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  3. Anybody using Installshield with .Net 2003?

Anybody using Installshield with .Net 2003?

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  • N Offline
    N Offline
    Nick Jacobs
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    What I'm wondering is if anybody has gotten the Installshield Integrated Products (Like Installsheild Express 4.0) to work within the IDE for .Net 2003. If so, how did ya do it? Nick

    J N 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • N Nick Jacobs

      What I'm wondering is if anybody has gotten the Installshield Integrated Products (Like Installsheild Express 4.0) to work within the IDE for .Net 2003. If so, how did ya do it? Nick

      J Offline
      J Offline
      joan_fl
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Im just starting to think about application deployment.. If not Install Shield.. What is everyone using? Thanks in advance, Joan

      N C 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • N Nick Jacobs

        What I'm wondering is if anybody has gotten the Installshield Integrated Products (Like Installsheild Express 4.0) to work within the IDE for .Net 2003. If so, how did ya do it? Nick

        N Offline
        N Offline
        Navin
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        InstallShield... blech. We are using our own home-grown installer. InstallShield is great if all you do are copy files and registry entries... but the more custom stuff you do, the more limiting and error-prone it becomes. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

        N 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • J joan_fl

          Im just starting to think about application deployment.. If not Install Shield.. What is everyone using? Thanks in advance, Joan

          N Offline
          N Offline
          Nick Jacobs
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          joan_fl wrote: Im just starting to think about application deployment.. If not Install Shield.. What is everyone using? Thanks in advance, Joan Joan, We've used Installshield Express here for quite some time. It does the job for us. The biggies that I've seen are Installshield and Wise. Both produce essentially the same thing (in the end). I don't know a whole lot about Wise, but for Installshield: You've got multiple versions.. IE, Developer, and more.... The Express version essentially builds you an MSI but doesn't have a whole lot in the way of customizability like it's big brothers do. (Like being able to edit text on dialogs, create additional dialogs you might need, etc). Since it's an Express version, it's also the cheapest of the big Installshield product line. Version 4.0 has new features like being able to support .Net better and being able to work in ".Net IDE" integrated mode. I've done it from within Studio.Net Pro very easily. Unforunately, it doesn't look like a standard install works within .Net/2003. At least not in integrated mode. There are other installer packages out there. Depends on just what kind of features you want to use and not use. Some are shareware, some are free ware, and some are like Installshield products. You can even do it from within the Studio.Net environment, it just looks harder than it needs to be. Hope this helps a little..... Nick P.S. I'm just an independent developer who purchases a lot of his own tools. That's also why I went with Installshield Express and not the more expensive pro versions.

          J 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • N Navin

            InstallShield... blech. We are using our own home-grown installer. InstallShield is great if all you do are copy files and registry entries... but the more custom stuff you do, the more limiting and error-prone it becomes. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

            N Offline
            N Offline
            Nick Jacobs
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Navin wrote: InstallShield... blech. We are using our own home-grown installer. InstallShield is great if all you do are copy files and registry entries... but the more custom stuff you do, the more limiting and error-prone it becomes. Forunately, our apps here are only in need of the merge modules that come with Installshield (or other places as needed) and not much more. We do have some tiny little custom stuff but not much. For what it does, it works for me. Sure, there are some items I'd like to be better (better build times for example), but that's not a requirement for what I'm doing right now. Nick

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • J joan_fl

              Im just starting to think about application deployment.. If not Install Shield.. What is everyone using? Thanks in advance, Joan

              C Offline
              C Offline
              Chris Losinger
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              InnoSetup. it's free. it works for everything i've ever needed an installer to do. and, it's free. plus, it's free and it works - for free. -c


              I'm not the droid you're looking for.

              ThumbNailer

              J J 2 Replies Last reply
              0
              • C Chris Losinger

                InnoSetup. it's free. it works for everything i've ever needed an installer to do. and, it's free. plus, it's free and it works - for free. -c


                I'm not the droid you're looking for.

