I've got a sizable project, with multiple classes, 500+ images, and 20+ text files associated with said project.
I've been publishing my project via right clicking on the project->properties, and clicking on the publish tab. I've included the text files and images as resources already.
The issue is that whenever I install an application, usually it's a simple installer, i.e. you download an installer (one file such as installer.exe), run this file which then takes you through the setup, such as where to install it to, etc. Then the application is installed and that's it.
Well, when publishing my application, I specify an output directory, and I'm left with these files:
Application files
MyProjectName.application (the manifest?)
setup.exe
If I run setup.exe, I'm able to install the application and run it with no issues. However, not only does it not let me choose where to install it, but I would have to send all 3 of these files to the user. I tried to send just the setup.exe to a friend and it said they were missing the files required (which I'm assuming is what the application files and .application were for).
How would I go about bunching these all into one installer, one that more closely matches how you would install an enterprise application (think of installing chrome, eclipse, photoshop, etc)?
I've love to be able to have one file which is the installer and be able to have users download that.
Thank you
The Ancients: If the below is TL;DR (too long, didn't read), please skim these two links:
Troubleshooting Setup and Deployment Projects
Why use Windows Installer XML (WiX) over VDPROJ?
UPDATE: September 2018 - Since this "answer" was recently downvoted, let me try to add some more links to see if the intent of
the answer can be made more clear. Not to be overly dramatic, but:
As deployment specialists we have to warn people when they commit to using a tool that is bound to fall apart for them down the line when more advanced deployment requirements invariably surface.
The installer projects have several times been pulled back and then
re-introduced in Visual Studio. Always based on the problems seen
with these project types (just the bigger ones):
1) No MSBuild support (not tested extensively by me, but by others), 2) only deferred mode custom actions running in system context (not insertable in GUI), 3) highly limited control overall (always advertised shortcuts, no ability to configure certain things, etc...), 4) no support for proper service installation - requires custom actions instead, 5) very few available prerequisites to bundle, 6) rudimentary GUI with little flexibility, 7) appears to not be possible to define MSI features (as in features and components), 8) problems with 32 / 64 bitness issues for custom actions, etc...
An old MSDN page on this project types and its problems: Troubleshooting Setup and Deployment Projects.
MSI Expert Chris Painter and others:
Are Visual Studio Setup projects suitable for complex setups?
Why use Windows Installer XML (WiX) over VDPROJ? (recommended)
In my opinion the project type can only work for simple.NET applications. Any complexity of caliber and you are in trouble. SQL Scripts, IIS, proper COM / COM+, Users & Groups, Shares, Firewall Rules, Custom GUI, etc... Commercial tools and WiX have advanced support for these things. The internals of the compiled MSI files are also sub-standard (use of self-registration, custom actions for services, etc...). I often experience that the tool stops working for "some unknown reason" as well. Suddenly it won't compile. Concrete Example (with fix).
Alternatives:
Simple List View of Deployment Tools
WiX Quick-Start Hints (if the tool needs to be free)
How to create windows installer
(links to all kinds of deployment tools, summary of MSI advantages and
some brief descriptions of trending deployment technologies)
The open source WiX toolkit features a component called
Burn to create such setup.exe launchers / downloaders
/ bootstrappers - used to run several installations in sequence and /
or install prerequisites (a very common task - Visual Studio projects
only support a few prerequisites).
Writing WiX XML markup code is necessary to use this Burn feature.
Commercial tools Installshield and Advanced Installer
provide GUI-features to build such setup.exe files.
The Visual Studio installer is very limited, I never use it. WiX (link to an answer trying to provide some links for a WiX crash course) is a full blown, open source deployment solution. It will take you a while to master, but it is very good and flexible. A commercial solution such as Installshield or Advanced Installer will allow you to deliver a setup faster and easier, but they can be very pricey.
Given the limitations of Visual Studio Installer projects (and bugs), I do believe the right solution is to use a different tool:
What installation product to use? InstallShield, WiX, Wise, Advanced Installer, etc. If you need anything advanced at all, you will struggle otherwise. With a more advanced tool it is at least possible to do what you need, even if it might be more involved at times.
