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The InstallShield development team is #2 on my list of "Those-put-against-the-wall-when-the-revolution-comes" (*). The last time I tried to use it, it was a bloated pig that would not, out of the box, create an installer for even a single EXE. You had to manually edit the MSI files it created to make them work. I spent three weeks trying to create an installer for our product using it. We had purchased the 'international' version, which was supposed to support localized installers for European and Far Eastern languages. When I discovered that we also had to spend $500 per language, we abandoned it. I replicated all of our work to that point using Inno Setup[^] in less than a single day.
(*) The number #1 spot, of course, is occupied by the Lotus Notes team.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I've used WiX (when I had the liberty to choose), but large corporations seem to go out of the way to make our lives miserable (they use #1 on your list too)
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InnoSetup is great! I've been using it for years and the only drawback is that you cannot (or maybe I missed that...) create MSI installation files with it.
Otherwise really the best (free) setup!
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I've never seen the 'inability to create MSI's' as a lack. The Windows Installer service is an overblown load of crap.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Personally I agree, however, sometimes clients or certain "stores" require an MSI to be delivered. One example? Just look at the Intel AppUp center.
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P e e v e s wrote: Does anyone know a hitman with easy payment terms? Try silkroad. Be prepared to pay in bitcoins.
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P e e v e s wrote: Does anyone know a hitman with easy payment terms?
Choose from these options:
a. John Simmons
b. Kyle
Starting to think people post kid pics in their profiles because that was the last time they were cute - Jeremy.
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VuNic wrote: a. John Simmons
I said hitman, not army.
The poltergeist is bored.
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InstallShyte by another name. It has been written, you cannot polish a turd. InstallShyte proves it. It should have been called Coprolite instead.
"I do not have to forgive my enemies, I have had them all shot." — Ramón Maria Narváez (1800-68).
"I don't need to shoot my enemies, I don't have any." - Me (2012).
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Believe me, I've looked at alternatives. There are a few good ones (most mentioned by others here), but our clients insist on using InstallShield. Their main reason is probably because it can do everything (provided you can figure out how)
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Try InstallAware. I've used it before and its pretty simple. Plus you can plug in .NET helper applications for those difficult tasks!
Hogan
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I can't believe that thing still exists. I hated used it in late 1990s.
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The scary part is that many years ago when I tried to find an alternative, they were all worse, especially when the install wasn't just copying an EXE and adding something to the start menu.
At my last company, we used NSIS, which for basic installs is fantastic, even if a little arcane.
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I think you should never try to do anything fancy in the installer. Use whatever (including the one built into Visual Studio) installation building software you want to create a trivial installer, then launch a configuration exe. That way, you can use C# to write a simple application for managing the configuration settings of your app. Launch it at the end of the installation, and let your users run it any time they want to modify the configuration settings. Way better than trying to do it in the brain dead installer.
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Now the question is would you actually be better off without InstallShield especially now that MS has taken the capability out of VS 2012 (at least that is what I have heard).
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I never looked back after first installing Inno Setup.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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