I am wondering about the need for an install wizard for my little Windows Forms application. No database access, just file access on a shared network drive.
I have seen times when an executable is sent in an email, copied to a desktop and used.
Other times when an 'install wizard' seems to be used to set up the application.
What dictates the need for this or not?
And if I want to use one - what needs to be added to my windows form app?
If your application is truly just an .exe file, it's probably okay to distribute it as-is without an installer. This might be preferable for more advanced users, because they won't have to worry about cleaning up a broken/unwanted install - they can just delete the file and be done with it.
On the other hand, most Windows users are used to working with installers, and having shortcuts automatically created on the desktop or Start->Programs. This is where an .msi can really help. Also, using an installer will usually put your application in the "Add or Remove Programs" control panel, which most people know how to use. Also, if your application is more than just a single .exe file (e.g. multiple .dlls and resource files), you'll probably want to use an .msi.
Creating an installer is easy, look at "Setup Projects" in Visual Studio.
An installer is almost always a good idea, because it can work out what dependencies your application has - which you may not even be aware of.
It also looks more professional and users will have more confidence in it.
There's an open source installer called NSIS that's pretty good, if you find the Visual Studio setup wizard too clunky, as I sometimes have.
Sometimes simply copying a file just isn't sufficient, this is when you need a setup program.
Checking if the correct version of .NET is installed
Installing C++ runtime dependencies
Creating a desktop shortcut
Setting up "default" configuration data
Adding exceptions to the Windows Firewall
Preventing installation on unsupported systems such as Windows 95/98/ME
etc, etc.
If your program is a stand-alone application with no dependencies and can run on a stock-standard install of Windows 95... then you don't need to worry about setup ;) But if your app has any external dependencies then you want to spend some time on setup.
Related
I've made multiple C# DLLs in MS Visual Studio which I then access from Excel via VBA calls. These work fine on my machine (obviously VS COM registers them for me when compiling as long as I have the right boxes ticked). I also got them working on other machines by searching my registry for any seemingly relevant keys to each of the DLLs, and copying the entries into other machines registries. Obviously that's madness though, so I want I want to make a simple installer so I can install said COM DLLs on other machines easily.
Since I have a windows forms app in there to test all the DLLs, I figured it makes most sense to just make an installer for that app, and the other DLLs should get installed as they're dependencies. Right-clicking, and publishing gives me the setup.exe. I can then install this on the other machines. But the DLLs aren't COM registered on the new machine, so although the test app works, I can't actually use them from Excel/VBA.
What do I need to do? (googling only seems to turn up pretty old stuff that I can't seem to follow with older versions of VS)
I'm using the full version of VS 2019.
I'm using the basic right-click/properties/publish to make a setup.exe and associated folders.
I may get more options by adding an MSIX installer project into the solution? But I've never done that before so when I tried the learning curve of that it seemed a nightmare and wouldn't compile, largely complaining I didn't seem to have an icon of every size under the sun included. Trying to use VS to auto-generate them from 1 image caused VS to crash every time. I can try sitting in paint making them all manually if that's my only option, but it may be pointless if I don't need and MSIX installer anyway.
At this point I'm also interested in just COM registering them manually for sanity sake without typing in the registry entries, and can work on the installer later. But as far as I can tell regasm/gacutil aren't on any of these other machines. (I also haven't used that before, so am somewhat confused by which I should use, and if I need to do it for both x86 and 64.)
I'm a noob to VS installers, DLLs and the registry (and associated terms), so please try keep it simple. Although obviously I've got as far as making C# DLLs I can call from VBA (once COM registered), and they otherwise work a treat.
I developed a program in VB 6.0 and used Package & Deployment Wizard to build an Setup exe file installer, but my software contained some dependency folder and the VB Package & Deployment only allows files, not folders.
Does anyone know any other types of Packages & Deployment or setup generator that I can use?
You're asking the right question. :) The PDW was never a stable enough solution to risk using it in a production environment. It never fully solved the "DLL Hell" problems that come up with it.
One of the main problems was that after the PDW was released, OS service packs started disallowing replacement of numerous DLL files that were used by the OS. This was the only way that they could solve the ubiquitous version problems that were plaguing server installations everywhere. They never did anything with the PDW to address this change. So, if your installation package includes a DLL file that the OS doesn't allow you to replace, the OS won't register it. Then, when you reboot as part of the installation process, the PDW errors out and tries to reboot again, and you get caught in an endless loop of reboots. Very very bad. If you should be interested, I wrote this up in detail here back in '03.
