Method of integrating application programs to form or modify suite, and a suite integration toolkit to perform same

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an application program suite, comprising:

• a first application program;
• a second application program;
• and
• a suite setup database file, the suite setup database file having a data structure comprising
• a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in an application program suite;
• a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program suite;
• and
• a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program suite.

A method of extending an existing application program suite with an additional application, comprising the steps of:

• providing an existing application program suite, the existing application program suite including a suite setup database file for the existing application program suite, the suite setup database file constructed in accordance with a standard format having a data structure including a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in the application program suite, a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program suite, and a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program suite;
• providing an additional application program, the additional application program including an application setup database file for the additional application, the application setup database file constructed in accordance with the standard format;
• combining the suite setup database file with the application setup database file to form an extended suite setup database file, the extended suite setup database file conforming to the standard format;
• and
• including the additional application program with the existing application program suite to form an extended application program suite including the extended suite setup database file.

A method of forming an application program suite, comprising the steps of:

• providing a first application program, the first application program including a first setup database file for the first application program, the first setup database file constructed in accordance with a standard format having a data structure including a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in the application program, a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program, and a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program;
• providing a second application program, the second application program including a second setup database file for the second application, the second setup database file constructed in accordance with the standard format;
• combining the first setup database file with the second setup database file to form a suite setup database file, the suite setup database file conforming to the standard format;
• and
• including the first application program with the second application program suite to form an application program suite including the suite setup database file.