Deployment Wizards/Wrappers

[Guest]

Hello,
My question is regarding writing installation "wrappers" for .Net projects. I am considering making demos for a software package and handing them out at a conference. Therefore, I won't have any idea whether the end user has the .Net framework, MDAC, or MSDE installed. I want to write an autoexec.exe application to put on the demo CD that will check for these components, and prompt you to install them if necessary, before running the main application deployment package. This will be based on the same concept as the installation wizard that you use when installing VS.Net, where it checks for necessary components first. I know that I need to include dotnetfx, mdac, etc., and I know the switches to use when shelling out the apps. My problem is: I don't know what language to use to write this wizard/app in, and am not very "fluent" in any language other than VB.Net and C#, although I am a little familiar with VB6. I once downloaded a C++ example installation wrapper from Microsoft, but even before I tried to modify it it didn't run. I'm sure that other developers have had to do this before! Does anyone have a project with this in it, or any code, or know any reference sites I could look at? Code would be a plus, as I'm not too familiar with non-.Net languages.

Any help you can give me would be a lifesaver!
Thanks!

 

[Ken Tucker [MVP]]

Hi,

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/bootstrapper/

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...03-c4ba-4d98-bb0b-2c9d6414071f&DisplayLang=en

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320788

Ken
--------------------

 

[Guest]

Thank you SO much!!

------------------------------------
Ben Coats
..Net Developer
Newberry Pathology Associates
Newberry, SC, USA

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

My question is regarding writing installation "wrappers" for .Net
projects. I am considering making demos for a software package and
handing them out at a conference. Therefore, I won't have any idea
whether the end user has the .Net framework, MDAC, or MSDE installed.
I want to write an autoexec.exe application to put on the demo CD that
will check for these components, and prompt you to install them if
necessary, before running the main application deployment package.

My FAQ:

Using Visual Studio .NET 2003 to Redistribute the .NET Framework
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/vsredistdeploy1_1.asp>

Plug-In:

<URL:http://groups.google.com/[email protected]>

Bootstrapper:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/bootstrapper/>

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Bootstrapper Plug-In
<URL:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=627921a0-d9e7-43d6-a293-72f9c370bd19>

<URL:http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/vsboot/> (old URL)

Download
<URL:http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/...f0a23-f529-4158-8e0a-d187d16f41f1&newsId=1981>

Framework 1.1:

Redistributing the .NET Framework 1.1
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/redistdeploy1_1.asp>

..NET Framework 1.1 Deployment Guide
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/dotnetframedepguid1_1.asp>

..NET Framework 1.1 Redistributable Prerequisites
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/NETFx1Redistreq1_1.asp>

..NET Framework Redistributable Package 1.1 Technical Reference
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/dotnetfxref1_1.asp>

Framework 1.0:

..NET Framework Deployment Guide
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/dotnetframedepguid.asp>

Using Visual Studio .NET to Redistribute the .NET Framework
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/vsredistdeploy.asp>