I created a setup project that has as required software .NET 4.5. Right now if I don't have installed .net 4.5 the installation will start with installing .net framework first. I would like to avoid this behavior and to receive directly an error message saying that I don't have installed .net version on my computer. Is that possible?
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Vlad
It sounds like you have enabled the .NET 4.5 prerequisite. Prerequisites are designed to check the machine and conditionally install a redistributable before the main installation begins.
The flip side of this is a Launch Condition, at least in a basic MSI project. Use a System Search to detect whether .NET 4.5 is present (feel free to edit the .NET 4.5 prerequisite to get an idea what to look for, or just research it yourself), and add a Launch Condition with the message you want to show.
It's actually a really good idea to set up the Launch Condition even if you are including the prerequisite, just in case someone launches the .msi file without going through setup.exe's prerequisite checks. And for your case, where you don't want to offer the automatic installation, just stop including the prerequisite.
Related
I have a setup project which, as a prerequisite, requires the .Net 4 framework installed locally on the target machine. I specify the install location for prerequisites as "download prerequistes from the same location as my application" resulting in the dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe being added to the installer (since the target machines we install to are not connect to a network, i.e. standalone).
I'd also like the installer to recognise it needs to install any updates of the .Net 4 framework to the standalone target machine if required. What is the best way to accomplish this?
Thanks in advance.
If you know what updates are required, the simplest way to do it is probably just to create new bootstrapper packages for the standalone updates, and add them as additional prerequisites. There's more info on that here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429.aspx
Before starting my application (on Form Load) I want to check and ensure that the .NET framework (3.5 or higher) are installed on the machine - if not I want to prompt the user to download and install it (simple MessageBox with a INTERNET LINK to the Microsoft WebPage would be the best idea no?)
So, this actually entails two questions...
a) How do I DETERMINE IF .NET FrameWork 3.5 or higher are installed? (I don't trust or want to just look for the C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET folder, seems error-prone no?)
Seeing as this is so very crucial there must be a nice way in C# to determine what version of .NET the user has running on his machine? I just have no clue how..
b) HOW do I paste an INTERNET LINK (hyperlink?) in a MessageBox? So that if the user does NOT have the .NET framework (1.1 or 2.0) installed I can have them simply click on the link to go download it?
Any help/hints would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Din
a) You would have to bootstrap the program with a non .NET language (C++, VB6, etc) instead of Form_Load (other posters are correct - if the framework isn't installed, the .NET program won't run). An example is here:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/mcpp/DotNetTester.aspx
b) You can't put a hyperlink in a MessageBox, so you would have to create your own popup dialog (a form). EDIT: That form / dialog would have to be in the bootstrap program.
You can not do this from your application. The application will fail to start.
One option you can do is make a ClickOnce installation that will verify that .NET is installed.
You can't do it in .NET because that would require .NET in the first place. However, you can create a native application that will perform the check than launch your .NET application. This post explains how to detect the .NET framework version.
Your code will not run without the framework so you will not be able to show the dialog box.
This check should be done on install.
So you want to make a .NET application that checks if .NET is installed on the machine?
If .NET Framework is not installed, how do you suppose that program manages to start up in the first place?
This question makes no sense.
The author wants to be able to detect if the .NET Framework 3.5 installed but offer a link to .NET Framework 1.1 and/or .NET Framework 2.0. Besides the fact you could easily just build a setup project that does exactly this just like Paint.net does ( although they do have a bootstrapper ) you would want to make sure the correct version of the .NET Framework is installed.
If the only thing that is installed is .NET Framework 1.1 and you didn't install the .NET Framework 4.0/3.5 for your user you would have a serious problem.
If your pushing .NET Framework 4.0 then your not helping your fellow programmers.
Let's say, I have a .NET 2 installed. Can I programmatically install version 4 using .NET 2?
Of course you can. Include the required installation package and then Process.Start, or even better: make a setup and deployment project for your application and set a launch condition to .NET 4.0 so that when someone tries to install it it will verify the presence of .NET 4.0 and if not ask to install it:
Remark: in the screenshot set .NET 4.0 as launch condition (step 4)
You can do this (just shell out to installer MSI and msiexec.exe), but there are things like lock downs and other security issues to consider. But it's better practise to tell the user to install it and then install your program. Your installer will need to be .net 2.0 code to do this.
Sure. Just start the installer process.
Process.Start("dotnetfx.exe");
I built an application for version 4 of the framework. When I try to run it it says:
In order to run the application, you have to install the following version of the .NET-framework first: v4.0 [...]
That already isn't too bad but it would be great to display a custom message, maybe even with a link to the latest version of the framework.
Is that possible?
There is no straight-forward way of customizing this message. In fact, the message about the unsupported version of the framework is coming from mscoree.dll (i.e. the version of mscoree.dll present on the system).
What you can do is write your own launcher in C++, that will first check whether the required framework version is installed, possibly display a custom message and then host the CLR inside the launcher.
If your application uses a Windows installer package (Wix) then consider listing the framework as a prerequisite, which will let the installer do the check for you and also offer the user the chance to download the framework.
It might not be the best installation mechanism, but if you create a ClickOnce installer you can set the required .NET framework for your application and it will download and install it if it's not present on the target machine.
Yes it is possible, but what platform should the message use?
You would need a bootstrapper, a wrapper that checks and then starts your App.
You could bootstrap with a .NET 2 application if you can assume that Fx2 is installed. But in the future you might see PC's that have Fx4 but not Fx2.
So you will need an unmanaged wrapper to cover the widest range of possibilities.
I have an application built with .NET 3.5. If a user runs it without having .NET 3.5 installed, I want to have control of what they see and perhaps provide a message that they can understand (with a link to .NET 3.5) versus unhandled exception stack traces. But if they don't actually have .NET 3.5 how can my application control anything?
Are you assuming that at least SOME version of .NET is installed?
You could write a small loader to be compatible with all versions to do the check.
Or if .NET is not installed, found a simple batch program (though this could easily be done in C++ if you prefer).
#ECHO OFF
SET FileName=%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322
IF EXIST %FileName% GOTO Skip
ECHO.You currently do not have the Microsoft® .NET Framework 1.1 installed.
ECHO.This is required by the setup program for MyApplication.
ECHO.
ECHO.The Microsoft® .NET Framework 1.1 will now be installed on you system.
ECHO.After completion setup will continue to install MyApplication on your system.
ECHO.
Pause
SET FileName=
Start /WAIT .\dotnetfx.exe
Start .\Setup.exe
ECHO ON
Exit
Tongue Tiedkip
SET FileName=
Start .\Setup.exe
ECHO ON
Exit
This might also help.
Better yet, you could use an installer technology, such as Wix or a Visual Stuido setup project, that checks during installation that all the prerequisites for you software, such as a particular .NET framework runtime exist. If not, it will install them, or at least tell the user where to get them and what to do next
You could instead consider using an installer that requires 3.5 is installed. That would prevent the app from getting to the user in the first place if they can't run it.
You need an non .NET EXE file that checks for the .NET runtimes. It could be written in anything that you know exists in the target PC. For example, if targeting Windows 2000 or above, you know the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime is present, so your installer could always start a Visual Basic 6.0 splash application that checks for the runtimes before starting your .NET EXE file. A better way would be to write a C++ application that didn't rely on any runtime other than the Windows APIs.