1 reply to this topic

[Pizzero]

Hello,

I would like to set the

ProductName

property to the program name and its version (e.g. "Program 1.0.0"). I want to do this, because then the version can be seen in all dialogs, too (which have already been authored with the "ProductName" property, only).

I have not found anything against it in the Windows installer documentation (but I am using Installshield, which uses it for the filename. -> The consequence is that I have to override the filename in Media->Releases->MSI-paket-filename and set it only to the program name - otherwise I would have to handle any new version as a major upgrade, which is undesirable.)

However the Projectname is used in some more situations, too, for example in the Add/Remove Programs panel, which is nice, too. However I don't know if it conforms to Windows Logo guidelines. (Setting the ProductName as proposed means that the name changes, even for minor upgrades, because it contains now the full version information, too). The nice thing is that it works perfectly.

Now asking in a project independant manner: Is it okay to set the ProductName property to the program name and its version or is this not good practice (and should it be only set to the program/project name, as Installshield anticipates it, too)?

Thank you very much for clarifying this,
David.

Edited by Pizzero, 15 May 2009 - 12:27.

[Zweitze]

In general, use ProductName to identify the product to the user - and not for anything else. If you need programmatic identification use ProductCode.
Having said that, I see very different ProductNames. For instance, MS Office, SQL Server and Visual Studio include a version indication (eg SQL Server 2005). .NET Framework include the version and service pack. Adobe includes more info.

It seems that anything goes. It's just the user experience that matters, make sure that he understands it.