Fully integrated download and install of prerequisites

[objectbay]

Hi all,

this feature request needs some elaboration and rationale, so here goes:

Downloading and installing prerequisites (.NET 2.0, in our case) with AI can be achieved by specifying them in the Prerequisites / Software section under Project settings. This is all nice and well and works neatly.

However:
1) the prerequisites download & install dialog is shown before *any* of the actual setup UI, giving the user no real indication of what is happening (besides the dialog title) and why,
2) the prerequisites installer looks different from the actual setup UI (no branding, different dialog sizes and layout),
3) this only works through the Setup.exe bootstrapper.

I find this somewhat suboptimal.

What I would like to achieve is a fully integrated, super-smooth setup experience, where prerequisites are downloaded and installed on the fly during product setup.

No dialogs with exclamation marks barking at you, no puzzling warnings, just a simple, smooth "Next-Accept-Next-Uhuh-Fine-Go" install.

I understand that this will only work for certain cases, where the prerequisites aren't really necessary during the installation stage (.NET framework being an example), only for running the product later on. And even though this may require a reboot, as long as the installation resumes nicely after rebooting, I think this will provide a much more intuitive user experience than the somewhat "out-of-context" prerequisites installer as it is now.

Ideally, installation starts with a cheery Welcome screen, talks the user into accepting the license agreement, goes about downloading and installing any prerequisites, all accompanied by progress bars and nice descriptions about what's going on, and finally installing the actual product itself.

To sum it up, what I would like to see is some means for downloading (with progress UI) and installing prerequisites from within the actual (msi) setup.

Is that possible?

regards,
Karl

[gigi]

Hi,

1) the prerequisites download & install dialog is shown before *any* of the actual
setup UI, giving the user no real indication of what is happening (besides the dialog
title) and why,
2) the prerequisites installer looks different from the actual setup UI (no branding,
different dialog sizes and layout),
3) this only works through the Setup.exe bootstrapper.

The prerequisites needs to by installed first. They are downloaded and installed by the bootstrapper before your application gets installed and after that your main package is launched. The prerequisites dialogs are not yet customizable but we have this on our TODO list and will be available in a future version of AI. Also note that you have the option to install prerequisites in silent mode: basic UI or without UI.

However if you want to install prerequisites while your installer runs please see (but this is not recommended, my recommendation is to use prerequisites):
http://www.advancedinstaller.com/forums ... ht=directx

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Gigi
______________
Gheorghe Rada
Advanced Installer Team
http://www.advancedinstaller.com

[midgetrnop]

I agree. This feature has been poorly implemented.

Imagine someone downloads your trial software, knowing little about your business. The first screen they see should be a familiar welcome screen, with the title of the product. After clicking next you can take them to the prerequisites window, with a better explanation and options for manual download if they don't like giving your program internet access or dealing with firewall popup warnings.

As it is it's confusing to a novice user and suspicious to a more experienced one.

Don't get me wrong, a prerequisites wizard is a great idea but the user experience is currently too poor to be used in downloadable software.

[midgetrnop]

Hi,

Another suggestion. Currently, when a prerequisites wizard finds a missing prerequisite, it immediately installs itself in the registry to run at startup, before the GUI is even launched. This will pop up a heap of warnings in firewall and antispyware type programs, and makes your newly downloaded software look kind of suspicious. Perhaps you could do the registry stuff after the user selects the prerequisite options and does the download or install. And perhaps inform them that the program will run after a reboot.

BTW Advanced Installer is great and I recommend it to anyone. I look forward to future updates.

[gigi]

Hi,

We will improve this in a future version of Advanced Installer. I add this on our TODO list. Thank you for your suggestions.

Best Regards,
Gigi
______________
Gheorghe Rada
Advanced Installer Team
http://www.advancedinstaller.com

[SAIfromINDIA]

I want to know..

1> in which program have u compiled or made updater.exe ?
2>If msi offers http & ftp downloads then why create a separate updater.exe ?
3>why on the fly download feature line msimaker (aksdb.com) has not been included. ?
4>in which program have u made the IDE for msi maker ?
5>what do u mean by pure windows installer standards msi creation software ?
6>why the msi files still do not get orca ICE validated ?

[Peter Chr. Ryskin]

Hi,

The UX is made even more important when your Prereq is .NET 3.0 - its a 100MB download the length of which is governed by your WAN access, and the installation itself easily takes 10 minutes on production machines.

I've had usertesting performed at one of our clients, and in 3 cases out of 16, the user rebooted the machine because "nothing was happening" (Which was not the case, however 3.0 prefers to install while in the task bar).

Erm, oops

I would really like to see the Dialog customization from the standard installer brought over into the PreReq, and can only agree with the original poster.