Does Delphi have a deployment utility like VB

[bonnScott]

Where can I find a deployment utility program for my delphi projects. The thing is that I have been developing in Delhi for quite a while now (...and I really appreciate the easy of use of it all) and I was just thinking that instead of having to install the BDE each and every time on machines where the projects are supposed to run, why not have a deployment utility program bundling the project plus any needed dll or whatsoever into a cab file so that users may only launch the installation program and have the stuff up and running at the end?
If that program exists please let me know because right now I always have to create my demo programs in VB (which I do not particularly appreciate) and then go on with the real stuff in Delphi

 

[mikeEd]

If you got InstallShield with Delphi you should be able to use that.

 

[Guest_imported]

InstallShield is better than VB deployment
If you don't already installed, you must install it. It came in Delphi CD, I think.

 

[TonHu]

Hello all,

If you have ever tried InstallShield Express, that comes 'free' with Delphi, you will soon get tired of it.
- It's limited
- It BIG
- It's slow
- It's limited

If ever in need of a free setup tool, that only costs you about 1 MB of download for the base setupcompiler + source, a mere 700 kB for a GUI scripting tool, and/or 1,5 MB for the same source-base setupcompiler but with install-time pascal-scripting, look no further: InnoSetup (IS) is your destination.
It can be found on

http://www.jrsoftware.com,

and has links to ISTool (The GUI part, only without source, from

http://www.bhenden.org)

and My InnoSetup Extensions (ISX) from

http://www.wintax.nl/isx

that's the version with runtime pascal scripting (IFPS, free, from

http://www.carlokok.com),

and source, free examples, free (offline, and online/searchable) newsgroups that really work, and a faq that tells how to do the most trivial and some less trivial things in a flash, and best of all: It's written in Delphi! by the man who brought us all ToolBar 97 and ToolBar 2000, Jordan Russell (hence the jrsoftware).

Sorry for being so enthousiastic, but I'm just a very happy user for 2 years now (it has been around much longer), and I would *never* go back to InstallShit if I can avoid it! (Footprint for InstallShield 5 is around 600 kB, IS can do with 200-280 kB; the 'wizard' that takes ages to get 'initialized', pops up in milliseconds from IS)
IS beeing InnoSetup for sure!

Go and have a look! (I dont get payed by them, and also don't get any bonus, just very happy with it)

HTH
TonHu

 

[bonnScott]

Oy TonHu mate,
I followed your advice and got that Inno thing of yours . I'm just waiting to get back home to try it. I downloaded the Delphi sources and just intend to customize that thing a bit. Cheers and thanks for the tip.
Viva shareware viva open source

 

[sggaunt]

Hi
I have tried Inno as well, and short of customising it,there do seem to be some issues!

1. The installation execuatables it makes, are not that much smaller than Installshield.

2. The GUI is limited. This means working with the script, if you have spent Hours, Days , Months or longer working a major Delphi app then you might not want to start learning a scripting language before you can deploy it(or customising the installation tool).

3. No CD auto booting support, yes I know that Install shield doesnt do this either (even though the help says it does) and its easy to add yourself, but an installation tool should provide this in my opinion.

4. A major niggle, There is no facility in the GUI for adding Username and Serialnumber information, I don't even know if this is possible with the script, the help files suggest NOT.
I have spent considerable time developing a serial number protection system for my apps using installshield's ability to write this directly to the registry.
I would have to chuck all this out if I started using Inno.

On the Plus side the interface is more modern.

For now at last I will be sticking with Installshield.

Steve.

 

[TonHu]

Steve,

I can see your points, but being a Inno fan I can't resist trying to reply to your 'complaints'

1. Size: True, files are compressed one by one (by default with zlib compression), and not as one whole big chunk, so compression is 'less than optimal', although it is nearly as compact as winzip compression. If you select bzip compression, and/or have larger files to install, your milage will be much better, I got a 25% smaller setup.exe on some huge (8 MB, 18 MB) DLL's I have to install.

2. GUI: I told you ;-) get ISTool, the link is on the third party page, it supports all the options of the current Inno version (2.0.18), and it makes handling options for groups of files a snap. To me it did what Delphi did to Turbo Pascal ) I wanted to develop more in it!

