.NET installs

[NewsArchive]

Friedrich,

With Clarion# baking in the oven, are there any particular minimal install
requirements for projects built with Clarion#? I know you've made this
easier for us with the distribution packages, however I can see some support
questions coming from installs. Are there any checks the install can do to
see if certain runtime libraries are present or should the install just
install it anyway? If the latter, could that cause issues if there is a
certain version already installed?

Just trying to plan my deployment strategies since I've got a few commercial
applications in the works.

--
Russell B. Eggen
www.radfusion.com
Skype Clarion chat: http://tinyurl.com/2273lm

[NewsArchive]

Hi Russ,

Do you mean the verification check for the .NET Framework?

SetupBuilder provides built-in functionality to install .NET applications:

1. Get System Information (.NET Status) to detect the .NET Framework 1.0,
1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5.

2. Install File options to support:

2a. COM Interop Registration for .NET Assembly

This lets you read the metadata within an assembly and add the necessary
entries to the registry.

2b. Add .NET Assembly into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC)

Add a .NET assembly into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). The assembly can
then be used from other assemblies on the server, regardless of their
physical location. In order to share a .NET assembly with multiple
applications installed on the same machine, it needs to be installed as
Shared Assembly in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).

2c. Create Native Image for .NET Assembly (Ngen.exe)

Create a native image from a managed assembly and to install it into the
native image cache on the local computer. The native image cache is a
reserved area of the global assembly cache. Once you create a native image
for an assembly, the runtime automatically uses that native image each time
it runs the assembly. You do not have to perform any additional procedures
to cause the runtime to use a native image. Using this option on an assembly
allows the assembly to load and execute faster, because it restores code and
data structures from the native image cache rather than generating them
dynamically.

3. Core PreRequisites to deploy the .NET Framework 2. 0 or 3.0.

Or do you mean support for specific Clarion# runtimes?

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

For now, outside of Clarion#. I'm thinking of possible support issues
during the install (.NET Framework version x not installed previously), when
first starting up my super cool .NET application for the first time (Error
x - missing assembly blah-blah, contact your support person).

Since Clarion# developers are relying on so much outside of their control,
just trying to anticipate issues that would make a perfectly good running
program on my test machines fail on client machines.

Your list helps. ;-)

--
Russell B. Eggen
www.radfusion.com
Skype Clarion chat: http://tinyurl.com/2273lm

[NewsArchive]

;-)

And there are other cool things possible. For example, the installer
detects that .NET Framework is not available. It asks whether to download
it from a web site and install it. BTW, this method is used in the Clarion#
installer.

This is very useful if you don't want the .NET Framework overhead in your
main installer (or if you have to support .NET Framework 3.5 later which is
a hefty 200 MB redistributable).

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder
Create Windows Vista ready installations in minutes

-- Official Comodo Code Signing and SSL Certificate Partner

[NewsArchive]

Which begs the question, if a required version is not installed (let's say
its the new 3.5 version), should my install abort until the 3.5 version is
installed?

--
Russell B. Eggen
www.radfusion.com
Skype Clarion chat: http://tinyurl.com/2273lm

[NewsArchive]

> Which begs the question, if a required version is not installed (let's say
> its the new 3.5 version), should my install abort until the 3.5 version is
> installed?

You can leave your install running and let SetupBuilder install the .NET
runtime silently. Just display a "Installing .NET yadayada. Please wait
yadayada..." Wait Dialog. After that, continue with the main installation
process.

But of course, you can also display a simple message box:

".NET Framework Version X not install. This product requires .NET X.
Please visit www.microsoft.com/yada to install .NET Framework. Then restart
this install."

Then abort the installation and let the customer download/install it.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Nifty! Give them a choice. ;-)

OK, let me follow that logic through a bit. Is there any issue with having
an install install another package? Or is that an install *uninstall*
something first? I think you had an opinion about one of those issues <g>.

--
Russell B. Eggen
www.radfusion.com
Skype Clarion chat: http://tinyurl.com/2273lm

[NewsArchive]

>
> Nifty! Give them a choice. ;-)
>

;-)

> OK, let me follow that logic through a bit. Is there any issue with
> having an install install another package? Or is that an install
> *uninstall* something first? I think you had an opinion about one of
> those issues <g>.

No, there is absolutely no problem with having an install install another
package. SetupBuilder gives you full control here.

Let us assume, you would like to provide a slick and slim installation
procedure for your .NET application. The .NET Framework is available on
most machines today, so it's a waste of resources if you compile the .NET
redistributable into your setup.exe if you deploy through the Internet. The
..NET 3 runtime adds (at least) an overhead of 50MB and NET 2 SP2 at least
22MB. The .NET 3.5 adds a shocking 200MB!

The following method is used in the Clarion 7 installation:
http://www.lindersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9546#post9546

You can (optionally) download the NET redistributable from your web site and
let SetupBuilder install it.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder
Create Windows Vista ready installations in minutes

-- Official Comodo Code Signing and SSL Certificate Partner

[NewsArchive]

Thanks. Been storing these away in my private tip and tricks folder <g>.

--
Russell B. Eggen
www.radfusion.com
Skype Clarion chat: http://tinyurl.com/2273lm

[NewsArchive]

> Thanks. Been storing these away in my private tip and tricks folder <g>.
>

<G> :)

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

> 2c. Create Native Image for .NET Assembly (Ngen.exe)

Here's an interesting article on NGen:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163808.aspx

Seems like NGen is usually the right choice but not always. How easy is
it to give the user the option of whether to precompile? VMWare might
make it easy to test against different operating systems, but I'm
thinking it would be prohibitively expensive to test against even the
most common hardware configurations<g>.

--

Dave

Clarion Magazine: http://www.clarionmag.com
In-depth Clarion articles, news, tips & tricks, printed books and e-books

[NewsArchive]

Dave,

>> 2c. Create Native Image for .NET Assembly (Ngen.exe)
>
> Here's an interesting article on NGen:
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163808.aspx
>
> Seems like NGen is usually the right choice but not always. How easy is it
> to give the user the option of whether to precompile? VMWare might make it
> easy to test against different operating systems, but I'm thinking it
> would be prohibitively expensive to test against even the most common
> hardware configurations<g>.

Thanks for the link!

We added this option on request of SoftVelocity some time ago. I "think"
they are using it in the Clarion 7 install.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

> We added this option on request of SoftVelocity some time ago. I
> "think" they are using it in the Clarion 7 install.

I don't remember seeing it but I'll look more closely next time.

--

Dave

Clarion Magazine: http://www.clarionmag.com
In-depth Clarion articles, news, tips & tricks, printed books and e-books