I'll begin with an apology since I am new to c++ and maybe my questions make no sense.
I have a c# app, unfortunately it requires .Net framework to be installed on the machine.
I'd like to make a c++ application that will copy a .Net installer from a cd, and run the installer on quite mode.
The c++ app must be hidden, no console or what so ever, and also the most important thing is: it must run on a clean install of windows xp/
Please help me :)
I have no idea how to approach this, since I've never used c++ before.
P.S. (if it's possible to run a c# app that can do the above, saying how would be appreciated).
I tried googling but failed to get an answer
I dont know why you want to have a c++ app to launch the dot net installer. This can be achieved from within DOT NET env itself.
Add a Setup project to your current solution. It can detect installed .net framework and depending on your application's dependencies can offer to install one automatically.
However by default it will try to download the framework but if you intend to supply it on your CD you can configure it to pick up the installer from a local location as well.
Refer here to get you started
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307353
Related
I've written a console program that "does stuff" - mainly using boost. How do I convert it to a Windows Service?
What should I know about Windows Services beforehand?
There's a good example on how to set up a minimal service on MSDN. See the parts about writing the main function, entry point and also the example code.
Once you've got a windows service built and running, you'll discover the next major gotcha: it's a pain to debug. There's no terminal (and hence no stdout/stderr) and as soon as you try to run the executable it actually launches the service then returns to you.
One trick I've found very useful is to add a -foreground option to your app so that if you run with that flag then it bypasses the service starter code and instead runs like a regular console app, which makes it vastly easier to debug. In VS.Net set up the debugging options to invoke with that flag.
There's a really good example on msdn here
It's a boiler plate C++ service project that has self install/uninstall functionality and logs service start and stop events to the windows event log. It can be stopped and started through the services app (snapin) like other services. You may want to initially give it LocalSystem rights to see it working , as on xp at least it doesn't have enough rights to start with the project provided rights of LocalService. The Visual Studio 2008 project otherwise runs out of the box despite the downloaded instructions implying otherwise.
A bit late but I hope this helps someone else.
You might be able to 'wrap it' using this tool from CodeProject:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/xyntservice.aspx
Worth a look.
The simplest solution might be to create a new Windows Service project in Visual Studio and copy across your code to the new project.
If you refactor your code so that you've split the UI (in this case the console) from the logic you could create a library that does the work and then call that from both the Console project and the Service Project.
You can configure an application to run as a service by using the Srvany tool, which is a part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools.
Srvany allows only one service at same time. So I write my srvany (sFany) to make nginx and php-cgi run as windows service together. Here is the source https://github.com/stxh/sFany
This ought to be simple, but seems to be anything but.
I wish to create an installer that can be used by those using group policies to install products. I do not know then if this must be an MSI, or an EXE. Can an EXE install be installed via a group policy? I chatted with another Wix novice who seemed to think it was a bad idea to have an install that was a plain MSI file.
My product uses the Visual C++ 2010 redistributables. I do not wish to use merge modules. Both this and this link give some of the disadvantages of using them. I object to 1) installing things that the user has not consented to, and 2) not having a control panel uninstall item with a version number that users can inspect and see if they have the latest version of. Thus, I am not interested in responses consisting of people lecturing me on why I ought to use merge modules. If what I am asking for is truly IMPOSSIBLE without merge modules, then please explain why.
I do not know if it is necessary to use a bootstrapper to kick off an EXE install. I gather that it is, but it seems bizarre for me, for an MSI with such involved tables and descriptions, not to be able to kick of a mere EXE, ON THE CONDITION that the redistributable is not installed already.
If it is necessary to use a bootstrapper, I would like to know if anyone can find a complete example, with both bootstrapper and Wix code, for an example of a product install; ideally, together with the command lines necessary to compile them, for such a common case as installing a VC++ 2010 (or possibly 2012) program, together with its redistributable - with the latter being installed as the EXE.
