Patent Publication Number: US-2007106984-A1

Title: Application suite installer with automatic detection of content and configurable options

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/270,043, entitled “Application Suite Installer with Automatic Detection of Content and Configurable Options,” which was filed on Nov. 9, 2005, and identified by attorney docket number 418268289US, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND  
      A continually increasing number of software applications are being made available for use on computer systems. Before a user can use a software application, the software application first needs to be installed and configured on the computer system. A typical software application installation involves a transfer of the files that comprise the software application onto the computer system, and the configuration of the software application and various components of the computer system to recognize and interact with each other. For example, the configuration of the computer system may include the addition or modification of registry settings, the configuration of one or more device drivers, and the configuration of operating system settings, etc.  
      Increasing numbers of software applications are now being provided as part of a bundle or suite of applications. An application suite is a set of software applications that are designed to work together, and are typically provided on one CD-ROM. For example, a suite of applications may include a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a presentation application, and an email application. In many instances, an installation program, such as a “wizard,” that can be used to install and configure some or all of the software applications is also provided with the suite of applications on the CD-ROM. Typically, the installation wizard presents to a user a series pages through which the user provides requested input, such as a selection of the desired software applications in the suite of applications, and other responses. The installation wizard uses the received responses to install and configure the selected software applications onto the user&#39;s computer system.  
      A difficulty with conventional installation programs is their inflexibility. The inflexibility arises because the knowledge of the software applications that are available for installation and the installation process is hard-coded or built-in to the installation program. For example, an installation program that is provided with a suite of applications comprising software applications A, B, and C is only capable of installing these applications. When the contents of the suite of applications is altered in any manner, for example, when another software application D is added to the suite of applications, the originally provided installation program will not be able to install and/or configure the newly added software application D. Whenever a new software application is added to a suite of applications, the installation program originally provided with the suite of applications will need to be changed and rebuilt to handle the installation of the new software application.  
      Another difficulty with conventional installation programs is that the installation program typically has a predefined set of user interfaces or pages that are presented to a user during the installation process. The predefined set of pages may not, however, cover all installation scenarios that may arise during the installation of a software application. In order to add an additional page that addresses an installation scenario, the installation program will need to be changed and rebuilt to include the additional page.  
     SUMMARY  
      An application suite installation framework comprises an application suite installer program, an installation configuration file, and the program files and other contents that comprise the software applications. The application suite installation framework allows a user to specify the software applications that are to be installed on a target machine, such as the user&#39;s computer system, and, based on the input provided by the user, creates the installation configuration file specifically tailored to the software applications specified by the user. The installation configuration file contains an entry for each software application which was specified by the user. The application suite installer program reads the installation configuration file to determine the installation options (i.e., the software applications) to display to the user, and displays to the user a list of the software applications that may be installed. For each of the software applications in the list that is selected by the user, the application suite installer program installs the software application using the information, including an application installer, specified in the entry corresponding to that software application in the installation configuration file.  
      This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating components of an application suite installation framework, according to some embodiments.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates selected contents of an example installation configuration file, according to some embodiments.  
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of an application suite installer program, according to some embodiments.  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an example environment in which the application suite installation framework may operate, according to some embodiments.  
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram that illustrates creating an installation configuration file based on user input, according to some embodiments.  
       FIG. 6  is a flow diagram that illustrates creating an installation configuration file based on application suite contents, according to some embodiments.  
