Using the Packager for Windows › How to Package Products Using the Automatic Method › Determine Which Type of Product to Create › Product

Product

A product is an application that runs independently and can be installed individually.

You can create a product if any of the following is true:

• The product you are packaging can be installed independently and run independently, without requiring any software other than the operating system. This is a product with no dependencies.
• The product you are packaging requires a previously packaged product for proper operation but not for installation. This is a product with dependencies.

  For example, suppose you have defined client parameters and created a parameter product. You must always install the parameter product on the target computers before the actual program can be properly run. Therefore, you must define a dependency for the packaged product on the parameter product.

  Another example is a desktop publishing program that requires specific fonts and printer drivers to produce the correct output. These fonts and printer drivers are not essential at installation time, but must later be installed on the users' computers and defined as dependencies.

  Dependencies are defined in the info.sxp archive file, after the initial packaging process has completed.

• The product you are packaging requires that certain software not be installed on the target computer. This is a product with an incompatible dependency.

  Specifying incompatible dependencies can be useful to account for incompatibilities between specific products, a company's hard disk restrictions, or other company policies.

  To use the incompatible dependency feature, enter a product name and version preceded by the exclamation point (!) operator in the #InternalDependence# section of the info.sxp archive file. The specified product must not be installed on the target computer if you want to install the product you just packaged.