Wise Package Studio SetupCapture Configuration Options

Wise Package Studio's SetupCapture application has a number of configuration options which can affect the quality of the resultant package. I will discuss them here by the option description.

(I have collected some info regarding the importance of the Setup Capture Phenomenon. I do understand that many of you are aware of these, but still I wanted to share the info with you all. Just consider this a brush up, if you're already in-the-know.)

Include files deleted during capture and Include registry keys deleted during capture: Unless you are trying to capture an upgrade/patch, you probably don't want to use these options

Capture changes in hardware registry entries: In reality, this means most of the data in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM key (which includes services and other non-hardware-related stuff) will be ignored unless you select it. Also keep in mind that adding or changing printers is also a "hardware" entry, and thus you'd want this checked.

Allow root to be watched during capture: This may cause you more confusion than it's worth, and it's highly unlikely to be needed.

Capture non-Microsoft ODBC information: You will probably want to leave this checked all the time, just in case the target app does use an ODBC connection (it's possible even for local data files). The rare exception to this rule is when SetupCapture mangles the resultant ODBC connection (for example, in capturing Oracle drivers WPS does not work well): in this case, directly add the related Registry entries from HKLM\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI as they are into the package and it should work fine.

Enable ordering of self-registration and Create installation sequence report: These options are only useful if you're using SmartMonitor (or SmartMonitor and snapshot comparisons, which is recommended). See the above comments on Capture Methodology for a few pointers.

Advertising Setting (Windows Installer) drop-down selection: In nearly all cases you should choose "Convert registry entries into advertising info", with the only exception being when you are certain you do not want any advertising or self-healing in the application. (This selection is not just related to MSI advertising, but really it has to do with whether WfWI decides to add the registry information as-is to the Registry table or pick it apart into the respective pieces: file associations, services, etc.)

Installation Changes Report drop-down selection: If you expect to need to munge the report with Excel (for particularly messy captures), you'll want to include a comma-separated-values (CSV) report. Otherwise, the web page (HTML) will do fine, but be sure that you do make some sort of report, because you never know when you'll need it.

Hope this tech-tip is useful.