      FIGS.  7 A-F are pictorial representations of example distributions of the application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications that are specified in the installation configuration file. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      An application suite installation framework is provided. In some embodiments, the framework comprises an application suite installer program, an installation configuration file, and the program files and other contents that comprise the software applications. The installation configuration file contains an entry for each software application, such as the software applications in an application suite, which is available for installation. The application suite installer program, such as an installation wizard, contains the logic to read the installation configuration file to determine the installation options to display, for example, to a user. For example, the installation wizard can display on a page a list of the software applications that can be selected for installation. For each of the software applications in the list that is selected by the user, the application suite installer program reads the entry corresponding to the software application in the installation configuration file and identifies an application installer to use in installing the particular software application. The application suite installer program installs the particular software application by invoking or launching the identified application installer. In a similar manner, the application suite installer program installs the other software applications which were selected by the user to be installed. By maintaining the information that is necessary to install a software application in the installation configuration file that is separate from the application suite installer program, the framework provides a mechanism whereby the contents of the application suite may be altered without impacting the application suite installer program. To add a new software application to the application suite and have the application suite installer program support the new software application, an application developer can create an entry for the new software application in the installation configuration file. The application developer does not need to change the logic of the application suite installer program.  
      In some embodiments, an entry for a software application in the installation configuration file may specify an additional page (e.g., a custom page or UI) that is to be displayed by the application suite installer program. This allows the application installer corresponding to the software application to add a page or multiple pages to the application installer program, and use the added page to expose a custom option, such as an option to uninstall previous versions of the software application, to the user. To add the additional page, an application developer can specify as part of the entry in the installation configuration file for the software application a procedure (e.g., method, property, etc.) that returns the additional page, and does not need to change the logic of the application suite installer program.  
      In some embodiments, the application suite installer program provides “hooks” that allows an application installer for a software application identified in the installation configuration file to run or execute a prerequisites, preinstall, and postinstall actions in three methods that are called by the application suite installer program at the appropriate times. The prerequisites specify the minimum requirements (e.g., required file space, CPU type and speed, components, etc.) that are necessary for the software application to install and run on the computer system. The preinstall actions specify the actions that need to be performed on the computer system (e.g., cleaning up file, uninstalling older versions of the software application, uninstalling incompatible software applications, reconfiguring devices, etc.) prior to installing the software application. The post install actions specify the actions that need to be performed on the computer system (e.g., setting up user accounts, setting up integration between components, etc.) after installing the software application. The application installer provides its own logic, and the application suite installer program calls the provided logic. To add the hooks, an application developer can specify as part of the entry in the installation configuration file for the software application a path to a “prerequisites” method, a “preinstall” method, and a “postinstall” method, where each of the methods contains the logic that performs the respective actions. The application suite installer program then calls the provided methods in sequence during the installation of the software application (e.g., first the prerequisites method, and if the specified prerequisites are satisfied, then the preinstall method, and subsequent to successfully installing the software application, the postinstall method). One skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the hooks (e.g., methods) may not be provided or may invoke logic that simply returns without performing any checks or actions on the computer system. For example, some software applications may not need to perform any prerequisite checks, preinstall actions and/or postinstall actions.  
      In some embodiments, an entry for a software application in the installation configuration file may specify one or more launch parameters to be used with the specified application installer for the software application. The launch parameters are software application-specific parameters, and are used by the application suite installer program in launching the application installer. An application developer can specify the launch parameters as part of the entry in the installation configuration file for the software application.  
      In some embodiments, an entry for a software application in the installation configuration file may include an indication that specifies whether the software application is a required application (or component). If the software application is a required component, the application suite installer program indicates that the software application is required in the displayed list of software applications that can be selected for installation. The application suite installer program does not provide the user the ability to omit or deselect the software application from being installed. An application developer can indicate whether a software application is required to be installed as part of the entry in the installation configuration file for the software application.  
      In some embodiments, an entry for a software application in the installation configuration file may specify a key, such as a registry key, that identifies the software application. For example, when the software application is installed on the computer system, the specified key is placed in a product registry on the computer system. This allows the application suite installer program to use the key to determine whether the software application is already installed on the computer system. If the specified key is present in the product registry, the application suite installer program can determine that the software application is already installed. If the software application is already installed, the application suite installer program may indicate that the software application is not available for selection by “graying out” the entry for the software application in the displayed list of software applications that can be selected for installation. An application developer can specify the key as part of the entry in the installation configuration file for the software application.  
