I have created a WPF application. I want to make installer file (exe) for this application.
This application also uses some other 3rd party files (bat files); which i have zipped.
I want to unzip this file while installing and set the path of unzipped dir in Path variable also.
I got a link http://www.msdotnet.co.in/2012/06/how-to-create-setup-fileexe-file-from.html#.U3GT7YGSzxp
which tells how to create a installer file.
How to achieve unzipped part and setting environment vairable while making installer?
Thanks
Take a look at wix from Microsoft.
It can be run standalone, but is great run from within visual studio. You write a small xml file detailing what you want installed, and it does the rest.
To run a zip command, use a CustomAction.
Search for Install-shield. It is old tool but having good scripting capability like what you are expecting (i.e) Unzipping the folder and dealing with path environment variable
Use Inno Setup (http://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) or NSIS (http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page).
Both are free (open source) installation systems with many possibilities and huge community around (even here on SO).
They are really easy to use (especially Inno) and they are powerful so it is easy to achieve your required functionality.
Take a look at Stall:
https://github.com/jamesqo/Stall
It's an OSS project that lets you install your app from the command line, no configuration required.
Example Usage:
stall path/to/YourApp -e YourApp.exe -i YourApp.exe
This installs your app straight to the user's computer without having to make an intermediary MSI.
If you have to unzip files as well, you may want to just consider a simple batch files that downloads the binaries + unzips the contents + runs Stall.
Related
I recently created my first Windows package for a small app I made using Kivy. I have a few questions with regard to running the app.
First, is there a way to get the app to run without a record log popping up in another window? It is just ugly and doesn't seem like something I want in my final "product".
Second, how can I run the app from my desktop? Right now I have a shortcut placed on my desktop, but if I wanted to send my app to a friend, how could I send it to them where they can simply have an icon on their desktop to click on?
Thanks!
The entire process is done in 2 steps.
Step 1: Make the windows executable files (not Python files)
You'll need to use PyInstaller to create EXE for Windows. Here's the link
https://kivy.org/doc/stable/guide/packaging-windows.html
You will notice a new folder created where all the files are kept along with the application executable file.
Step 2: Pack these into a Single Installer File (EXE you are looking for)
You can use a third part software like InstallForge to create a single package installer for these files.
This EXE file can be share with anyone and they can install the program just like any other windows software
I have created a GUI and Database for my company. I am trying to alpha test the program. I made the program so that everyone would place it on their C drive so that the file paths would stay consistent. When I email the zip folder to everyone it adds an extra folder that is causing errors to the file path (I believe the error occurs during extraction?). Does anyone know a good way to prevent this from happening? Thanks!
Although "xcopy deployment" is a valid method to deploy programs, it can come with complications, as you have discovered. Instead, you can create an actual installer program which is much more versatile.
For a lead-in on making an installer you can read Create MSI installer in Visual Studio 2017.
Make sure that the program uses locations as given in the Environment.SpecialFolder Enumeration so that it is automatically adapted for any (properly-configured) Windows installation.
Other installers are available, e.g. Inno Setup, which may offer simpler or more detailed configuration of some options like replacing or keeping older files, or installing prerequisites like a required framework version.
I have built a desktop version of my extjs app using Sencha desktop packager trial. It has created an output folder with a lot of dll files and an .exe file. The executable runs ok when i open it from within this folder but once i move the .exe outside it no longer runs. So it seems it is dependent on the other files generated along with it.
Am i doing something wrong here or is it supposed to be like this? Is it possible to get a single executable that will run on client machine?
Secondly after installation, is it possible to do automatic updates (or at least prompt for an update) based on version number?
Thanks,
You should use something like InnoSetup in order to automate the installation of the whole App directory on a foreign computer.
I have a script (a.bat) that calls 2 executables (b.exe and c.exe) and I would like to create a single exe that would call a.bat automatically.
Is it possible?
Any simple program to do this?
Ps.: Info: The Exe's do make other files that are deleted in the end
Not directly, no.
The simplest way to accomplish this with off-the-shelf tools is to use an archiver that can create self-extracting archives and allows to specify a file to run after extraction. For example, free Info-Zip tools support an autorun command. WinRAR (commercial) allows to define complex scripts with GUI.
An install engine can be used for the same purpose. For a couple of examples, there are NSIS and Inno Setup (both free).
A (relatively) more complex solution is to write a third executable that will extract payload from its resources and run the batch file. This way you have full control over what happens.
This One:Bat To Exe Converter
It has the "Include" option that can include the exe file
when the compiled exe file run
it will release it
and you can run it!
I am trying to make our SQL Server Integration Services packages as portable as possible and the one thing that is preventing that is that the path to the config is always an absolute path, which makes testing and deployment a headache. Are there any suggestions for making this more manageble?
Another issue is when another developer gets the package out of source control the path is specific to the developers machine.
If you are trying to execute your packages using Visual Studio then the configuration file path will be hardcoded in there. So if you move your project around you'll need to change the path in the package settings. To avoid this you could use the Environment variable option to store the configuration file path. Then you'll only need to change that.
For testing and deployment however you should probably use the dtexec utility to execute your packages. Make some batch files for that. Preferably one for each different environment. Here the configuration file path can be relative.
dtexec /File Package.dtsx /Conf configuration.dtsConfig
This is if you're packages are on file system. You can also store them in SQL Server. You can also store your configuration in SQL Server which may provide flexibility.
After several hours trying to make this work I found a solution here (not the best one, but it works)
Locate your configuration files (dtsconfig files) in the same directory as your solution file (.sln file)
ALWAYS open your solution by double-clicking the solution file (.sln file). This will set the ‘working folder’ to be where the solution lives, your configuration file will be read correctly
Otherwise the relative paths did not work for me.
Check out the free utility that can edit SSIS configuration file paths without BIDS:
http://ssisconfigeditor.codeplex.com/
My stock standard trick for these sorts of problems are mapping drives.
Either by using a mapped network drive or by using Subst (both methods are interchangable).
e.g. Map the location of your package to N:\ then inside your package use paths using N:\MyParentPackage.dtsx, N:\MyChildPackage.dtsx. The packages can be on totally different drives in different folders on different machines, it'll work once you map the package location to the N:\
I usually put a script along side the project files to map the drive, which maps the drive so it can be easily run before. One gotcha, if you're using subst on VISTA - Win8, map it for elevated and non-elevated.
I use the same approach for file references in Visual Studio projects. Only issue with this approach, you use to solve too many issues in your dev environment and you'll run out of drives letters.