Building myapp Installer

[newtofoxpro]

I am using InnoSetup now. It's working well. Being not expert I cannot use it well.
I want...
When User run Setup.exe
Screen (1) : Should Show What setup is going to install. i.e. Info about myapp.
Screen (2) : Which Edition User want to Install? <Single/MuliUser> (Radio-Button)
In Case Single-User
Screen (3) : It should Ask for <Application Directory> ? And then Installl...
In Case of Multi-User
Screen (4) : Client Machine/Server Machine (Radio-Button)
In Case of Client Machine
Screen (5) : 1. It should Ask for <Application Directory>
2. <Name/Ip> of Server Machine (It should save this info in TXT file)
And then Installl...
In Case of Server Machine
Screen (5) : It should Ask for <Application Directory> ? And then Installl...

Now. my InnoSetup script using Fonts, mscomm32.ocx, VFP9-Runtime files, Excel file for Automation, Creating Desktop Icon. etc.

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Ref.thread :

http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?pid=184&fid=4429

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Another trick is to build these all functionality with Vfp9 itself. i.e.
When user Run Setup.exe (Build with InnoSetup above Ref.) it should not ask anything, any screen, It should install all Vfp9-Runtime in Silent Mode.(Don't know how ?)

Then RUN mSetup.exe (which is developed in VFP9) and ask for above functionality.

I think this may be possible. But I don't know how to run Innosetup in silent mode without prompting any button.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

I wouldn't opt for a VFP based setup you only start via a innno setup.

You can find some samples searching VFP inno, eg

http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~InnoScripts

or

http://doughennig.com/papers/..\Pub\Inno Setup.pdf.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Mike Lewis]

I don't know how to run Innosetup in silent mode without prompting any button.

If you are sure you don't need the user to seen the prompts, you can run your Setup program in Silent or VerySilent mode.

Silent mode means that no prompts are displayed, that is, the user does not see the setup wizard. The only thing that's visible is the progress window, that is, the list of steps that the wizard performs; there is no user interaction.

VerySilent mode means that not even the progress window is displayed.

To run the setup program in these modes, add either [tt]/SILENT[/tt] or [tt]/VERYSILENT[/tt] to the setup program's command line. You can add these parameters, for example, to the shortcut that launches the setup program.

For more information, see

http://www.jrsoftware.org/ishelp/index.php?topic=setupcmdline

Mike



__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[newtofoxpro]

@Olaf. I agree this would be the best solution. If I build everything with innno setup only. But I will have to learn many-more things of inno-setup. I am already friendly with vfp which has ability to build required functionality. So 1st I would try for inno+vfp setup. Thank you very much for your advice.

@Mike. I wish to try your advice. Unfortunately, /SILENT or /VERYSILENT can only work with setup.exe /silent. It does not work inside the setup. Further reading of help file. I found there is Disable* directives in [Setup] section which is useful to me. For example. DisableFinishedPage=yes, DisableStartupPrompt=yes, DisableReadyMemo=yes, DisableReadyPage=yes etc., I tried those directives and I found the setup shows. 1. Welcome Page <Next>. 2. Ask for Folder <Next> Setup starts installation of all runtime files & other (Excel) files. And it starts mSetup.exe (which is developed in VFP9. Because I have added mSetup.exe in [Run] section. Thank you.

Please give me more time for some experiments.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Are you saying that you want most of the setup wizard to be visible, and just the part that installs VFP runtimes to be silent? I don't understand why you want to do that. Installing the runtimes doesn't require any action or feedback on the users' part. They will simply see a message indicating that the installation has been successful.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[newtofoxpro]

@Mike, Sorry for confusion. How would you use /SILENT or /VERYSILENT ? As I understood, /SILENT works with setup.exe like passing parameters. I will have to use at command prompt < setup.exe /SILENT > what I tried.

Best Regards.

 

[Mike Lewis]

How would you use /SILENT or /VERYSILENT ?

Look for the shortcut or command line that launches Setup.Exe. I don't know how you do that, but you presumably give the users some user-friendly way of doing it. It might be a shortcut on the user's desktop of Start menu; or it might be done via the Autorun feature of a CD; or you might tell them to type a command at the command prompt.

Either way, there will be a command to launch the program. If it's a shortcut, the command will be in its properties (the "target", which is on the Shortcut page of the properties sheet. The command will be the name of the program (Shortcut.Exe) probably preceded by the path. All you have to do is to edit the command. Add a space, and then either /SILENT or /VERYSILENT, according to your choice.

Now, when the user launches the setup, they will not see the wizard, and they will not be required to respond to any prompts.

Does that answer your question?

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[newtofoxpro]

Thanks again for detail explanations.

http://www.jrsoftware.org/isfaq.php#silent

 

[Olaf Doschke]

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).

That's very true. Such per se silent installations can be abused to make a malware installation, too, of course.

On the other side malware surely also doesn't want to appear under Programs and Features to be simply deinstallable, if it isn't software appearing to be useful, eg a fake antivirus scanner, adware asking you to pay a full version after listing some fake findings.

Command line switches for silent installation are quite common, With msiexec.exe /Quiet some.msi you can also install MSIs silent. Typical for silent installs are answer files handling the questions of the setup, so you provide default answers the user would have made in interactive mode. There are Prolib VFP Runtime installers, but the documentation readme.txt describing silent install and the needed answer file is missing. MS has provided these installers (though they weren't made by MS themselves) in the code gallery, which is not exisitng anymore. You might still find the installers at some FTP serer or blog by googling VFP runtime installer or setup

Bye, Olaf.