      In some embodiments, an entry for a software application in the installation configuration file may specify an install path. The install path specifies the location where the software application is installed. An application developer can specify a variable or placeholder for the install path as part of the entry in the installation configuration file for the software application. When the software application is installed on the computer system, the application suite installer program may replace the variable with an indication of the location where the software application was installed. In some embodiments, the install path may be used to ensure that the software applications in an application suite are installed at the same location. This allows the software applications in an application suite that were not previously installed to be installed in the same location as the other software applications in the application suite which were previously installed.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating components of an application suite installation framework  10 , according to some embodiments. As depicted, the application suite installer framework comprises an application suite installer program  102 , an installation configuration file  104 , and one or more software applications, for example, software applications  106   a - f.  While the framework in  FIG. 1  is shown as including six software applications, one skilled in the art will appreciate that there may be a different number of software applications, and the number of software applications depends on, for example, the number of software applications that are available for creating suites of applications.  
      In general terms, the application suite installer program is a tool that enables the installation of one or more software applications onto, for example, a computer system. In some embodiments, the application suite installer program may be implemented as a wizard comprising a plurality of pages  108  and application suite installer logic  110 . The pages are the UIs that are displayed to the user during the installation process. The application suite installer logic reads the installation configuration file, and controlling the plurality of pages, facilitates the installation of one or more software applications based on the contents of the installation configuration file. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the application suite installer program need not be implemented as a wizard, but may be implemented using any of a variety of well-known programming and interface techniques to enable installation of software applications based on the contents of the installation configuration file.  
      The installation configuration file contains the information regarding the software applications that are in an application suite and available for installation, for example, by the application suite installer program. For example, assuming the application suite is provided on a CD-ROM, the installation configuration file contains the information regarding the software applications and components that are on the CD-ROM. As depicted in  FIG. 1 , the installation configuration file comprises a plurality of software application records  112   a - c.  Each software application record corresponds to a software application that is identified in the installation configuration file, and provides the information regarding that software application. For example, an application developer can create a software application record for a software application, and the software application record can be included in the installation configuration file to create an entry in the installation configuration file for that software application.  
      The software applications are the applications that are available to create the application suites. As depicted in  FIG. 1 , software application  106   a  comprises a plurality of application components  114   a,  an application installer  116   a,  and a custom page  118   a;  software application  106   b  comprises a plurality of application components  114   b  and an application installer  116   b;  and software application  106   f  comprises a plurality of application components  114   f.  The application components are the components (e.g., executables, data files, configuration files, etc.) that make up the particular software application. The application installer is an application-specific installation program. For example, a software application may need to be installed using a special installation program that is designed to install the software application. In this case, an application developer may provide the application-specific installation program with the software application. If a software application can be installed using a “generic” installation program, such as the installation program provided with the operating system (OS) that is executing on the computer system on which the installation is to take place, an application-specific installation program need not be provided with the software application. By way of example and as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , software applications  106   a  and  106   b  are each shown as providing respective application-specific application installers  106   a  and  106   b.  The custom page is specific to the installation of a software application, and is displayed to the user during the installation of that software application. For example, the custom page can expose a custom option that is specific to the installation of the software application to the user. By way of example and as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , software application  106   a  is shown as having a custom page  118   a.    
      The application suite installation framework provides organizations, such as software application providers who provide software applications the ability to segment the market by developing different suites of applications without impacting the application suite installer logic for installing the software applications in the different application suites. For example, when the application developer develops a software application, the application developer can also create the code “snippet” for the software application (e.g., the contents of the software application record) that is to be included in the installation configuration file. Within the organization, each of the developed and available software applications will have corresponding code snippets that are to be included in the installation configuration file. The organization is then able to easily create different application suites comprised of one or more of the available software applications. For example, to create an application suite made up of software applications A, B, and C, the organization creates an installation configuration file that contains the code snippets for software applications A, B, and C. The organization then places the application suite installer program, the created installation configuration file, and the software applications A, B, and C (e.g., the application files and components) on removable storage media, such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, etc., for consumption by users. To create a different application suite, the organization need only create a new installation configuration file that includes the code snippets for the software applications desired in the new application suite. The organization can then place the same application suite installer program, the newly created installation configuration file, and the components of the software applications to include in the new application suite on removable storage media for consumption by users. In this way, the framework allows an organization to quickly and easily create suites of applications without having to create and test installation programs for each application suites.  
