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Choice of application installer?

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sunlitlaz:
I agree that the standalone unzip and run approach is best, unfortunately, when working with VB you are pretty much out of luck for standalone apps unless there is some trick I am missing.  If I had my way I'd make all of my apps standalone.

Thanks for the feedback everyone  :D

MilesAhead:
I agree that the standalone unzip and run approach is best, unfortunately, when working with VB you are pretty much out of luck for standalone apps unless there is some trick I am missing.  If I had my way I'd make all of my apps standalone.

Thanks for the feedback everyone  :D
-sunlitlaz (September 07, 2009, 03:39 PM)
--- End quote ---

VB has some baggage, but also some things easier.  Like I spent a lot of time developing a dependable "single instance" component, whereas in VB you check an option.  For ActiveX installs Inno Setup is pretty easy.  You just have to add a 'regserver' attribute to the .ocx or .dll file line and it handles registration on install and unregister on uninstall for you. Plus it has been around awhile and has its own nntp newsgroup for user-provided help.

edit: btw look around the web if you decide to try Inno Setup because I'm pretty sure I've seen tools for it that are designed for VB support.  I wouldn't be surprised if there were VB specific script generators or guis for it.

Eóin:
It's difficult to use but I always recommend WiX. Worth looking into as it's free, and there is an actively developed GUI, WixEdit.

kwacky1:
I have to second Eóin here.

My background is in application repacking with Wise Package Studio, so Windows Installer just makes sense to me.  So when it came time to create packages for my own software I couldn't go past WiX, and I recently discovered WiXEdit and it's got a lot of promise.

But I also have to agree with lanux, for simple stuff (ie. CrazyLittleFingers) you can't go past a good ol' zip.

JavaJones:
I'm not a dev so I can't vouch for it, but don't forget NSIS - the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/
Open source.

- Oshyan

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