I have found this to be straight-forward and easy to do in Inno Setup Pascal - except for the Group Policy part. I have found anything but COMPLETE examples and/or straightforward explanations to accomplish this using a Microsoft installer. No matter what Microsoft says, I would consider such an installer to be best practices. My code is not managed, and I would like to support XP. Thus, a bootstrapper that requires some .net to already be installed would only add another unsolved layer of complexity to the problem. One that statically links to a .net library might not be too bad, if it did not create very much overhead. My MSI install seems to work pretty well. I did not realize that installing a vcredist_x86.exe would be a problem with such an elusive solution. I do not have Visual Studio. I am using the Qt framework, and have Visual Studio installed only to compile my application. If you have a bootstrapper solution, please specify which bootstrapper you are using. Ideally, the same idea could be extended to more than one prerequisite, and the same coding pattern could be used. If there were a way to use a merge module or additional MSI so that the redistributable would have its own control panel entry, that could be acceptable.
Brownie points for suggesting a mailing list, forum or well-populated chat channel to talk about Wix that does not require one to receive a lot of unnecessary mailing list traffic.
Group Policies by default don't allow EXEs to be installed. I did read about some admins that repackage EXEs into MSIs to deploy them via GPO but that is rather hacky. There is also the possibility to script the deployment - GPOs support script execution, machine or user level.
You can't embed an MSI within another MSI either because only one installation can execute at any time (Windows Installer design).
I don't know how you will be providing your product to your customers but vcredist_x86.exe (I am trying this with the v100 version) uncompresses into the root folder and generates an msi and a cab (vc_red.msi and vc_red.cab) among other files. If you provide these to your customers they can add them to the same GPO used to deploy your product.
I wonder if someone has idea about next.
I'm developing for BlackBerry. IDEA doesn't recognize RIM installation as JSDK or Mobile SDK. So I have create project without SDK and attach RIM jar file as dependency.
I'm trying to write as much as possible unit test with JUnit and Mockito but to run them IDEA requires JSDK. So I created additional module where I set JSDK, correct language level and it works. It's already hassle to create additional module (better if we could set JSDK and other compiler, runtime options for code and tests) but I was quite happy.
I have also dependencies for some common libraries which we use in android and J2ME also. I added them as modules with JSDK 1.6 and language level 1.3. And I able to develop and run test on it also.
But I got issue with LEDA EAP. IDEA now complaints about incompatibility with java.lang because it found them both in RIM jar and JSDK for libraries. And now I'm thinking about next hassle to fix my favorite ide. Sure it's EAP and things could be changed.
But anyone has any recommendation or similar situation setup?
I am currectly finishing my project in C++ and i'm looking for a way to create my own C++ installer file
which will create the project dll's and exe files into a specific path
what is the easier way to learn how to do it?
There are several ways to build an installer. While you can of course always make one yourself, you should google for something like "create an installer". Some prebuilt solutions include "InstallShield", or the ".msi" file format, which you can create on your own using something like "Advanced Installer".
Of course, if you want your users to build your project from source, then you need a makefile and to make sure you bundle all the libraries. There are also kits like autotools to do that for you.
If you use VS 2010, Installshield LE would suffice as it is integrated into VS 2010.
If you have access to Installshield IDE, there is nothing better available for your packaging needs.
There are two ways of packaging:
a) The LEGACY way
b) The Windows Installer way, Basic MSI is the keyword here.
The LEGACY way involves creating your own scripts for:
a) Installing the files to their locations
b) Writing registry entries, if needed
c) Registering COM components, if needed
d) Creating shortcuts etc...
Tools that can be used for LEGACY approach are:
a) NSIS - very good and has a scripting language of its own.
b) Installshield - has a project type called Installscript Project. Installscript is the scripting language to be used.
The Windows Installer way is a bit hard comapred to the LEGACY way.
One has to learn the basics of MSI technology which can be daunting.
The package created has .msi as extension. This file is a database that the developer configures and the Windows Installer takes care of all other things. This is called TRANSACTIONAL installation procedure.
Even the UI presented during install is configured in the Database using tables like Dialog, Controls etc...
