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What is the best installer to use. 2

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JohnStep

Programmer
Apr 19, 2000
190
US
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Which is the best package application to use for a project?&nbsp;&nbsp;Regular package and deployment with VB6, Wise, or Installsheild?<br><br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;John Stephens
 
Nothing, as far as I can tell, Eric. After my disappointing brush with Install Shield, I'm beginning to cherish the simplicity of the Package and Deployment Wizard.

Why should Setup have to modify the registry or distribute files to various places on a hard drive? A smart app can do that on the first run.

Still... there are occasions when an &quot;unattended&quot; or &quot;silent&quot; install would come in handy....
VCA.gif

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
 
I was in a situation where I had to compile the app, modify the (physical) EXE with another app and then add it back into the distribution.

I think Wise (at least the version I had) would require that your modification step be performed before you started packaging. IOW, it had no capability for a &quot;Pre-package&quot; or &quot;Post-package&quot; step to be defined.

If you were modifying the EXE as part of the application (like, tweaking the EXE to insert a serial number or something), Wise does support this, but I've never done it. I think it requires writing a custom &quot;C&quot; Dll to insert your info in the correct spot in the EXE.

Wise has the ability to extend the setup program by writing a &quot;C&quot; DLL, which I've done. Pretty straightforward, and you have access to all the variables in your Wise script. So you potentially have the ability to do nearly anything that can be done from inside a DLL.

Chip H.
 
Thanks, Chip. I'll look into it.
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Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com
 
The VB wizard does not do a good job of updating a file when it is in use. As in MFC4.. MSVCRT... . You would not believe the palaver required to copy these files in on a reboot. Quite amazing. Wise (the cheap one) does manage this trick very nicely.
However, I've just sent a VB6 programme off to a customer and now some database thing they have got does not work. I don't know if there is any connection, but it looks a bit iffy. As they know nothing whatever about the database thing, it may take a bit of time to get to the bottom of it.
 
I use the P&D wiz to get a list of dependencies, then
Inno for the actual setup. You just cant beat the price
and its not hard at all to learn how to use
Dragnut
 

Wow,
For being a thread started two years ago its sure active!!! Thanks for the information guys!

Even though its two years too late....

John Stephens
 
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