                ThumbNailer

                J Offline
                J Offline
                Jeremy Falcon
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Yeah, but what does it cost? :laugh: <Jeremy runs away...> Jeremy Falcon Imputek Excrement escapes everyone - even elders.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • N Nick Jacobs

                  joan_fl wrote: Im just starting to think about application deployment.. If not Install Shield.. What is everyone using? Thanks in advance, Joan Joan, We've used Installshield Express here for quite some time. It does the job for us. The biggies that I've seen are Installshield and Wise. Both produce essentially the same thing (in the end). I don't know a whole lot about Wise, but for Installshield: You've got multiple versions.. IE, Developer, and more.... The Express version essentially builds you an MSI but doesn't have a whole lot in the way of customizability like it's big brothers do. (Like being able to edit text on dialogs, create additional dialogs you might need, etc). Since it's an Express version, it's also the cheapest of the big Installshield product line. Version 4.0 has new features like being able to support .Net better and being able to work in ".Net IDE" integrated mode. I've done it from within Studio.Net Pro very easily. Unforunately, it doesn't look like a standard install works within .Net/2003. At least not in integrated mode. There are other installer packages out there. Depends on just what kind of features you want to use and not use. Some are shareware, some are free ware, and some are like Installshield products. You can even do it from within the Studio.Net environment, it just looks harder than it needs to be. Hope this helps a little..... Nick P.S. I'm just an independent developer who purchases a lot of his own tools. That's also why I went with Installshield Express and not the more expensive pro versions.

                  J Offline
                  J Offline
                  joan_fl
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  tanks for the descriptions. im an independent developer too, though I tend to go the open source or free route first. Thanks again though.

                  M 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • C Chris Losinger

                    InnoSetup. it's free. it works for everything i've ever needed an installer to do. and, it's free. plus, it's free and it works - for free. -c


                    I'm not the droid you're looking for.

                    ThumbNailer

                    J Offline
                    J Offline
                    joan_fl
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Thanks, I like free.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • J joan_fl

                      tanks for the descriptions. im an independent developer too, though I tend to go the open source or free route first. Thanks again though.

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      mgama
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      If your requirements are open-source, free, and an MSI (Windows Installer) based setup, then I think your only option is http://izfree.sourceforge.net[^] which in my opinion is a hacky POS. There is a beta for http://www.activeinstall.com[^] which is a little awkward, and not as intuitive as InstallShield or Wise. www.installsite.org[^] has a run down & comparison of all the major commercial tools (InstallShield, Wise, and Visual Studio Installer). I threw together an article on custom actions for MSI setups a while back. http://www.codeproject.com/tips/msicustomaction.asp[^]. If needed, you could use Orca (in the Platform SDK) to modify it by hand to suit your needs. Going this route would be a lot of work on your part. If you do not need to use an MSI based setup, then InnoSetup http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php[^] would be your best bet. http://www.winamp.com/nsdn/nsis/[^] is the Winamp installer. It is free and open-source, but not as good looking as InnoSetup.

                      J 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • M mgama

                        If your requirements are open-source, free, and an MSI (Windows Installer) based setup, then I think your only option is http://izfree.sourceforge.net[^] which in my opinion is a hacky POS. There is a beta for http://www.activeinstall.com[^] which is a little awkward, and not as intuitive as InstallShield or Wise. www.installsite.org[^] has a run down & comparison of all the major commercial tools (InstallShield, Wise, and Visual Studio Installer). I threw together an article on custom actions for MSI setups a while back. http://www.codeproject.com/tips/msicustomaction.asp[^]. If needed, you could use Orca (in the Platform SDK) to modify it by hand to suit your needs. Going this route would be a lot of work on your part. If you do not need to use an MSI based setup, then InnoSetup http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php[^] would be your best bet. http://www.winamp.com/nsdn/nsis/[^] is the Winamp installer. It is free and open-source, but not as good looking as InnoSetup.

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        joan_fl
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        THANKS! I really appreciate it!

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