3. CD Booting: What installer has that?, or sh(/c)ould I ask: What commercial installer has that??? And we're talking about free software here... This is a feature I also missed, so I wrote a tool for it called IASScript, and it can be found on my 'dumpster' page

http://www.ath.myweb.nl

There are better alternatives with fancy menu's etc, but I prefer my own tool, and this does what I need, supporting all the features available in the autorun.inf file.

4. Username/Serialnumber: This can quite easily been done in ISX, what can bee seen of as 'InnoSetup Advanced'. It has : (main features only, from the top of my head)
- Pascal Scripting support
- Custom wizard pages
- External DLL support
- All the features available in InnoSetup ;-)
So even your setup can be quite easily re-done in Inno, if you are willing to put some time in it.

Some other points of info:
In the newsgroups supporting Inno, there are more than a few people that converted from InstallShield to Inno, and, like me, never want to go back. Main reasons mentioned:
- Easy to get started
- Lean and mean
- Great support
- Single-file setups (unlike Ishield Express)
- It's free!

There is a new major version (3.0) planned, so the current version will only get bugfixed, when needed. The current 2.0 will still be supported, and conversion to newer version is usually painless. Requested features are available on the webpage,

http://www.jrsoftware.org

(I wrote .com before, sorry).

I'm not trying to convert nor convince anyone, just hope I can shine some light on this somewhat religious matter.

If you feel a need to have more info or inside information, please join the newsgroup and it has a webinterface also. I know InnoSetup can't be everything to everybody, but this one comes close to that kitchen's sink we all seem to have heard of... ;-)

Grtz,
TonHu

 

[sggaunt]

Thanks for that TonHu.

I did download ISTool as the link to the main site was wrong (as you said).

I have just downloaded ISX and will give that a go.
My comments were just first impressions, I alway stand to be corrected.

The bootable CD thing, I don't mean a Cold booting CD that would be a bit much, simply the 2 or 3 lines of code in autorun.inf that are required to make an installer boot when you insert the CD.
e.g.

[autorun]
OPEN=setup.EXE
ICON=setup.ICO

I will try ISX. and report back only if there are problems!

Steve.

 

[footpad]

Steve,

Regarding your autorun entries, you may run into certain issues if you intended to create a "shell" program that lets the user perform multiple actions from your autorun program. For example, if you have multiples things to install (your app and the BDE, for example), be sure to name your shell's exe something other than any of the install programs you're going to call.

Put more simply: unless you're running a single setup program from your autorun, it's a bad idea to call your autorun program setup.exe.

At least under certain versions of Windows. YMMV.

Hope this helps...

-- LAnce

 

[rdaneel]

Hi,
I use INF-Tool Setup pro found at

http://www.inner-smile.com

Very happy with it, does all the stuff (CD start, Small Exe, CAB, Multilanguage, etc. etc.)

Pieter Blaauw
Netherlands

 

[TonHu]

Hallo Pieter, and others,

I also looked at INF-Tool, but it has a few downsides IMHO.
- It's not free
- There is no source available
- It has no scripting
It has a few advantages:
- It has the smallest footprint I ever saw
- It's really fast
- Cab compression is really small

Ok, I don't currently use it, but have looked at it in the past. My opinion is not important.

To Steve (sggaunt), and others interested:

ISTool doesn't create the autorun.inf for you, but an other Inno-scripter (Scriptmaker) had an option for that. But now Scriptmaker is officially 'no longer supported', and I found it to be quite a resource-hog, I didn't like it much.
The Scriptmaker autotun option gave me the inspiration to write IASScript, as is stated in my webpage, and later on I added the options to create explorer context-menu's as well... IASScript gives you among other things the option to:
(On insertion of your setup-CD)
- Run your app, when installed with InnoSetup, and further ignore the CD
- Check for the current installed version of your app, and update, with optional uninstall, your installed app.
- Show a splash-screen while your app or setup is loading
This uninstall and version information is saved in the uninstall registry entry for your app by Inno, so you should make your app uninstallable
The link to IASScript is in my earlier post.

