Creating a fully compiled Windows InstallationFile

[Matthew Rogers]

Hi all

I realise that Filemaker can compile a runtime application, through Developer Utilities, although this works it does not put all the files into one package and several dll files need to be deployed with the executable.

I want to be able to produce a single file that contains all the Dll files and installs them automatically, similar to Wise Solutions Windows Installer (www.wise.com).

Can Filemaker do this, if it can, can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks for your help

Matt

[SteveB]

You'll need a Windows installer, since I don't believe that was added to v7 and is definately not in the earlier versions. I use Setup Factory, which is very easy to use, but there are some free ones that you might be interested in. I'd check CNet.

Steve

[David Holmberg]

I use Astrum InstallWizard and get really good results (my clients are satisfied).

It's a cheaper option to Setup Factory which is quite expensive for a small company like mine...

[transpower]

You can use WinZip Self-Extractor which creates one executable file for your customers to run.

[TheTominator]

I am preparing my first runtime package for public consumption.

I have settled on using Advanced Installer for Windows (advancedinstaller.com).

It is free for simple installation packages. You have to pay for it to use more

advanced installation features. For FileMaker runtime files, the simple installation

is very suitable. Advanced Installer creates a .msi file that Microsoft's Windows

Installer uses. This is a standard installer program pre-installed on all newer

Windows OSes and is part of the service packs on the older ones.

Just in case my users don't have Windows Installer for whatever reason or

are cautious about installing anything for fear of random infestation, I will

provide either a Self-Extracting StuffIt archive and/or a plain old .zip archive.

For my Mac OS X users, I will provide a standard Mac OS X package file (.pkg).

This is created using the PackageMaker that is part of the free Developer Tools.

I will also provide a standard Mac OSX compressed disk image file for a drag

and drop installation.

I haven't settled on an installer for Classic Mac OS. My runtime is built with

Developer 5.5 so I can support them too. I will probably just provide a

StuffIt archive file (.sit).

-Tom

[Matthew Rogers]

Cheers for all your replies, this is an area i am not too hot on so thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Regards

Matthew Rogers