So here is the situation. I want to bundle Google Chrome Portable by itself. The only modification I would make is to change the default homepage, and add a shortcut link to the desktop. I also can't use the included Google Chrome installer because I would need to change the default homepage.
What should I use to make a simple installer that just unzip the Google Chrome folder into programs and create the shortcut on desktop? I don't need anything fancy like program registration or anything like that, in fact, most of my clients probably will not have installation rights on there computer.
Now my project is in Visual Studio 2008, but I am willing to use any other type of packager.
You can also try the free version of Advanced Installer, i.e. by creating a "Simple" project. There is also a five-minutes tutorial on how to create the package
I went with the WinRar SFX Archive File, with auto-run after it finishes.
Related
I'm struggling to find any method that works with current Unity.
This for a conventional Windows build (not a Windows Universal via VS).
So, there's the separate data, dll, etc files of a build: how to create a civilian-usable "single exe" for Windows, with current Unity??
As said afaik this was actually always the case.
See e.g. Windows standalone Player build binaries to see a list of resulting output of a build. It exists back until version 2017.2.
So the short answer is:
It is how it is. You will always get multiple files and the data folder as output.
What you can do however is using a pack tool which simply packs all your folder content into one single exe file.
One example is Appacker
=>
BUT unfortunately there is one known issue: Windows Defender recognizes it and every exe created with it as malware. The reason for that is actually mentioned by the author in the link
Spoiler: A self-extracting .exe file? Windows Defender hates that trick!
So either with this tool or any similar one there is no real way around that except you need to trust the tool and your users need to trust you ^^
(The icon is also only used for the process window, not for the exe file itself ^^)
The long and correct way would probably be to create an actual installer for your final app which is then allowed to extract all the files to a certain location.
So in the end the user anyway will again have an exe and according data and dll files e.g. in the Programs folder but get a registered shortcut to the Start Menu which is just how any other application on Windows usually works like.
Just to add to the answer.
In 2020 if it's a game you should just use Steam. Making auto-update way easier for your users.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted
I've been trying to install Enterprise Library 6, and it's been a pain. I tried following Enterprise Library 6: Installation and VS2012 Configuration, but I'm having issues with the powershell command. I also tried opening install-packages.ps1 and pasting in powershell, and I keep continue errors. I'm not sure if it's my machine and the restrictions it has, but I don't want to go through this installation process just for one call to a stored procedure.
I rarely use powershell, and I don't want to start learning it today. Is there a way to just download the dlls needed and add them as reference to my project?
I had already added Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data as reference, and the project builds well, but when it runs, I get an error with one of the methods. It seems that there are other dlls I need to add (Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common), among others.
I just want to download these dlls and add them as reference. I don't want to go through any installation process.
Is this possible? Thanks.
I downloaded Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ConfigConsoleV6.vsix. Then I opened in winrar, copy/pasted Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.dll to my bin folder, and added as reference to my project.
Then I downloaded enterpriselibrary.data.6.0.1304.nupkg from nuget.org and opened it with winrar. Then I copy/pasted Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.dll to my bin folder, and added as reference to my project.
I am looking to use click once to deploy an application for internal use, When publishing to the network share it creates several files and folders. (manifest, ApplicationFiles etc)
Is there a way to bundle this up as a single file, I do not fancy the idea of allowing other users access to the application Files folder that is created, I would rather just give them the exe and have it take care of everything else.
Does anyone have experience with this, or am I stuck with the application Folder, Application Manifest, and setup file all being in the same directory for installation.
There is not a way to package the whole application folder and files into one file, like an MSI with ClickOnce.
You could code something on your own to have a shell app that use ClickOnce and its only file would be your app compressed. The shell would download that compressed file to the client's machine and would unzip etc.
You could also InstallShield Limited Edition that comes with VS 2012/2013 in the Other Projects, Setup and Deployment but that does give you the ClickOnce easy of deployment features. You could use the InstallShield setup to be your compress file in your shell clickonce app and then just use Process.Start to launch the InstallShield setup. It should work.
I have a Java rich client desktop app. that I want to distribute on some computers at work, but I've never done something like this before. People aren't too computer-savy at my workplace and since it is a student job, I won't be there for much longer and I'd like it if I could make my program easy to run by making it runnable when people double-click on it.
I also don't want to have to manually install a JRE to have it run. Basically, what I'd like to know is how to make my java application runnable easily by double-clicking (even if it's only on windows, it's okay). I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to package the correct JRE version alongside, but I don't know what's the correct way of doing this.