Let me know what you want to know about such a process, and I will try to help. I am not sure what software you are delivering, what the target user group is, what budget you have, etc... Windows Installer is highly desirable for a number of corporate benefits, but other deployment technologies exist (see the description above of various tools to use).
Related
In my team we create assemblies to attach to extensible released software created and published elsewhere in my company. These assemblies are often specific for an individual client, though some are reused. I want to introduce a couple of standards into this environment - version numbers and installers.
Currently, many assemblies go to clients without adequate versioning. I want to institute automated version number updates so when a client has a problem we can be sure which source code was used in their software.
Currently, assemblies are installed by the individual copying them manually to the correct path and performing any necessary registration. I want to force people to use an installer package so the path and registration is handled automatically.
I could implement the first step by getting people to use:
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]
But I'd prefer to update the AssemblyFileVersion rather than the AssemblyVersion. This is because I understand that advancing AssemblyVersion combined with our manual installation can lead to multiple versions of an assembly being registered. AssemblyFileVersion doesn't update automatically, and I'm wary of a solution that requires developers install 3rd party tools. If we had a proper installation process, the problem would multiple versions would go away.
For the second step, if I use a Visual Studio setup project then adding the assembly causes it to try to add other assemblies from the original published software, which I don't want. I assume I can create this as a patch somehow, but I've not worked that out yet. Of course, an installer will require reliable version numbers or things will go badly.
It seems clear having written this that I need to advance both issues simultaneously, but I'd really rather approach one at a time.
Any thoughts for the best way to get over these two issues?
I don't have nearly enough information to point you to a solution. What are you using to build your application and installers? Desktop F5 build? Team Foundation Server? Cruise Control?
Things to realize:
1) Visual Studio Deployment Projects suck. Yes, I'll stick by that comment. In your case, the dependency scanning problem you have is unfixable. Even if you right click | exclude the dependency it could scan a new dependency at build time. We even wrote visual studio automation to open the project, right click | exclude everything and then save it on the build machine to avoid this problem. Trust me, it's a horrible road to go down. Even Microsoft knows it sucks and that's why it won't be in the next release of Visual Studio anyways. Use other tools such as Windows Installer XML or InstallShield Limited Edition or Professional.
2) You must update AssemblyFileVersion. This is such a core/foundational tenant of Change Management and it's critical in getting Windows Installer upgrades and patches to work. AssemblyVersion can be changed at your discretion and is only applicable to Strong Naming and IoC scenarios such as Prism where you write rules on what constitutes a valid class for injection.
3) 1.0.* isn't what you want. You want a system that increments your version and passes it into your build automation. What you use will depend on what you are using for build automation. I use Team Foundation Server and a project in CodePlex to do my versioining.
4) You should never be building on a developers machine. You should always be using a clean build machine with automated scripts and not F5.
If these are released applications, then the installer method is fine. If you are adding libraries through this method, and not necessarily the actual application, then something like NuGet (package manager) is an option. NuGet itself is a bit infant and needs to grow up a bit, but I think it should fit your basic scenario.
If you have published software, a bootstrap on the client that calls for updates and then runs the update installer is a good pattern.
The basic answer is you have options, depending what bits you are employing and should take advantage of the one(s) that fit your needs.
I'm working on a deployment plan for a C# Winforms application and would like to use a self-extracting .zip file to distribute all of the required files. Here is the file structure of the SFX:
Setup.exe
app.exe
app2.exe
readme.txt
manual.pdf
After the user runs the SFX, I want Setup.exe to take control and copy app.exe, app2.exe, readme.txt, and manual.pdf to location x. The path they are copied to will depend on choices the user makes from the UI of Setup.exe, system properties, etc.
How would I go about writing Setup.exe in C#?
Personally, I had very good experiences with using NSIS as a setup tool. It's a bit more than a SFX but really good to use, rather flexible and free-of-charge.
So I recommend that you do not write your own SFX in C# (aka "re-inventing the wheel") but rather use something existing that is real-world-proofen.
There are, of course, a lot of other installers available.
I agree, don't waste your time writing an installer when there are already ones available. If you did chose to write one on your own for whatever reason, I would encourage you to stay away from any languages that require dependencies (e.g. C# requires the .Net Runtime). I would suggest using C or C++ and turning on static linking using the /MT flag so that your installer is dependent on as little as possible.