      In some embodiments, the application suite installer program, the installation configuration file, and the software applications that are contained in the application suite are provided on a removable storage media, such as a removable disk. In other embodiments, the application suite installer program, the installation configuration file, and the software applications that are contained in the application suite may be provided for distribution by a web service. For example, the application suite installer program, the installation configuration file, and the software applications that are contained in the application suite may be provided at a network location, such as a web server. To install one or more software applications from a web service, a user can use a computer system to access the web server and download and execute the application suite installer program on the computer system. In still other embodiments, the application suite installer program, the installation configuration file, and the software applications that are contained in the application suite may be provided in a distributed fashion. For example, the application suite installer program and the installation configuration file may be provided on a CD-ROM, and the software applications that are identified in the installation configuration file, and which can be installed using the application suite installer program, may be provided at a web server.  
      In some embodiments, a web server may provide a list of possible software applications that are available for installation on, for example, a user&#39;s computer system. The user can then select one or more of the software applications in the list and request the web server to install the selected software applications on the user&#39;s computer system. In response, the web server can generate an installation configuration file based on the user&#39;s selection of software applications. An application suite installer program can then use the created installation configuration file to install the selected software applications on the user&#39;s computer. In one embodiment, the application suite installer program may execute on the web server. In another embodiment, the application suite installer program may execute off of a CD-ROM loaded onto the user&#39;s computer system.  
      In a typical scenario, a software application provider, such as MICROSOFT Corp., of Redmond, Wash., may provide the application suite installer program, the software applications, and the software application records corresponding to the software applications at a network location or locations, such as, by way of example, a web server or multiple web servers. A user desiring to install one or more software applications on a computer system can then execute a client application, such as a browser application on the computer system to access the web server. When accessed, the web server can provide a web page that displays a list of the software applications that are available for installation by the user. In some embodiments, the software applications that are displayed in the list may depend on the user&#39;s credentials. The user can then select one or more of the software applications in the list for installation on the user&#39;s computer system. The web server receives the user&#39;s selection, and creates an installation configuration file based on the user&#39;s selection of the software applications that are to be installed on the user&#39;s computer system. For example, the web server can create an installation configuration file that is comprised of the software application records that correspond to the software applications selected for installation by the user. In this manner, the web server creates the appropriate installation configuration file at installation time based on input provided by the user. The web server can then invoke the application suite installer program to install on the user&#39;s computer system one or more of the software applications that are specified in the created installation configuration file.  
      In some embodiments, a software application provider can create an installation configuration file for an application suite based on the contents (e.g., the software applications) of the application suite. The installation configuration file that is created for a particular application suite can be used by the application suite installer program to install some or all of the software applications in the application suite. In a typical scenario, a software application provider&#39;s application developers may develop software applications and the software application records that correspond to the developed software applications. The collection of developed software applications can then be presented to the software application provider&#39;s marketing personnel. The marketing personnel can then create an application suite from the developed software applications by choosing the software applications to include in the application suite. Based on the marketing personnel&#39;s selection of software applications to include in a particular application suite, a software developer or other knowledgeable personnel can create an installation configuration file for the application suite. In some embodiments, the marketing personnel may use a software utility to specify the software applications to include in an application suite. Based on the received input, the software facility can generate an installation configuration file that is appropriate for the application suite. When another software application and its corresponding software application record is developed, the newly developed software application can be included in the collection of developed software applications and made available to the marketing personnel for inclusion in an existing application suite or a new application suite. The marketing personnel can then create a new application suite (or modify an existing application suite) by selecting the software applications to include in the application suite. An installation configuration file that is appropriate for the application suite can then be created. Having created an installation configuration file for an application suite, the software application provider can distribute the application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications that are specified in the installation configuration file for consumption by users. In some embodiments, the software application provider can distribute the application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications that are specified in the installation configuration file using a combination of one or more removable storage media and a network location, such as a web server. For example, one or more of the application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications may be distributed on a CD-ROM, and the component or components (i.e., application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications that are specified in the installation configuration file) that are not distributed on the CD-ROM may be provided on a web server.  
