We have a windows app and we were using Wise for deployment. Recently we switched to InstallAware and though it has some good points we are facing some issues. Can someone recommend another deployment and packaging app? We are a small company and we do not have a dedicated staff for packaging etc. Also our package includes SQL server express installation and we would love to have the simplicity of such includes as is in IA.
A:
I have never used anything but Windows Setup and the setup projects that come with Visual Studio. Do you have any unusual requirements that prevent you from doing that?
cdonner
2009-05-29 20:04:43
yes we do require to include the installation of SQL Server Express.
superdoc
2009-05-29 20:06:57
+1
A:
How about NSIS or InnoSetup? They're both widely used, and not that hard to use. (If you choose InnoSetup, also download ISTool, it's a lot easier than writing the script file manually.)
grawity
2009-05-29 20:06:15
do either of these have plugin scripts to install sql server etc or check for the version of a .net framework etc?
superdoc
2009-05-29 20:14:42
I know for a fact that NSIS can read the registry, so yes it can check if those are installed. I suspect InnoSetup can do the same, but I don't know off-hand.
Charlie Salts
2009-05-29 20:24:07
Here's an example of a .Net version checker: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/How_to_insure_a_required_version_of_.NETFramework_is_installed
Charlie Salts
2009-05-29 20:25:40
+1
A:
We've used NSIS several times, both for full regular desktop installers, and for small, silently installing patches. It's easy to write a basic installer, especially if you use HM NIS Edit which acts as a wizard and IDE for NSIS. Because it's scriptable, you'll be able to check if SQL Server Express is already installed - if not, it can be installed as part of your installer process.
Charlie Salts
2009-05-29 20:19:46