There are plenty of solutions for what you're trying to do, and some of the other answers give some of them. Microsoft's own solution is the Visual Studio Installer, which you can read up on here. This is the one that builds those .msi files that you see all the time; msi = Microsoft Installer.
Try using iexpress.exe, it's built in with windows for creating windows installation packages, it's fairly simple to use and i know it works for windows7, 10, and probably others too! You can search in the start menu to find it or use the run dialog box, or command prompt, just type in iexpress.exe and there you go, i make a few vb6 setup programs this way.
My problem is the following:
I have multiple applications that I want pack in one installer so when the user runs it, they will be installed automatically instead of installing or copying each single application.
I have a program that's already a setup file (.exe) and two .exe files which can be executed manually and do not need an installation. So what I want is:
Build an installer so when the user opens it - the .exe file of the setup program gets installed and the other applications which dont need to be installed will be copied somewhere in a path.
Whats the best solution?
I think you need a packaging programs to create an installation package, such as:
AdvancedInstaller
InstallShield
InstallAnyware
The first two of them have a freeware version. Maybe you can see if the required features are available in the freeware version.
I would suggest Advanced Installer (allows easy chaining of installs) if you have no significant deployment experience. Otherwise I would suggest Wix and its "Burn" feature (ability to chain installers in sequence). Please read the following answers for context:
What installation product to use? InstallShield, WiX, Wise, Advanced Installer, etc
Windows Installer and the creation of WiX
Wix to Install multiple Applications
Read this if you want to get going with Wix quickly
I am considering building an application in Visual Studio 2010. This application will be distributed to dozens of users. As time passes, I will have to update the application. Is there a way that I can push updates to the users without having to rebuild the application, re-distribute the application to the users, have the users uninstall the original application, then install the new version?
I imagine the solution as the user being notified of a new version upon start-up, and the user clicking "OK" (or some equivalent) and then the program will download the new version.
Is there a way to do this in Visual Studio?
Thanks!
ClickOnce is an option, but not necessarily the most popular. You can also roll-your-own solution, which really isn't that hard:
Create a URL on a web server which returns the latest version (as a JSON object, XML string, plain text, whatever).
Have your program query this URL at startup.
If the latest version doesn't match the current version, prompt the user and download the latest version from the web server, saving it to a temporary directory.
Invoke the downloaded installer. (If it's an msi, there are command line options for "silent install" without a user interface; other installer have similar features.)
This approach has nothing to do with Visual Studio and could be used with any language / IDE.
I think you are looking for ClickOnce.
Apps automatically download the latest version of themselves.
ClickOnce takes the advantage of the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS).
Trustworthy deployment model for users to be able to download and execute applications from centrally managed servers without requiring administrator privileges on the client machine.
Updates are transacted in a single transcation. (See this to understand “Single Transaction”)
The application not only can work offline but it has a degree of control over it; APIs exist, so that the application can find out if it’s online or offline; it can also control its own update process;
ClickOnce is integrated with Visual Studio .NET, including the ability to generate the appropriate extra files and tools that help to figure out which security privileges your application need in order to run.
Application files can be downloaded on demand or in batches.
ClickOnce comes with a Win32 “bootstraper” executable that can download necessary components, even the .NET Framework itself.
I have created a windows based application in C# using visual studio 2008 which basically scans for the registry and then fixes the resulting errors. Now using the msi installer i have made a setup and it works fine. However i have met with a new requirement.
Usually after providing the setup to the user/client has to install the setup and when installed, in the installed folder there are lots of .dlls that i had used to create the project. But my requirememt is to create a single standalone .exe using which i wouldnt have to provide my users with the setup file. All i need to do is that using this single .exe file my whole project should execute and perform the same process of scanning and fixing the registry.
I also tried "ClickOnce Deployment in .NET Framework 2.0" and got the error "ClickOnce does not support the request execution level 'requireAdministrator'". and also have gone through the link
"ClickOnce does not support the request execution level 'requireAdministrator.'"
But still i feel that i would be comfortable if i can get a single standalone exe which can execute my windows forms application.
Is there any way to do it?
Any hint with this thing will be really helpful to me.
Thanks in advance
~Viknesh