      The computing devices on which the framework is implemented may include a central processing unit, memory, input devices (e.g., keyboard and pointing devices), output devices (e.g., display devices), and storage devices (e.g., disk drives). The memory and storage devices are computer-readable media that may contain instructions that implement the framework. In addition, the data structures and message structures may be stored or transmitted via a data transmission medium, such as a signal on a communications link. Various communication links may be used, such as the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, a point-to-point dial-up connection, a cell phone network, and so on.  
      Embodiments of the framework may be implemented in various operating environments that include personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmable consumer electronics, digital cameras, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and so on. The computer systems may be cell phones, personal digital assistants, smart phones, personal computers, programmable consumer electronics, digital cameras, and so on.  
      The framework may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates selected contents of an example installation configuration file, according to some embodiments. In particular, the installation configuration file is implemented using XML. As depicted in  FIG. 2 , the installation configuration file comprises a plurality of application elements, for example, application elements  202   a - c.  Each of the application elements is an entry (e.g., record) for a software application that is identified in the installation configuration file and available for installation, for example, as part of an application suite to which the installation configuration file belongs. Each application element contains information about its corresponding software application.  
      By way of example and as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , application element  202   b  comprises an application name element  204   b,  an installer element  206   b,  a product code element  208   b,  a launch parameter element  210   b,  a required element  212   b,  a use OS installer element  214   b,  a registry key element  216   b,  a registry value element  218   b,  an install hook element  220   b,  and a custom page element  222   b.  The application name element contains the name of the software application that is displayed in the various dialogs (e.g., pages) to the user during the installation of the software application. The installer element specifies a relative path to an installation program to use in installing the software application. The installer element may specify a relative path to a generic installation program that is typically provided with an OS, such as an installation program provided with MICROSOFT WINDOWS (e.g., WINDOWS Installer MSI), or an application-specific installation program. The product code element specifies a product code for the software application. The launch parameter element specifies a specific parameter or parameters to use when the application suite installer program launches the installation program that is specified in the installer element. The required element specifies a Boolean value that indicates whether the software application is required to be installed on the computer system. The use OS installer element specifies a Boolean value that indicates whether the software application provides its own application-specific installation program that is to be used instead of the generic installation program that is provided with the OS executing on the computer system. For example, if the use OS installer element indicates that the software application provides its own installation program, the relative path to this installation program is specified in the installer element. The registry key element specifies a registry key that can be used to determine if the software application is already installed on the computer system. For example, when the software application is installed on the computer system, the specified registry key is placed in a registry, such as a product registry, on the computer system. This enables the application suite installer program to look for the registry key in the product registry to determine whether the software application is installed on the computer system. The registry value element specifies a variable that indicates the location on the computer system where the software application is installed. The install hook element specifies a relative path to the assembly that implements the install hook interface. For example, the assembly may be an “InstallHook dll” that is provided by the software application. The InstallHook dll may implement a specific interface that is known by the application suite installer program, thus allowing the application suite installer program to call the methods and/or properties, such as, by way of example, a prerequisites method, a preinstall method, and a postinstall method, which are specified in the InstallHook dll. The custom page element may also specify a relative path to a “CustomPage dll” that is provided by the software application and which implements an interface that is known by the application suite installer program. The application suite installer program can call the method that is specified in the CustomPage dll to return a custom page for the software application.  