Some of the installation software I've used (in order of preference):
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) - This is a free scripted installer which has a large user base including Firefox, DOSBox, 7-Zip, Winamp, and even Dropbox.
Inno Setup - This one is free, and the project files are setup more like an INI file. Overall, very easy to work with, but not as feature rich as NSIS. There is a visual editor called ISTool which makes it even easier to work with.
Visual Studio Installer / Microsoft Windows Installer - It comes with Visual Studio, and it works well enough. It creates a MSI setup package.
See the list of installation software article on Wikipedia for other options.
This question already has answers here:
Closed 11 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
What are the specific differences between .msi and setup.exe file?
I am working on an installer for a new version of my project (C#).
Previously, I've used Inno Setup to create .exe files for installing my projects on other computers in the workplace. While reading through some tutorials, though, I came across Windows Installer XML, which uses XML files to build a .msi installer.
My project will be available on a network share that all the employees have access to so they can install the software (I'm currently working on an update checker as well)
What are the major differences between .exe and .msi installers? Why would I want to chose one over the other? Would either make more sense given my specific environment?
I found some of the information at this question, but there was not a lot of information.
I wouldn't use WiX for a new project. I'd use an 'Installer Project' in Visual Studio to build an MSI. An installer project is much, much easier to put together.
Many exe installers are actually stubs or containers that hold an MSI, btw.
I guess you've checked out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Installer?
MSI's give administrators the ability to restrict installs, rebase installs, change or add custom actions, automate installs/reinstalls/uninstalls, standard logging and switches. It just really integrates into a corporate IT environment ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742606.aspx ).
A custom installer may have many of those features, but that would depend on the installer package.
Most EXE installers available today are simply stubs to verify that the target machine has just enough support to launch an MSI stored within the EXE. They do basic windows version checking and Windows Installer version checking, then essentially invoke msiexec and let Windows Installer handle the rest.
For a very basic installation, the Installer Project in Visual Studio can get you by, but for just about any kind of real customization or tweaking you'll need a real MSI editor. We use WiX and love it - but it's a bear to learn. If you've got the cash you can invest in InstallShield - but that has it's own set of quirks.
MSI is configurable while EXE is not. I know this doesn't answer your question directly, but I thought I should point towards the ClickOnce technology.
MSDN: See example here.
Simply stated, a ClickOnce application
is any Windows Presentation
Foundation, Windows Forms, or console
application published using ClickOnce
technology. You can publish a
ClickOnce application in three
different ways: from a Web page, from
a network file share, or from media
such as a CD-ROM. A ClickOnce
application can be installed on an end
user's computer and run locally even
when the computer is offline, or it
can be run in an online-only mode
without permanently installing
anything on the end user's computer.
For more information, see Choosing a
ClickOnce Deployment Strategy.
IndigoRose's MSI factory is extremely powerful and much, much cheaper than InstallShield.
It uses WiX internally and allows you to modify the XML files in any way you like. The bootstrapper (.exe, if you add one) has a powerful scripting engine based on Lua to do... well anything.
I have .NET exe, I want to create a setup for this and after any login or restart this exe should be called automatically.
As you are deploying a .NET application, there are multiple ways in which you can approach this challenge.
There are many questions you have to consider when choosing an installer strategy. These include:
How do I plan to distribute this software?
Is the software supposed to be connected to the internet in any way?
What users is the software targeted towards?
Do these users have specific computer installations, such as all having .NET Framework already installed?
How should I approach the problem of updates to the software?
After answering some of these questions, you can get a general idea of how you should distribute the software. Then, you need to consider the various installers, and Wikipedia has a convenient list that compares them, which might help you.
Below are some examples of what might work for you:
ClickOnce deployment built into Visual Studio - my current favorite way, as this is the most easiest for users and for developers because updates and interaction is extremely simple
NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System), an open source scripting system for such installers. A great tutorial on packaging and checking for the .NET Framework with NSIS can be found here.
InstallShield (from Macrovision) - a heavily used installer system, but this one is not free, unlike other solutions
DreamShield - I haven't tried this one, but it appears to be a viable solution.
