Dennis Bareis 2003-2008 (All rights reserved). Saturday May 28 2022 at 3:11pm Visit MAKEMSI's Home Page