      One skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the elements described above may be optional and not contained in an application element. For example, an application element for a software application that does not use a custom page during its installation may not specify a custom page element. One skilled in the art will also appreciate that an application element can specify information other than the elements described above. For example, an application element for a software application that is provided through a web service may include an element that specifies a URL of the web server from where the software application can be obtained (e.g., downloaded).  
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of an application suite installer program, according to some embodiments. By way of example, a user may have inserted a CD-ROM for an application suite into a CD drive on the user&#39;s computer system. The CD-ROM may contain an application suite installer program for the products in the application suite, an installation configuration file that contains information regarding the products in the application suite, and the application suite program files. In block  302 , the application suite installer program starts running on the computer system and reads the installation configuration file to identify the software applications that are contained on the CD-ROM. In block  304 , for each identified software application, the application suite installer program checks to determine if the software application is already installed on the computer system. For example, the application suite installer program can use the information in the registry key element and the registry value element for each of the identified software applications to determine if it is already installed on the computer system.  
      In block  306 , the application suite installer program calls the prerequisite hook for each identified software application that is not already installed on the computer system. By performing calling the prerequisite hook for each software application, the application suite installer program is able to determine if the computer system is able to function as a host or platform for the software application. In block  308 , the application suite installer program displays a list of the software applications that are identified in the installation configuration file to the user. Within the displayed list, the application suite installer program may “gray out” the software applications that are already installed or not capable of being installed, for example, because of the failure of the computer system to have the necessary prerequisites, on the computer system. The user is then able to select one or more of the software applications in the displayed list, except for the software applications that are grayed out, for installation on the computer system. For example, the user may be able to select a software application by “checking” or selecting a box provided next to the name or other identifier of the software application using an input device, such as a mouse. The application suite installer program can also prohibit the user form deselecting the software applications that are required to be installed.  
      In block  310 , the application suite installer program receives the user&#39;s selection of the software applications that are to be installed on the computer system. In block  312 , the application suite installer program gets the install location from the user. For example, the application suite installer program may display a page that requests the user to specify a location on the computer system where the software application is to be installed. For each software application selected for installation by the user (block  314 ), the application suite installer program performs blocks  316  to  322 , until all of the selected software applications have been processed (block  324 ). In block  316 , the application suite installer program displays to the user a custom page or pages that are provided for the software application. For example, the custom page may request the user to provide information or respond to queries that are specific to the software application. In block  318 , the application suite installer program calls the preinstall hook for the software application. For example, the preinstall hook may perform actions on the computer system to prepare the computer system for installation of the software application. In block  320 , the application suite installer program performs the install of the software application. The application suite installer program installs the software application by invoking the application installer specified in the installer element. In block  322 , the application suite installer program calls the postinstall hook for the software application. For example, the postinstall hook may perform actions to configure and ready the installed software application for use by the user.  
      In some embodiments, the application suite installer program can pass the user input received via a custom page to the preinstall hook, the post install hook, or both. For example, a custom page may ask the user whether a previous version of the software application should be uninstalled. If the user responds “yes” to this question, the application suite installer program can send the user&#39;s response to the preinstall hook, and the preinstall hook can then uninstall the previous version of the software application. The information can be passed as a Boolean value or as part of a more detailed interaction between the application suite installer program and the specified hooks.  
      One skilled in the art will appreciate that the prerequisite hook, preinstall hook, or post install hook may not perform any actions on the computer system. In these instances, the hooks may simply return to the calling program such as, for example, the application suite installer program.  
      One skilled in the art will appreciate that, for this and other processes and methods disclosed herein, the functions performed in the processes and methods may be implemented in differing order. Furthermore, the outlined steps are only exemplary, and some of the steps may be optional, combined with fewer steps, or expanded into additional steps.  
