Installation of demo project - best practices

Question

Using Windows Installer (targeting XP and Vista), is there a best practice for installing demo projects and files with your application?

Answer 1

From experience installing on Vista/XP I would recommend...

1, Install the source code/project/solution files into the 'Users' directory for Vista. That way when the user opens up the demo and compiles they have write access for generating the output files. If you put the files into the 'Program Files' directory under Vista you do not have write access and so the compile will just fail.

2, Add a shortcut to the solution to either the desktop or the start menu so that the user can then get access to it without having to know the exact location. Under Vista/XP when you install into the 'Users'/'Documents and Settings' directory it is not easy to find the installed files because they are placed inside a directory that is not shown unless you select 'Show Hidden Files' in file explorer.

3, I would recommend you sign the installer using your publisher certificate so that when the user gets a UAC dialog on Vista they can see the name of the publiser and be more likely to continue with the process.

4, At the moment the split between Visual Studio 2005/2008 is about 50%/50% and so make sure you provide both versions of the project/solutions files. Alternatively just supply the VS2005 files and let the user upgrade using the wizard in VS2008.