I read on some sites that you should not package a JRE along with your program because it makes people have multiple different versions, some of which are outdated, and it causes security issues, but this is not a problem in this case since the computers that are going to run my application are not connected to the internet and are only used to run this program anyway.
Somewhat related question: Since my application is currently an Eclipse project, I get my resources such as icons, images, SQLite database (for read and write), etc. using relative paths (e.g.: img/test.png).
Am I going to have to change any of those paths to have them keep working even while packaged?
What you're looking for is a JAR file. In eclipse, it's quite easy to make a Jar file. Specifically, you'll want to right click on your project, go to Export, and then select "Runnable Jar." Be careful with paths to folders. You may need to keep a resources folder next to the Jar file. You may need to provide some more specifics to get an exact answer on that. Typically, a Resources folder is located in the same spot as the JAR file (in the same folder on your computer).
A better option for easy install of a Java app. with a GUI is to launch it using Java Web Start. For the user, JWS is the 'one click' installation option that can (install & launch the app. then) add desktop shortcuts and menu items. A JWS launch would mean some more work for you, but it is a breeze for the end user.
To ensure a suitable JRE is present to run the app., use deployJava.js (see the JWS link for more details). The script would need to be reconfigured to get the JRE installer from your local network - the default is to get it from Oracle.
Most of the resources should be packaged in Jar files and supplied along with the app., but for the DB, use the JNLP ExtensionInstallerService to call the DB installer.
..Java Web Start is kind of a link (or I can make it a shortcut on the desktop) that the users will click to either install the JRE and run the program if the JRE isn't installed, or just run the program if the JRE is present on the computer.
The way it would work is to have a web page on the local intranet. When the user visits the page, the script checks for a suitable JRE.
If it is present, it writes the link to the launch file.
If there is no JRE, or the version is too low, it will guide the user through installing it (just a matter of them clicking 'OK' when prompted). Then it will put the link to the app.
I can then configure the link to grab the JRE from the server on our network.
That's the part where you need to reconfigure the script. AFAIR the script exposes an URL at which to look for JREs - that can be changed to point to a place on the intranet.
..So "Web" is only just in the name, the computers don't have to be connected to the internet to have this work, right?
Yes. JWS is a great launch technology for Java rich clients, but is a poorly chosen name.
To make the problem run by double clicking it you can distribute it as a jar file or a batch file to call the jar file.
For the installation part you can make a batch file that checks if java is present and then call the installer if it isn't.
Edit:
The batch code:
IF DEFINED JAVA GOTO ok
java-installer.exe
GOTO end
:ok
your-application.jar
:end
If you are finding it tough to implement the above mentioned methods. You can proceed with this simple approach.
Create a folder lib at a location. Place all the jars that your application uses into this. If you are able to create a jar for your application, you can very well place your application.jar into the lib folder too. Create a batch file at the same location that will contain the java command for your main class in it. The text within your batch might look something similiar to this :
set path="\lib\"
java -cp %path% package1.package2.MainClass
If you have any other dependencies, for ex: if you use images in your code under img/icon.jpg. Then you just have to shift the img folder to this location too.
Just zip these files using winrar and share it across. Running the batch file after extracting the zip would launch your java MainClass irrespective of the location in which it is placed in the client system.
PS : If you are unable to create a jar for your application and placing it in lib folder, just copy your bin folder with class files and paste it in the location and change the batch file accordingly to look for classes inside bin.
I've written an HTA file frontend for our web app that allows the web app to run without web browser status bars etc, and allows it to access the local system for certain tasks.
I need a way to deploy this to customers. I need an installer to supply an hta file, an ico file, and add a link to them in the start menu and on the users desktop. I looked at building an installer with NSIS, but I couldn't figure out how to assign the icon to the shortcuts - The icon had to be a standard HTA one.
Can this be done with NSIS, or should I be using another installer?
P.s. I've got no particular preference for NSIS, it's just something I once used a very long time ago. When I download stuff, I think I prefer them to be msi files that launch with windows installer (it feels more like downloading a .rpm or .deb on linux which I am used to) but I know nothing about how those are created. I'm a web/linux guy who knows very little about windows programming.
Check out the NSIS Scripting Reference for CreateShortcut. You should be able to do something like this:
SetOutPath $DESKTOP
CreateShortcut "$DESKTOP\MyShortcut.lnk" "$INSTDIR\MyHTAFile.hta" "" "$INSTDIR\MyIconFile.ico"