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Thread: Building desktop installers in v1.1

  1. #1
    Lianja Development Team barrymavin's Avatar
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    Building desktop installers in v1.1

    I know some of you have been wanting to deploy runtime desktop apps to your users and have had difficulty understanding how to do this using the NSIS installer.

    So, to simplify the deployment of Lianja desktop Apps we have added the ability to build a windows installer for your App(s) using the NSIS installer and have integrated this into the "Deploy" workspace.

    There is a template installer file which you can open and customize then creating a new installer will always copy that template as a starting point for other installers that you create.

    See screenshot below.

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    Quickstart to building a desktop installer.

    When you get the v1.1 build.


    1. Select "Deploy"
    2. Double click the "template" installer at the top left of the tree.
    3. Click the build button.
    4. Wait and watch.
    5. Copy c:\lianja\installers\template\template-setup.exe to another machine.
    6. Install it. This will install all the demo Apps. Customize it for whatever you want to install.


    It will install the app center without user interaction if it is not already installed.

    Simple steps.
    Last edited by barrymavin; 2014-03-06 at 01:45.
    Principal developer of Lianja, Recital and other products

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  2. #2
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    Excellent. Thank you Barry!

  3. #3
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    Hi Barry,

    This feature should be very helpful.

    Here are a few notes:

    - After you download the App Centre and place it in the redist folder, you need to rename it.
    The file is: LianjaAppCenter-1.1.0Beta1-windows-installer.exe
    The file it's looking for is: LianjaAppCenter-1.1.0 (Beta1)-windows-installer.exe

    - While examining the setup file that was created, the install started immediately after accepting the license agreement and the cancel button was not available.

    Normally setup files have a 'Finish' option before the install begins. It took me by surprise when the install started. I wasn't planning on running the actual install.
    Doesn't seem like it affected anything for the developer side.

    What makes this setup wizard different is that the select install location is not displayed.

    Will there be an uninstall option if the App Builder is installed?

    Cory

  4. #4
    Lianja Development Team barrymavin's Avatar
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    I have changed the version naming inside the product to match the distro now.

    This is a template file for NSIS which is fully customizable. I will looking into allowing you to choose a drive to install on. Currently that is specified in the template file.

    Will there be an uninstall option if the App Builder is installed?
    Not sure what you mean by that. This is for distributing runtime apps. If the App Center (runtime redistribution) is already installed then it is not overwritten.

    There is an uninstaller created at the end of the install.
    Principal developer of Lianja, Recital and other products

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  5. #5
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    Hi Barry,

    Sorry, I mistyped. I did mean App Centre.

    If an option is available to select the drive to install on, I suggest the default location(s) should be taken from the template file.
    To keep installs (and file locations) consistent, I do understand why this option is currently unavailable.

    Thanks,
    Cory

  6. #6
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    Out of curiosity,
    if the app center isn't installed if a previous install is detected, how are Lianja updates from the app builder cascaded to the user?

    For example, if a computer has a RC version of the app center, will all changes made up to 1.1 Beta be seen/useable when an app is deployed?

    I'm just not sure how the app centre differs regarding file associations.

    Cory
    Last edited by CGibson; 2014-03-13 at 13:32.

  7. #7
    Lianja Team yvonne.milne's Avatar
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    Hi Cory,

    The template installer defaults to not installing the Lianja App Center if it is already installed, but you can change this. If I comment out the lines, as in the screenshot, the Lianja App Center will be installed.

    Regards,

    Yvonne

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    Hi Yvonne,

    Thanks for the reply.

    Another question:
    My preference is to uninstall a program before installing a new version rather than installing a new version on top of existing software.
    Doing it this way also eliminates multiple versions showing up in windows control panel programs and features section.

    Is there any possibility of uninstalling a previous version before installing a new app center version?

    Thanks,
    Cory

  9. #9
    Lianja Development Team barrymavin's Avatar
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    You can edit the installer script and if the uninstall is there then run it.
    Principal developer of Lianja, Recital and other products

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  10. #10
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    Hi Barry,

    Could you help me with the uninstall.
    I've tried a few variations, including the following which was placed immediately before the install commands:
    Code:
    IfFileExists "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe" 0
       ExecWait '"$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe" _?=$INSTDIR'
    Here are a few problems I've encountered:
    - usually the uninstall confirmation does not appear until after all commands in the setup file have executed;
    - if the uninstall confirmation does appear, the setup does not stop to allow the uninstall utility to complete before continuing to the next command;
    - the uninstall command is executed after the install is checked, which doesn't make any sense.

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    Cory

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