Some years ago when developing with Delphi, I used InstallShield. After doing only a very little research I have learned that, beside being considerably more expensive, there are some negative comments about complexity and bugs.
What are your recommendations for a Windows Installer for Xojo?
For what I need InnoSetup works well. If you search for that here you should find a lot of thoughts.
Best Installer is like asking what the best automobile is. It is all subjective to the individual person. I really like InnoSetup but it has one limitation that I really dislike. It wont do silent installs. Silent installs is how things like Puppet (chef, Salt Stack, Rexx, Anisble, etc) install packages on hosts. Some of the other ones (NSIS, InstallShield, etc) can do silent installs.
up to this point I have been using InnoSetup for all my windows based installs. Even for the test apps, dev versions, GA/production, everything. But I think I might teach myself NSIS so I can get the silent installer functionality. I have clients that require packages to be able to deployed via Puppet.
besides that one little thing, I really love InnoSetup.
sb
[quote=339823:@scott boss]Best Installer is like asking what the best automobile is. It is all subjective to the individual person. I really like InnoSetup but it has one limitation that I really dislike. It wont do silent installs. Silent installs is how things like Puppet (chef, Salt Stack, Rexx, Anisble, etc) install packages on hosts. Some of the other ones (NSIS, InstallShield, etc) can do silent installs.
up to this point I have been using InnoSetup for all my windows based installs. Even for the test apps, dev versions, GA/production, everything. But I think I might teach myself NSIS so I can get the silent installer functionality. I have clients that require packages to be able to deployed via Puppet.
besides that one little thing, I really love InnoSetup.
sb[/quote]
Inno Setup can run silently.
I have been using Inno Setup for years without any trouble, and I confirm, it can run silently.
From head, it has 2 options : /SilENT and /VERY SILENT
thanks everyone, looks like Inno Setup it is…
From what I’ve seen, Inno Setup and Advanced Installer are the ones most commonly used by Xojo devs.
Xojo includes a couple Inno Setup scripts to get you started:
Examples/Platform-Specific/Windows/Making Installers
Relevant doc pages:
Thom how do I do that? I havent been able to.
according to the author: http://www.jrsoftware.org/isfaq.php#silent
"Is it possible to do a silent install without using the /SILENT or /VERYSILENT command-line parameters?
No, nor is such a feature planned (it would be abused). If it is your intention to keep user interaction to a minimum, use the Disable* [Setup] section directives."
What are you looking for if the switches won’t work? It sounds like the ability to double-click an installer and nothing visibly happens, which sounds awful to me, but I’m assuming there is some value that I’m missing.
start the installer from a cmd shell with the /SILENT or /VERYSILENT cmd line switch ?
the comment you posted is how to do a silent install WITHOUT using the cmd line switch at all (which I agree would be abused)
I recall using this kind of option when installing Delphi apps, to silently install the BDE with the app.
The ‘extra installer’ was prebuilt, and called as a bundle from the main install.
VB runtimes much the same.
And although I havent got there yet, the Windows 10 bridging software requires a silent installer to convert to the UWP version, doesnt it?
the /silent (and /verysilent) option is so automated software management tools like Microsoft SCCM, Puppet, Chef, Salt Stack Rexx, etc can automagically install software on to hosts (servers, desktops, laptops, etc). Using those automated software management tools companies can deploy new software, remove the old software, do updates, etc.
so again if there is a way to use Inno Setup with the /SILENT option, I am all for hearing about it. It would make my day, hell my week. But the author of the installer suite said “Hell No” to adding that option. As he is afraid it will be used to make and distribute malware/virus/bad-stuff…
That is why many people that want to use the automated software management tools, use NSIS, InstallShield, etc. and not Inno Setup.
If there is an add-on or mod to Inno Setup so the /SILENT option is added, I am all for hearing about it.
sb
You can stop the dialogs appearing using instructions such as DisableWelcomePage , DisableReadyPage and so on.
Usually the target folders are obtained from these pages, so your script needs to use hard coded paths instead of {App} and the like, instead.
Hello @scott boss,
As far as i can see i can use Inno Setups with these automated software management tools!
The Only thing you really can’t do is double click the setup.exe (or run the setup.exe without parameters) in silent mode!
You can pass to the setup exe the /silent or /verysilent parameter via a automated software management tool. which will then install the setup silently with the setup’s “default”-path without any interaction.
for example just like the VC Runtime’s get installed (i know the vc runtime installer is no InnoSetup Installer) from the Xojo Setup Inno Sample, but if you wanted to bundle a runtime installer (Inno Setup Installer) (like the BDE example) it would be possible to run this bundled runtime installer in silent or very silent mode without showing any installation dialog.
I use this, to install the Valentina DB Runtime’s this way - using the /verysilent /norestart Parameters.
With a Self-Build InnoSetup for the x86 Bit or the x64 Bit Versions of the needed Runtimes.
(From Inside my Application Setup.)
Scott, that’s precisely what we’re saying. All Inno Setup installers automatically support the /SILENT option. The link you posted says that a silent installer WITHOUT using the /SILENT option will not be supported.