Tools that can be used for Windows Installer approach are:
a) Installshield - has a project type called Basic MSI
b) Wix - Opensource and xml based. You configure appropriately named xml files and various utilities in the Wix package will help you to create an MSI package.
First after completing your project click save. Second click on file tab,Add,New Project.
In new Project Click other Project types , Setup and Deployment and in that You can click InstallShield LE or Visual Studio Installer.
Hope this Helped you
I always recommend NSIS. You might also investigate HM Nis Edit - it's an IDE for NSIS that has a useful wizard feature. It will generate an installer script for you which you can further customize. The documentation is extensive.
can't believe no one mentioned install creator pro(there is also a free version with a branded message that displays after installing). Its feature set is pretty limited, though it has options for writing registry values and specifying custom paths to %AppData% or any other place you may want to install some files. it also has an optional wizard interface, and with each step you have the oppurtunity to preview each individual page.
the paid version offers the option for adding serial number/registration to your program. i've never tried it so i'm not sure how effective it may be. its also quite and expensive little program, but i would recommend it atleast to the beginner or someone who is more concerned with maintaining the codebase of their program and less concerned with how fancy and decorated their installer program is.
i know its been a long time since this was posted but for future reference this program is far easier for any beginner to creating installation packages for the first time
I am very disappointed with my school linux server when doing the homework on it.
The reason is: my homework requires to make GUI application.
All the tool that I have is:
- ssh from my local machine to school machine
- gcc/g++ in my school machine
I have been thinking and tried out different solutions for a week.
I still can't be able to figure out how to bring GUI to my application.
Here is some solutions I tried:
- Install some graphical library (sdl,ncurses...) but school computer does not allow to install because i'm not the root user
- Try to compile with /X11/ to produce X-GUI application. Then running it throgh ssh (tunneling). This does not work either because school computer does not have headers file located in X11.
So, What CAN I DO? Anybody has suggestion?
I will thank you million times if you could help for a solution.
Thanks you much.
tsubasa
It should be possible to install most things, like ncurses or even X11, in user space (in your home directory), if you install them from source. With a Gnu package, you just use --prefix= as an argument to configure, like this:
./configure --prefix=/name/of/directory/to/install/into
I'm not sure about the other packages.
Without a GUI library to link against, you won't be able to develop a C/C++ app on that server. It seems to me that you have a few options:
1) Develop this GUI app someplace else. If it has to be in Linux, and you're a Windows/Mac user, you can install Ubuntu (or some other Linux Distro) on a Virtual Machine and get a full featured environment.
2) Contact the Linux administrator to explain the homework assignment and convince them to install a GUI package for you. (It may help to have your professor also contact the Linux Administrator) (If you don't know who the linux admin is, try emailing root#linuxbox
3) Bend the rules on what a "GUI" environment is. For example, can your C/C++ app output HTML files for a GUI-like experience through a web-browser?
4) Try to install some sort of GUI package inside your account on the server. This will likely fail unless you are very, very good at administering a linux box, and you've hand-built packages before.
Could do it with ncurses
Perhaps you could ditch the school server and use Virtualbox to run a linux VM locally on your machine and develop on that. It's free.
From "INSTALL" file in ncurses source archive:
The package gets installed beneath the --prefix directory as follows:
In $(prefix)/bin: tic, infocmp, captoinfo, tset,
reset, clear, tput, toe
In $(prefix)/lib: libncurses*.* libcurses.a
In $(prefix)/share/terminfo: compiled terminal descriptions
In $(prefix)/include: C header files
Under $(prefix)/man: the manual pages
Note that the configure script attempts to locate previous
installation of
ncurses, and will set the default prefix according to where it finds the
ncurses headers.
Do not use commands such as
make install prefix=XXX
to change the prefix after configuration, since the prefix value
is used
for some absolute pathnames such as TERMINFO. Instead do this
make install DESTDIR=XXX
So I'd recommend using "make install DESTDIR=XXX" where XXX is the location where you have write persmissions.
HTH