How can I make an installer that silently downloads and installs prerequisites?_问答_开发者

How can I make an installer that silently downloads and installs prerequisites?

开发者 https://www.devze.com 2023-04-06 05:29 出处：网络

I have to make a rather complex installer for a C# add-in for Word. I\'ve been researching this for almost two days now and I still haven\'t found something that can do everything needed.

I have to make a rather complex installer for a C# add-in for Word. I've been researching this for almost two days now and I still haven't found something that can do everything needed.

The main issue here is due to the constraints regarding prerequisites. They mustn't be included in the main installer to keep it small so they'll have to be downloaded. Additionally, they have to be installed silently without bothering the user. It is ok to show a progress bar or something similar but nothing that requires user input.

After reading about the Windows Installer, Inno, bootstrapper packages and dotNetInstaller I have finally reached the conclusion that the later would be best suited for this scope. However, there's a nasty downside which I have yet to resolve: prerequisites checking.

Is there a standard way to check whether a Microsoft redistributable is installed? The add-in needs the following components:

Windows Installer 3.1
.Net Framew开发者_Python百科ork 3.5
PIA
VSTO

Furthermore, I haven't been able to find the direct URLs for these components. I'm wondering how Windows Setups in VS get them.

As a last resort I could host them somewhere to have them at a known location but I'd like to avoid that.

Furthermore, I haven't been able to find the direct URLs for these components. I'm wondering how Windows Setups in VS get them.

If your using the Visual Studio Setup Project, you can embed them into the setup, and make them required for your application to be installed.

At least for the case of Windows Installer 3.1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Is there a standard way to check whether a Microsoft redistributable is installed?

Checking the registry is a quick way.

I would first prompt the user about the downloads first because there would be an uproar if it secretly downloaded files without the users consent. It could also be used for malicious reasons if it were unsecure.

use this tool http://www.advancedinstaller.com/ for creating installer project it has the simple ui interface using which u can handel many comple scenarios in an easy way. U can purchase the tool or can use freeware edition