      In some embodiments, the application suite installer program installs the selected software applications in the order listed in the installation configuration file. In these embodiments, the application developer needs to appropriately order the software applications in the installation configuration file. For example, if an application A needs to be installed prior to installing an application B on a computer system, then the entry for application A needs to be specified before the entry for application B in the installation configuration file. In other embodiments, the application suite installer program may include the logic to determine the order in which the software applications identified in the installation configuration file should be installed on a computer system.  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an example environment in which the application suite installation framework may operate, according to some embodiments. As depicted, the environment comprises a client computer system  402  and a server computer system  404 , each coupled to a network  406 . The server computer system comprises an application installer user interface  408 , an installation configuration file builder  410 , one or more software applications  412 , and the application suite installer program. The operating environment is only one example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the application suite installation framework. For example, only one server is shown in  FIG. 1  for simplicity and one skilled in the art will appreciate that there may be a different number of servers, and the application installer user interface, installation configuration file builder, software applications, and application suite installer program may be distributed over the servers.  
      The client computer system is the target machine on which one or more software applications are to be installed. For example, a user can use the client computer system to access the server to install on the client one or more software applications (e.g., software application  1 , software application  2 , . . . , software application n) that are provided for installation on the server computer system.  
      The server computer system provides a platform for managing the application suite installation framework. The application installer user interface provides an interface through which the application suite installation services are accessed. The application installer user interface may comprise one or more pages that display a list of the software applications that are available for installation, and through which one or more of the software applications in the list can be selected for installation, for example, by checking a box that is provided next to each of the software applications identified in the list. The application installer user interface receives the user&#39;s selection of the software applications in the list and directs the installation configuration file builder to create an installation configuration file. In some embodiments, the application installer user interface may request a user to provide credentials, such as, by way of example, user identification, password, software license information, etc. The application installer user interface can then display a list of software applications that are available for installation based on the credentials which were provided.  
      The installation configuration file builder creates an installation configuration file based on the information provided by the application installer user interface (e.g., the user&#39;s selection of the software applications in the list). For example, the installation configuration file builder can identify the software application record that corresponds to each of the software applications selected by the user, and use the identified software application records to create the installation configuration file.  
      The software applications are the applications that are available for installation at the server. Each software application record corresponds to a software application. The software application record contains information regarding the respective software application, including the information necessary to install the software application.  
      In general terms, the network is a communications link that facilitates the transfer of electronic content between, for example, the attached client and server. In some embodiments, the network includes the Internet. It will be appreciated that the network may be comprised of one or more other types of networks, such as a local area network, a wide area network, a point-to-point dial-up connection, and the like.  
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram that illustrates creating an installation configuration file based on user input, according to some embodiments. By way of example, a user desiring to install one or more software applications on a computer system may execute a browser program on the computer system and access a web server that is providing the desired software applications. In block  502 , the application installer user interface component of the web server displays to the user a list of software applications that are available for installation by the user. The user is then able to select one or more of the software applications that are in the displayed list. In block  504 , the application installer user interface receives the user&#39;s selection of the software applications to install on the user&#39;s computer system. In block  506 , the application installer user interface directs the installation configuration file builder to create an installation configuration file that is based on the input (i.e., the user&#39;s selection of the software applications) received from the user. In block  508 , the application installer user interface directs the application suite installer program to install the selected software applications on the user&#39;s computer system. For example, the application suite installer program may offer the software applications identified in the created installation configuration file for installation on the user&#39;s computer system. Here, the user will be provided an opportunity to select one or more of the previously selected software applications (e.g., the software applications selected in block  504 ) for installation on the user&#39;s computer system. Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection, the application suite installer program can install each of the software applications using the application installer specified in the installation configuration file for the respective software application. In some embodiments, the application suite installer program may install the software applications identified in the created installation configuration file on the user&#39;s computer system without querying the user to specify which of these software applications to install.  
