I am developing Winform application, using C# on .NET 4.0, which need to install scripting langue(s) based on the user selection. What is the best way to detect if a particular scripting environment/Engine for a given langue(Ruby, python, Perl, etc) is installed on client machine and silently install it if not already installed.
Though I agree with idea that a truly "silent" install might not be desirable for the users, there are many different installer packages that support silent installation.
This page actually has a good breakdown of the various installers and the command arguments needed to do unattended and silent installations. I am more familiar with MSI and it has lots of options.
So if you go this route, you'd fire up a Process (uh, Task I guess in C# 4) and run an installer.
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I have developed one windows application in C#.Net (stand-alone application). It is basically a Image processing application.
While developing this application I have used Dev-Express controls for better performance. Now I have created the setup file of that application and tried to install it on few machines for testing purpose, while doing this I found that this application is getting install successfully on those machines which has Dev-Express installed on it, but getting failed to install on those machines which do not have Dev-Express setup.
So my question is- "How can I solve this problem..?". Because, as Dev-Express license copy is very costly, "I don't know whether my client will afford it or not". Please Help..!!
You do not need to a separate license for the distribution (see the Licensing FAQ for more information).
However, you need to distribute the corresponding DevExpress runtime assemblies, because they obviously are not installed on clients' machines. This approach is common for distributing 3-rd party products. Consult the DevExpress support for further clarification.
I am developing a GTK# mono application under openSuse, but I am interested in deploying it for all three platforms (Windows 7, Snow Leopard and as many Linux distributions as I can test on).
Deploying on Linux is not a problem as GTK# comes with the mono libraries, but for Windows I would not like to force the users to install GTK#. Is there a way to embed GTK# in the application, or at least integrate its installation with the installation of my program?
You may deploy GTK# applications without forcing users to install GTK# for .NET on Windows in a number of ways.
You may embed the entire Mono runtime (19 MB overhead) into your Application. Then there won't be any dependencies, your users won't even need to install .NET or MONO. Here's a Guide (I think Banshee uses this).
You may copy all the GTK# assemblies into your program directory. It isn't recommended however because you may run into a lot of problems if the user has another version of the Gtk runtime installed. (Yes GTK+ also needs a runtime).
You may integrate the GTK# installer with the Windows Installer of your application. (Then your users will be able to install both with a single click, no forcing). Many Installer programs can do this.
You may use a Package Management System.
You may use Deployment Management / Dependency Management Software, but this is expensive since all the good ones are propriety.
Though these workarounds can save trouble for your users, in the long run I recommend option 3. It may prove worthwhile to have your users install GTK# because other workarounds may ultimately give more inconvenience to your users than a simple extra installation.
We have developed an ASP.Net/C#/SQL Server application and use SetupBuilder (from LinderSoft) and MSI for software installation purposes.
We are having all sorts trouble with the MSI component - in that installations regularly fail and we appear to have limited control over the MSI interface/process.
Are there any installation tools that give us more control over the MSI install process and can anyone recommend a better set of tools for software deployment purposes?
WIX provides a lot of control in creating MSI's.
Takes a bit of learning but we have used it for creating MSI's in our projects and it has worked for all of our needs.
From their site:
The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows
installation
packages from XML source code. The toolset supports a command line
environment that developers may integrate into their build processes
to build MSI and MSM setup packages
Sorry for the generic answer, but if you could provide more details regarding the errors that you are facing or exactly what areas you want to be able to control, then might be able to throw some light on it.
Most asp.net applications i've ever used have had a partly manual installation process, eg they ask you to create a sql server database and user, then copy the application in and update the web.config to reflect the sql user, then create the IIS application manually, and any further installation (eg creating the db schema) is handled automatically by the app the first time you use it.
It's always seemed acceptable to me, so long as everything is documented well i've been happy to accept it, worth considering?
I guess it depends upon the expected technical skills of your target user base...
I want to make an advanced installer for my C# application. |I want my application continue its installation after the pre-requisites been installed.
My scenario is:
myApplication requires .net Framework 2
it redirects the user to the Microsoft website.
the user installs the framework.
the installation requires to restart the PC.
STOPPED INSTALLATION
After this step (after restarting) I want myApplication to continue the installation (go to the last stage of the installation)
Any suggestion on how I do this ?!?!
I would suggest taking a look at the nullsoft install system. Use the Modern UI theme and the DotNET macro (http://nsis.sourceforge.net/DotNET). That's everything that you are looking for prebuilt, for free, and you can be up and running with very little effort.
I've had experience releasing applications with this route and it works very well.
Things like InstallShield, or one of the other installer creation tools would be able to handle the pre-requisite side of things for you. If you want to roll your own, then you could check for the framework, perform the various steps you mentioned to install it, then add you setup application to the RunOnce registry key so it starts again on startup.
Looking at something that would handle all the pre-requisites etc for you would be my choice though :-)
Install in this order:
Install the .NET framework
Install your app.
Restart if needed.
You can create an installation project in VS2005/8 to handle installing your app and any needed dependencies.
Are you aware that your compiled c# app itself will do this? The bootstrapper compiled into a .Net exe will contain a redirect to get the framework with a working link to the microsoft website.
I'm looking to spend a bit of my lunch break each day teaching myself some C#. I have access to some books on the subject via my employer-paid Books24x7 subscription, but I have no way of running code while I'm at work.
My work PC is rather locked down (no admin privileges, read-only "Program Files" - though install to a desktop-based folder is possible, and USB thumbdrives are forbidden..), so I'm looking for another way to compile some code.
Can anyone point to:
* A web-based compiler (binary download from a known-good site, or possibly a web-based CLI to interact with non-GUI apps)
* A standalone compiler requiring no-install
* A compiler which does not require admin right to install.
Thanks!
[Edit 1]
I suppose another reason why I mentioned the web-based compiler first was that I'm not sure which version(s) of the .Net framework might be installed on my work machine. We do absolutely no .Net work on my project so there's no reason to believe there's anything more than what came with XP. If there's a way to install the latest version without admin privileges, I'd love to hear it!
If you have the .Net Framework installed on your computer, then you should already have a compiler.
It will be in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\[VERSION]\
It's called csc.exe.
This should work without any administrator priviledges.
There's ideone.com.
It can compile and server-side run several languages that usually require the language to be installed on the client's PC. For me, I can write and run any C# applications without having Visual Studio or the latest .NET Framework installed.