I have a big application, which includes multiple modules (desktop,web)
Applications written using C#
application has abo many desktop tools
we use visual studio installer for years to prepare msi files
but now we need to develop one group installer that takes care of installing application and tools and
also uninstall them
something like visual studio setup, customer can choose tools and install them and not installing each part separately
need to know please recommended installers for this task
We tried WIX and visual studio installers but we noticed that wix is declining in market, needs help if this is true and is the recommended alternatives
Related
I have read similar questions on SO and other forums but can't what I want. I have obfuscated my binaries using 3rd party tools, and want to use these binaries in the setup.
Visual Studio Installer lets us choose the projects we want to deploy, and creates the installer using the outputs of those projects.
WiX creates a setup using the files I want but does not have an option to install .NET framework, if it doesn't already exists.
Is there a way I can use my own assemblies in Visual Studio Installer ? Or a similar alternative ?
EDIT:
I have already packed all dependencies in the binary. I don't want the installer to find the dependencies for linking them. I just want it to install .net (if not already installed) and place the binaries in a directory.
Not exactly the answer you'd hope for, but you mentioned WIX and dependency to .net framework. For that reason people write bootstrappers (i.e. a binary compiled to native win32) using something like Autoit which makes sure of the framework. All you may have to do is read registry key of corresponding framework and if required it pull down the file and install. Then execute the msi !
You can use the good old Visual Studio Setup Project (Installer Project) template.
To do so, you need to download the Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects depending to your VS version from one of the following links:
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects 2013
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects 2015
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects 2017 and 2019
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects 2022
The project could be used to deploy anything, including your project or instead of adding Project Output you can simply right click on your setup project node in solution explorer and under Add menu, add File or Assembly.
Then all dependencies will be added automatically. You can also add other files and artifacts that you need to be installed on target machine.
I have developed a windows application (one type of CRM System) but now I want to create its setup file so it can be easily installed on client's machine. I have searched online and found out the way using InstallShield. But it is giving the free trial and then it is offering the paid version. Is there any other way to create Setup file without using InstallShield?
You can use the extension Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension: VSI_Bundle.
See the The Visual Studio Blog
It worked good for me.
See my answer in this post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/28029063/200824
You can use visual studio 2015 and install installer projects extension.
You should also take a look at https://wixtoolset.org. A lot of new, helpful elements (grammar is XML) were added to simplify development. So while it's not drag-and-drop design, it's fairly easy to use and 3.x builds MSIs that are still the mainstay on Windows. 4.x pre-releases can also build other formats such as AppX (though, that is only supported on Windows 10 to install).
I have a C# application that requires .net version 4 in order to run. I know how to create a basic installer using the Visual Stuido Installer Setup Project that comes with Visual Studio and that installs my application fine, however, I can't get it to check if .net version 4 is already installed in the client machine and if not install it. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I use a different approach besides this method? Purchasing a license for InstallShield is not an option as that is too expensive. Thanks
You should follow this guide on MSDN. It should tell you what you need to know about creating an installer to check for .NET 4.
The long and short of it is, if you set it as a prerequisite, the installer will check that it is installed.
I have a program written in c# using visual studio 2010 ultimate, and I want to be able to deploy the program into a setup file, or an installer file.
I need the setup file such that I can run and install my program on any windows machine, just like any other piece of software.
How do I go about building/deploying the project in this manner??
If you want to create a MSI install package, you can do so using a Setup Project. See this overview for various walkthroughs how to create/configure the project for different scenarios.
The Setup project works for simple install scenarios, but is not fit for more advanced tasks. If your needs exceeds the capabilities of a set up project, you can look at WiX.
Or, you might want to take a look at NSIS - it's easier on the beginners, and has a lot of great tutorials and examples.
For the ultimate control and generation of MSI install packages, you might want to take a look at WiX - it has a far greater functionality than Visual Studio's Setup Projects.
Another approach is to use the native tool for Visual Studio 2010: ClickOnce
Just wondering if there's a way to make Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition generate normal exe files that are created by the installer for my app?
I am sick of the ClickOnce application files. I had all these file associations setup and now that I need to actually have an installer for my apps, the file associations setup in the code don't work because now they're "ClickOnce" app files and not normal exe files. And no, VS does not create any exe files at all for ClickOnce apps.
Any help is much appreciated
thank you :)
Can VS Express create Setup.Exe? No.
If you examine the license you will find that the Express edition is not intended to make distributions (I don't have the exact wording here). So MS left the Setup generator out of the package.
You can use any 3rd party setup maker but then you might be violating the license.
Edit: the above applies to VS2005 Express.
The licenses for 2008 and 2010 Express seem to be more lenient, do check.
ProjectFolder\bin\Debug
Should contain .exe files for your application.
If you want to use the EXEs for deployment, however, you should create a "Release build."
Once you do that, your files will be in
ProjectFolder\bin\Release
As far as I remember the Express edition do not provide tools for deployment, but still there are many free installers that can do the trick; you may want to try NSIS or InnoSetup, for example.
Right Click your Solution > Add > Project > Other Project Types > Setup and Deployment > Visual Studio Installer > Setup Project