HTH
TonHu
Netherlands

 

[bonnScott]

I have been considering the two options around for some time: (InnoSetup and InstallShield). Well with InstallShield, you can deploy database applications in Delphi provided you've got the BDE Module stuff that actually installs the database engine to the target computer. InstallShield will just bundle the BDE Module to the final installation program. I intend to use Paradox tables to support my database as they can be connected to using TTable objects with dirty path strings. My question is : Instead of checking all those setting out ( Have I got the BDE Module -if not download it; Does my InstallShild support that Module ...and so on and so forth) does InnoSetup cater for all those needs and provide me with an installation program that will bundle in toto my application, database + database engine so that the target computer needs only install my application once and stay out of trouble for the rest of time? (...it would be a real treat if it could also manage ODBC aliases at installation)
Thanks,
BonnScott

 

[bonnScott]

Ok!
You people need not answer my last stupid question about does Inno Setup bundle BDE! I SAW THE LIGHT !!! I've just been to the website and consulted its FAQ. Now everything is so clear!
I MADE MY CHOICE AND I'M ADOPTING INNO SETUP !!!


Cheers to u all
Bonn Scott

 

[TonHu]

Hey Bonn Scott!

I told you so ;-) slike ;-) ;-)

(Sorry, 'finally' another convert, just like myself.)

Grtz,
TonHu

 

[Oppenhiemer]

Well.. The problem Im having is that the version of InstallShield that ships with Delphi 5 - does not create INterbase Aliases properly on WIndows 2000 Professional (or so it would seem.)

I tried to upgrade the version I had to the "bug-fixed" one - but the d/l secion on the web site - inists I enter a serial number - which I never had anyway . I emailed Installshield and asked for any pointers .. but so far 4 days and no reply.

I guess I will stick with Installshield for now and end up writing a low-level routine to call during post-install to manually create a BDE alias ... sigh.. ;-).

I guess the only reason I will stick with Installshield is because it can correctly install the BDE (and I would rather not do that manually - beacuse basically im lazy ;-) ).

Cheers..

Opp.

 

[BobbaFet]

dude,

everyone is lazy. no one likes to reinvent the wheel!

greetz, BobbaFet

Everyone has a right to my opinion.
E-mail me at caswegkamp@hotmail.com

http://cwcon.50megs.com/

&quot;<beer brand> is like making love in a cano...
it's <f-word + ing> close to water !!!&quot;
- Monty Python's Flying Circus, 1969/70

 

[TonHu]

Hello, Oppenheimer,

If you would InnoSetup/ISTool to install BDE for you, there are a lot of pointers in the webbesed newsgroups, you can search for BDE, and see how it could be done.
But, as you say you are lazy, it's an option ;-)

Grtz,
TonHu

 

[Oppenhiemer]

Well.. Another convert ;-). Yes - Ive seen the light. After my earlier frustrations with Installshield and the fact I could not seem to get it to install Interbase & configure it properly; I finally sat down and got to play with &quot;Inno Setup Compiler&quot;.

Well as I say, it seems to do everything that is required - and its free! IN particular - I think it comes into its own when used in conjunction with ISTooL.

One thing I have not figured out yet - is how to get the typical setup screen displayed (yu know - the graduated blue background with optional bitmap logo's.) It would appear possible - just have to play with it a bit more I think.

Cheers..

 

[sggaunt]

Afer my earlier concerns I have had a much better look at Inno + the extensions (as registry access is a must), and would like to start using it instead of Install shield.

I have what I suppose is a coding problem, I have attempted to change one of the demo projects (the one that inserts several user pages )so that it inserts a single 'user' page after the welcome page, the page itself seems to work OK, except that the Back button restarts the user page rather than going back to the welcome page.
before I start posting Code does anyone know the basic rules for back buttons, in Innoextensions.
Steve

 

[rdaneel]

Hello Tonhu,
Working sind two weeks with Innosetup and Istool instead of INF and even digged into Pascal-scripting.
I'm 100% convinced this is (are) the right tool(s).
Im impressed, took me a few days to get it all in pespective but now im very enthousiastic about them. Thanks very much for pointing me into the right direction and thanks to Jordan Russell and Martijn Laan for a great and perfect tool.

Pieter,
Netherlands