Do you write your own installations from scratch, rely on Visual Studio Setup projects, or use a third-party installer, such as those from Wise and InstallShield? Were you aware that you could extend Visual Studio's setup projects via custom classes? Now that you know it's possible, does the knowledge change the way you'll write future installs? What other interesting installation problems or useful techniques have you discovered while installing your .NET applications? What do you want to see in future installation articles? Let us know in the .NET Technical discussion forum.
When it comes to installations, automation beats manual intervention hands-down every time. Learn how to build custom installer classes to automate setup tasks that Visual Studio setup projects don't handle automatically.
by Anthony Glenwright
April 26, 2004
isual Studio setup projects provide a quick and easy way for end-users to deploy your application, whether it is a Web site, Windows NT service, smart client, or Web service. Even though the .NET framework introduced the idea of "xcopy deployment," for many projects it is useful (or expected) that you automate all the tasks required by your installation procedure, thus ensuring the consistency and repeatability of the installation process. When you do that, system administrators and end users gain the ability to perform the installation process without technical assistance—and you avoid the need to provide detailed end-user documentation on the process.
A standard Visual Studio setup project can copy files and create directories on the target file system, create start menus, and create registry entries. If you need to do more, you may need to implement custom actions.
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isual Studio setup projects provide a quick and easy way for end-users to deploy your application, whether it is a Web site, Windows NT service, smart client, or Web service. Even though the .NET framework introduced the idea of "xcopy deployment," for many projects it is useful (or expected) that you automate all the tasks required by your installation procedure, thus ensuring the consistency and repeatability of the installation process. When you do that, system administrators and end users gain the ability to perform the installation process without technical assistance—and you avoid the need to provide detailed end-user documentation on the process.
