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Thinking about buying Visual Studio 2008

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kyrathaba:
I'm giving serious thought to purchasing either the Standard or Professional edition of Microsoft Visual Studio.  I've been working with the Express edition for C# for a long time, but I'm frustrated by its lack of deployment features.  I've tried Inno Setup and actually got it to work after much research and headache (mostly user-difficulty, I'm sure).  What I'm looking for is a version of the studio in which I can (1) produce C# applications, and (2) will allow me to package my finished application into a standard Windows installer.  Can anyone in the know give guidance on which version offers these and the best possible price on that product?  I've visited several sites, including Microsoft's official site, but have had a really frustrating time trying to get email responses to my queries, and their documentation of features is so wordy I'm not sure what I'm reading.

So, to recap, I want a Visual Studio IDE that had the ability to package my applications into a standard Windows installer.  Also, it should have the ability, within the installer, to detect whether or not the end-user's computer has the required .NET Framework version, and install it if needed.

Deozaan:
I'm not sure about the answers to your questions, but be sure to look for those occasional deals by Microsoft where they offer full version software for a discount or for free (for students or members of the military, for instance).

mouser:
i dont know if you should confound the issue of installer tool with your choice of IDE.
(personally there are a lot of us who are not happy with the MSI installer system).

sounds like what you really want is an installer which can detect if the user needs to install .net and help them do so.  i use inno and as much as i like it, its a travesty that such things are so hard to do with it.  but there must be other free install makers that can do this (and no doubt there are ways to do it using helper utilities and inno setup).

personally i think the only plausible explanation for why its so hard to detect and help users install .net is a massive conspiracy within microsoft to destroy the company from within -- because surely the only other explanation requires a level of stupidity that humans don't normally possess.

CWuestefeld:
Count me as a hater of support for installation even in the platinum (or whatever they call it) edition of VS.Net. One possibility is Advanced Installer, which has a free edition. It was recommended to me here, but I never actually tried it myself.

Advanced Installer

kyrathaba:
@ CWuestefeld:

Thanks for that link to Advanced Installer.  In reading over its feature list, it appears to have what I want:

If your application needs some other software to be installed in order to run, you can easily specify them as Prerequisites. Advanced Installer will search for them, then download and install as necessary. This is an easy way to install frameworks like JRE or .NET, browsers or database engines.

Searching for applications, files, folders, registry keys and INI entries is also provided. Using this, installing additional files, extensions and plugins to existing applications becomes trivial.


--- End quote ---


@ Mouser:

sounds like what you really want is an installer which can detect if the user needs to install .net and help them do so.  i use inno and as much as i like it, its a travesty that such things are so hard to do with it.
--- End quote ---

Yeah, that's really what I need: a Windows installer, simple interface that doesn't require me to read a manual or attend seminars to learn how to use it, and that can optionally install .NET if needed on the end-user's computer.  I share your annoyance with Inno Setup.  I recall a thread from months ago wherein several of us were discussing its (to me, at least) cryptic script.  I did finally get it to work in order to create an install for my Crocus Contacts program, but I'd not care to repeat that exercise.

To be honest, I think Visual C# Express 2008 (which is free) has all the functionality that I personally need for the type of projects I've ever undertaken or are likely to undertake in the future.  So, if I can find the right installer I'll be all set.  Sounds like Advanced Installer may be what I'm after.  I'll investigate further.


I have another question, about wireless printers, but I guess it belongs in a different forum.

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