SEA Maker & SEA Builder
Use StuffIt SEA Maker or SEA Builder™ to create mini-installers
SEA's are a family of archives that include application code allowing them to be expanded without the use of an external application. They are useful when you aren't sure if the person you're sending files to has the necessary expansion tool to open an archive. They are slightly larger files than other compressed archives, but they can be the right solution when you need some extra configuration options.
StuffIt SEA Maker or SEA Builder™, a feature of StuffIt Deluxe creates SEAs based on the StuffIt X compression format. These SEAs can install files to specified target areas on a user's hard drive, or they can prompt the user to select a destination. SEAs can also display graphics and text files so you can create mini-installers that can display a Splash Screen and Read Me files in addition to installing files.
StuffIt SEA Maker or SEA Builder
The "Archives" created by the StuffIt SEA Maker or SEA Builder application are not, in fact, really archives at all - in the strict sense of the word. Rather, the archives created by SEA Maker or SEA Builder are "packages". The SEA packages created with SEA Maker or SEA Builder contain a StuffIt X archive, the application code necessary to expand that archive, along with instructions created from your installer project about exactly how the files in the archive should be expanded. The SEA package also contains any text files and graphics you have chosen to include. Everything needed to expand the archive is contained within the package.
- You can specify the location to which items are expanded: StuffIt SEA Maker or SEA Builder allows you to specify the location on your recipient's hard drive to which the items in the archive will be extracted. You can also choose to have the user be prompted to specify the location. SEA Maker or SEA Builder allows you to add multiple sets of files to your archive, and each set of files can have a unique destination.
- You can display a Splash Screen: SEA Maker or SEA Builder allows you to add a Splash Screen to your archive. In fact, you can specify multiple images to be displayed at different times during the extraction process.
- You can display a Text Message: SEA Maker or SEA Builder allows you to add a text dialog to your archive. As with the display of images, you can create an archive with multiple text dialogs that are displayed at different times during the extraction process.