WiX (with Visual Studio plugin)
Deployment of applications is a very tough part of software development, especially in .NET, because how can we know, for example, whether the potential user already has the .NET Framework installed on their system or not? Or what version is installed? Thus, we must use tools like ClickOnce and NSIS to help.
To your question about how to start your application immediately at login, there are four ways to approach this:
Add registry key to start at login/bootup - MSDN explains that very well here. However, most installation systems allow you to automatically configure the registry key for bootup addition.
Use the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule a "task", in other words, to create a task that runs at startup. There is a .NET library for that here, I've used it in two of my applications that run on a specific schedule, it works great!
Adding the path to your executable into the Startup folder located at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup(that is for all users - for single users you can customize the username in that path). By the way, that location is in Windows XP, it may be different in other version of Windows.
If your application is a Windows Service, you can already automatically start at bootup, through svchost! There is a simple service configuration that will allow you to accomplish this.
Hope I helped!
You can use Inno Setup for the specific tasks described in the other answers.
By setup, I'm going to assume you mean the conventional installer. A good open source solution is NSIS. If that does not work, here is a more complete list.
As for having it start whenever the computer restarts/you login, that is platform specific (the installer can be platform specific if the program is). On windows, the installer needs to add a shortcut to your program in the folder
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
(that is the easy method, there are surely more complicated registry settings).
This blog post lists a few useful links to info about Setup and Deployment projects using Visual Studio.
You could also google with the keywords ".net deployment project".
Although not .NET specific, you can try InstallJammer. Its open source and multiplatform.
How can I deploy a C# Visual Studio 2005 project so that I can run the application in another system? My project has a few dependencies and files that have to be integrated while deploying the project.
What is the best way to handle this?
You need to know what dependencies you have.
you need to have .Net framework installed
you have to explicitly install all dependencies that you used from the GAC on your target machine (some 3rd party components)
and then you just need to copy files from your \bin\Release folder
install all services, etc. if you have any
In the simplest cases only copying files should be enough.
Have you looked into ClickOnce deployment?
It's far from perfect, but for projects without a huge amount of overhead, it's generally good enough.
What kind of project?
Assuming it's a regular winforms application, just copy everything from either the obj\debug or obj\release directory to the new computer. Then run your executable
You can right click on the project file in visual studio and publish to a different location. This will build the site and copy it to the specified directory.
Also, if you need to do anything extra during the build, you can specify custom build actions on the build tab of the project's properties.
EDIT: now that I see you added that it's a windows application my answer doesn't matter. I'd try adding a setup and deployment project in visual studio to handle installing/deploying your windows application.
You more or less have three options (maybe 4?) as I see it.
Windows Installer
ClickOnce
Just distribute
the exe itself
In your particular case I would suggest ClickOnce as long as the project is not massive with too many dependencies.
For other alternatives.
The right answer depends on many criteria.
The simplest way to deploy is by copying files. Just put your .exe, the dependent .dll's, and the .config file in a directory and copy it onto the target machine. It's simple, but there are many restrictions to this approach:
It assumes that the target machine has the right version of the .NET framework installed
It assumes a certain technical competence on the part of the person installing the software.
The installation won't do basic things like create start menu items.
Publishing the program for ClickOnce deployment addresses a lot of these issues, but it's got its own set of limitations. I haven't used it much, so there are probably more than these, though these alone are pretty significant:
Programs are installed into the ClickOnce cache, not the Program Files directory.
If your program does anything outside of the ClickOnce sandbox, you have to deal with security elevation and code signing.
You can create a VS Setup and Deployment project and build an .msi file to install the program. The most obvious drawback to this is that it's complicated: .msi files can do many, many things, and the Setup and Deployment object model is complex, with documentation that is, let us say, fanciful. But there are things you can do with .msi installation that you can't readily do with other approaches, including (and certainly not limited to):
Cleanly uninstall the program through Add/Remove Programs.
Provide an actual UI for installation that lets the user decide where to put the program.
Support scripted installation via MSIEXEC.
Install components besides the program, e.g. databases, COM objects, etc.
Put components in the target machine's GAC.