Advice on installers

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Hi,

When distributing your application to your customers, it's nice to have an installer which enables the customers to install it themselves.

Our application has a webcomponent based on PHP, has binaries from java and occasionally (in the case of updates/patches) SQL-scripts need to be executed. What is a good installer application for achieving a user friendly interface?

Right now, I have the following area's what I think the installer application should be able to handle:
1) Execute sql scripts
2) Updating php pages
3) Check for existing versions and notify user if the versions either don't match or there is a newer version installed
4) Check for required components (correct version mysql etc)
5) Webinstaller
6) Possibility to edit dialog pages

Pricing is less relevant, I just want to get the right choice here. I've been looking at InnoSetup, IzPack, Installshield, AdvancedInstaller and BitRock, but there are a lot of them out there, so I was wondering if there are other packages which might be worth to look at.

Thanks in advance!

Posted 24-May-11 21:52pm

Helfdane

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Comments

TorstenH. 25-May-11 3:58am

I just know InnoSetup, that one is a good choice for Java Installations. Most points on your list are covered by that one.

What did you have in mind by "updating php-pages" - do you want to replace them or should some knd of integration script be run?

Helfdane 25-May-11 5:54am

With updating I mean either merge new code into existing ones or replace entirely. Basically, version1.0.php needs to become version1.1.php.

TorstenH. 25-May-11 13:11pm

InnoSetup will do the job for you. just replace the PHP-files you want to have in a new version - that's the regular procedure.

Peter_in_2780 25-May-11 23:36pm

If you're looking around, try Nullsoft. A bit of a learning curve, but it can do almost anything you'd want. Comes with a good script editor - HM NIS edit. Price is right, too!

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