Distributing Shrinkwrap .NET Winforms Apps

11 Oct 2005 9:35 PM

Andrew

Is there a "nice" opaque way to distribute shrinkwrap .net windows forms
applications so that the necessary framework is quietly installed when my
setup or msi file is run?... if the user doesn't already have .net
installed...

Sorry, I'm pretty ignorant of msi and deploying such .net apps, so any
pointers to reference material would be appreciated.

12 Oct 2005 12:13 AM

Nick Z.

I am interested in that as well.

I know that if you decide to include the .NET installer in your setup,
setup size will get out of hand, so thats not an option really (for most
developers at least).

The best approach that I could think of is point your setup to an online
repository for the 'extra stuff' needed to install the framework and
make the setup download and install the component if needed. To achieve
this you will more likely than not need some setup deployment package
like InstallShield (if anybody can suggest other's with such
functionality, please do). I don't think the usual Visual Studio Setup
Deployment Project (?) will do such thing. You could add a custom action
I guess to prompt for and download the framework, but this could mean
introducing new issues (firewalls and that fluff) to the installation
procedure, not to mention the time it would take to develop such a
script. The best way is probably to purchase a deployment package...

Nick Z.

Andrew wrote:

Show quote

> Is there a "nice" opaque way to distribute shrinkwrap .net windows forms
> applications so that the necessary framework is quietly installed when my
> setup or msi file is run?... if the user doesn't already have .net
> installed...
>
> Sorry, I'm pretty ignorant of msi and deploying such .net apps, so any
> pointers to reference material would be appreciated.

12 Oct 2005 6:10 AM

Marc Scheuner [MVP ADSI]

>Is there a "nice" opaque way to distribute shrinkwrap .net windows forms
>applications so that the necessary framework is quietly installed when my
>setup or msi file is run?... if the user doesn't already have .net
>installed...

Sure - see these two sites for more info on the idea of a ".NET
bootstrapper".

Visual Studio .NET Bootstrapper
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/bootstrapper/

dotNetInstaller - Setup Bootstrapper for .NET Application
http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/dotNetInstaller.asp

Marc
================================================================
Marc Scheuner May The Source Be With You!
Berne, Switzerland m.scheuner -at- inova.ch

13 Oct 2005 7:06 PM

Phil Wilson

and this.....

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=cd11be5a-c735-48d9-9cdd-a6d211c2e1c1&displaylang=en

--
Phil Wilson [MVP Windows Installer]
----

Show quote

"Marc Scheuner [MVP ADSI]" <m.scheuner@inova.SPAMBEGONE.ch> wrote in message
news:06apk1hqa7jcjigmk1av6l34t65lomde59@4ax.com...
> >Is there a "nice" opaque way to distribute shrinkwrap .net windows forms
>>applications so that the necessary framework is quietly installed when my
>>setup or msi file is run?... if the user doesn't already have .net
>>installed...
>
> Sure - see these two sites for more info on the idea of a ".NET
> bootstrapper".
>
> Visual Studio .NET Bootstrapper
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/bootstrapper/
>
> dotNetInstaller - Setup Bootstrapper for .NET Application
> http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/dotNetInstaller.asp
>
> Marc
> ================================================================
> Marc Scheuner May The Source Be With You!
> Berne, Switzerland m.scheuner -at- inova.ch