I have an existing exe file which I would love to have launched from a new installer using the OpenCandy platform.
See here: http://www.opencandy.com/developers/signup/ for OC's integration options. Maybe it could be in the form of a downloader? Or maybe it could just be a fairly empty installer that has OC's api integrated and then will open an embedded exe (all I have is the exe).
Thanks.
You can download our SDK at http://media.opencandy.com/sdk/OpenCandyPublisherKit.zip, which includes instructions for integrating OpenCandy. If you have any questions, there's also a contact address in there.Basically you create an installer (like NSIS or Inno) to install your app/exe and integrate OpenCandy into it.
Be well and good luck integrating!
Dr. Apps
Software Community Guru
OpenCandy
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I have a folder containing an exe file and a bunch of other files and a couple other folders. I want to be able to either:
A) Package this all into an installer
or
B) Package the exe and the other files into one singular exe file.
From what I've read, I'm not sure how I'd accomplish either of these with WIX, and I'm 99% sure it's not possible with WIX. Before I dismiss the possibility, I'd like to ask experienced people if I'm right or wrong.
If I can't use WIX, Is there a better alternative?
Thanks for all help.
WiX / Burn: WiX / Burn can indeed make MSI installers or setup.exe wrappers, but it is not trivial to use the toolkit for inexperienced people, and if you have never made a setup before there will be a learning curve. WiX quick start tips.
Burn: Burn is the WiX toolkit's bootstrapper / downloader / chainger tool which allows multiple MSI or setup.exe files to be run in sequence. It allows the creation of a setup.exe which wraps all installer components. Not trivial to learn and use.
Commercial Tools: Quick descriptions of commercial tools Advanced Installer, InstallShield, PACE Suite and some other tools can be found here: Brief descriptions of deployment tools.
And a more elaborate presentation: How to create windows installer.
WIX is highly configurable, and therefore requires some overhead to learn, but it is also very well documented, and gives pretty direct access to windows API's, which are also very well documented.
Packing Existing Files
It is 100% possible to package your files + dependencies into an installer with WIX.
There is a tutorial
Building and Packaging
There is also integration with Visual studio, allowing you to build and run WIX as part of your build.
If you are not using visual studio, that is fine, you can package things with WIX directly, here is
Another tutorial
GUI Installer Creators
If you are completely against the idea of creating your own WIX files and learning the tool set, Advanced installer is a pretty vanilla alternative with a nice GUI
If you really are against making any kind of installer, you can also zip everything up and distribute it that way, can possibly automate this using python.
I created a program in vb.net in vb language. After that I created an installer (.msi) for the same in Advanced Installer program. I installed it on the computer and everything seems professional.
I copied the folder that contains the program and all its dependees and sent to to a different computer. I was surprised that the application (.exe) file works without installation!!
How can I make my application works only with installation?
Appreciate the help.
Advanced Installer has a licensing module that works for VB.NET apps too, which you can easily integrate into your installer.
However, this is in the Enterprise edition, and I assume you are using the free edition, as this sounds like quite a simple application/installer.
In this case you can try looking for an alternative OSS solution for a licensing/trial library.
Basically with this library every user that needs to use the software will need a key to activate it, so even if they copy the folder with the application files from Programs Folder, they will still not be able to run your app.
I built an application in c#. I published it using the publish option in the visual studio 2010 IDE. I have not used anything fancy in it, its a simple app with a couple of table layout panels. But each time i install it somewhere the app is trying to download the full framework 4.0 in which ever machine i install it.This is very irritating especially since i have not done anything very fancy here. Kindly help me on this problem.
Also i am open to anyother build tools to package my application and install it easily anywhere.
You can edit which prerequisites are set to install when your application is installed by going to the projects properties, going to the publish tab and selecting "Prerequisites".
setup and deployment project template is missing in my installtion is there any alternate for that are please let me know the download link from msdn...
Have a look at the very similar questions that have already been asked
Free software for building Windows installers
What is the best choice for building Windows installers?
What is a good choice for installing .NET programs?
Looking for a Windows Installer product
What is the best Windows installation file creator
Recommend a Windows packaging and deployment app
An Alternative would be the NSIS Installer.
P.s.: Yes, I've read his question...
we are looking to automate an MSI generation for a product we are developing. Currently we have MSBuild building out the source to a network location, this is fine for testing but when it comes to releasing the software we will need to wrap it in an MSI.
The software is all .Net bar 1 COM component that will need registered on each machine it gets installed to.
What I was wondering was how to integrate Wix with MSBuild so that a new wix script will get generated along with an MSI that is able to handle fresh and upgrade installs.
Any help with this is very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Brendan
Sure, there are tasks in MS Build that can do all you need to build an MSI from WiX. Can you integrate this on a build / integration server?
Newer builds of Wix actually include a file called "wix.targets", which should get you started.
Also check out these fine articles on the topic:
Building with Wix.Targets (by Heath Stewart)
Wix Target for MSBuild (by Willem Meints)
Automate Releases With MSBuild And Windows Installer XML (by Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi) (Web archive link for archived msdn magazine)
They cover the topic in much more detail and are extremely helpful to get started.
You should download and install Votive. This will create a Visual Studio project file which you can use with MSBuild to create a WiX-based MSI.
There is also a topic in the WiX manual about how to integrate with MSBuild called Using WiX with MSBuild.