       FIG. 6  is a flow diagram that illustrates creating an installation configuration file based on application suite contents, according to some embodiments. By way of example, an employee, such as a product marketing manager, of a software provider may be assigned the task of creating an application suite comprised of a plurality of software applications. In block  602 , the product marketing manager is provided a list of the software applications that are available for creating the application suite. In block  604 , the product marketing manager selects the software applications to include in the application suite. In block  606 , an installation configuration file is created based on the employee&#39;s selection of software applications. For example, the product marketing manager or other capable employee of the software provider can manually create the installation configuration file using, for example, a computer system. In some embodiments, the product marketing manager can use a software facility, similar to the aforementioned installation configuration file builder to automatically create the installation configuration file. In block  608 , the product marketing manager prepares the application suite, including the created installation configuration file and the application suite installer program, for distribution to users (e.g., consumers). For example, the product marketing manager may decide that the software applications comprising the application suite, the installation configuration file that was created for these software applications, and the application suite installer program are to be distributed to users on one or more DVDs. In another example, the product marketing manager may decide to distribute the software applications comprising the application suite, the installation configuration file that was created for these software applications, and the application suite installer program via a web server. In still another example, the product marketing manager may decide to distribute the software applications comprising the application suite, the installation configuration file that was created for these software applications, and the application suite installer program using a combination of a removable storage media and a web server, as illustrated in FIGS.  7 A-F. FIGS.  7 A-F pictorially representation example distributions of the application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications that are specified in the installation configuration file.  
      In  FIG. 7A , the installation configuration file and the software applications are illustrated as being distributed to users on a CD-ROM, and the application suite installer program is illustrated as being provided on a server, such as a web server. The CD-ROM contains, for each software application, the application components, any custom page or pages, and any application-specific installation program, are distributed to users on a CD-ROM. The user can then insert the CD-ROM in a suitable media drive on the user&#39;s computer system to install one or more of the software applications onto the computer system. For example, the CD-ROM may include logic, such as a client installation program (not shown), which invokes the application suite installer program on the server to start the software application installation process. The application suite installer program can read the contents of the installation configuration file that is contained on the CD-ROM in the user&#39;s computer system to facilitate the installation of one or more of the software applications which are also contained on the CD-ROM onto the user&#39;s computer system.  
      In  FIG. 7B , the application suite installer program and the software applications are illustrated as being distributed to users on a CD-ROM, and the installation configuration file is illustrated as being provided on a server. The user can then insert the CD-ROM in a suitable media drive on the user&#39;s computer system to install one or more of the software applications onto the computer system. For example, when the CD-ROM is inserted into the suitable media drive, the application suite installer program can read the contents of the installation configuration file that is provided on the server and, based on the contents of the installation configuration file, facilitate the installation of one or more of the software applications that are contained on the CD-ROM onto the user&#39;s computer system. By maintaining the installation configuration file on the server, the software application provider is able to alter the composition of application suites without having to re-distribute CD-ROMs.  
      In  FIG. 7C , the application suite installer program and the installation configuration file are illustrated as being distributed to users on a CD-ROM, and the software applications are illustrated as being provided on a server. The user can then insert the CD-ROM in a suitable media drive on the user&#39;s computer system to install one or more of the software applications onto the computer system. For example, when the CD-ROM is inserted into the suitable media drive, the application suite installer program can read the contents of the installation configuration file and, based on the contents of the installation configuration file, facilitate the installation of one or more of the software applications that are provided on the server onto the user&#39;s computer system. By maintaining the software applications on the server, the software application provider is able to make changes to the software application (e.g., fix a bug in functionality, incorporate additional features, etc.) without having to re-distribute CD-ROMs.  
      In a similar manner, the application suite installer program can be distributed to users on a CD-ROM, and the installation configuration file and the software applications can be provided on a server ( FIG. 7D ); the installation configuration file can be distributed to users on a CD-ROM, and the application suite installer program and the software applications can be provided on a server ( FIG. 7E ); and the software applications can be distributed to users on a CD-ROM, and the application suite installer program and the installation configuration file can be provided on a server ( FIG. 7F ). Although a CD-ROM was used as an example of a removable storage media in the examples above, one skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of well-known removable storage media may be used to distribute one or more of the application suite installer program, installation configuration file, and the software applications to users.  
      Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.