Help! Question concerning C# project deployment

[JimC]

I have .NET Frame projects that can be downloaded from the Web
in setup.exe files. These files are less than a megabyte in size.
They are demos for clients.

If the user's computer doesn't have .NET Framework installed,
he runs dotnetfx.exe. This is a 25-MByte file. Although it
can be redistributed by a software producer, it is hardly
practical for users to tie up my Web server to download
a 25-MByte file along with 200 KByte setup.exe files.
At the same time, I fear that users redirected to the
Microsoft download page will become lost.

Has anyone else confronted this problem, and found a
workable solution?

Of course none of this is a problem when the
project setup is made from a CD that can do the
installation of .NET Framework automatically.
But that is not the issue here.

[Nick Harris]

Sorry...life sucks. ;-)
Microsoft it shipping all win XP editions now w/ dotnetfx.exe for 1.1
installed. Every language I've ever used had this problem until m$ updated
the platform.

This is a bit tedious, but have you tried tying in the microsoft updater
block to use BITS to download everything necessary in the background, that
way it's no imposition to the client?

Nick Harris, MCSD
http://www.VizSoft.net

"JimC" <ji**@cross-comp.com> wrote in message
news:Vx**************@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com.. .

I have .NET Frame projects that can be downloaded from the Web
in setup.exe files. These files are less than a megabyte in size.
They are demos for clients.

If the user's computer doesn't have .NET Framework installed,
he runs dotnetfx.exe. This is a 25-MByte file. Although it
can be redistributed by a software producer, it is hardly
practical for users to tie up my Web server to download
a 25-MByte file along with 200 KByte setup.exe files.
At the same time, I fear that users redirected to the
Microsoft download page will become lost.

Has anyone else confronted this problem, and found a
workable solution?

Of course none of this is a problem when the
project setup is made from a CD that can do the
installation of .NET Framework automatically.
But that is not the issue here.

[JimC]

I wrote:

I have .NET Frame[work] projects that can be downloaded from the Web
in setup.exe files. These files are less than a megabyte in size.
They are demos for clients.

If the user's computer doesn't have .NET Framework installed,
he runs dotnetfx.exe. This is a 25-MByte file. Although it
can be redistributed by a software producer, it is hardly
practical for users to tie up my Web server to download
a 25-MByte file along with 200 KByte setup.exe files.
At the same time, I fear that users redirected to the
Microsoft download page will become lost.

Has anyone else confronted this problem, and found a
workable solution?

"Nick Harris" replied:

Sorry...life sucks. ;-)
Microsoft it shipping all win XP editions now w/ dotnetfx.exe for 1.1
installed. Every language I've ever used had this problem until m$ updated
the platform.

This is a bit tedious, but have you tried tying in the microsoft updater
block to use BITS to download everything necessary in the background, that
way it's no imposition to the client?

Thanks, Nick. That does sound like one solution, but is the updater function
available for other Win32 OS's besides XP? My concern isn't so much with
XP users, but NT/98/Me users. I also hesitate to enrol clients (whom I'm
trying to sell) into something as "devious" as a background program that
talks to the Internet without their knowledge, even though my most
paranoid client knows that Microsoft has only noble motives when they
wish to talk to his machine. (Insert appropriate emoticon right here.)

When he proactively downloads an install program, I want him to
be done with installation then and there, and know approximately
what happened. I don't even want to touch his Registry without
informing him and assuring him that he can un-install it later in
an orderly way.

One user did give me an idea which I think might have merit.
And that is, edit the .msi file to remove Framework features which
may work out when the user is downloading simple demos.
The .msi file can edited with Orca, an installation database
editor that be downloaded from Microsoft at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=255905

Later, if he installs the full version, he can do so from a CD
which has dotnetfx.exe on it. Or if he is downloading from a
site where he has paid the software producer money, I
suppose the software producer should be prepared to
absorb the expense of letting customers download this
large file.

[Dmitriy Lapshin [C# / .NET MVP]]

Jim,

You could make a simple *unmanaged* program that would run dotnetfx.exe
first if necessary and your installer second. The program should be written
in C/C++ or any other language not requiring any runtime to be installed on
the user's machine. Name that program setup.exe and instruct the users to
launch this "bootstrapper" in the accompanying readme.txt.

--
Dmitriy Lapshin [C# / .NET MVP]
X-Unity Test Studio
http://x-unity.miik.com.ua/teststudio.aspx
Bring the power of unit testing to VS .NET IDE

"JimC" <ji**@cross-comp.com> wrote in message
news:9N*****************@newssvr25.news.prodigy.co m...

I wrote:

I have .NET Frame[work] projects that can be downloaded from the Web
in setup.exe files. These files are less than a megabyte in size.
They are demos for clients.

If the user's computer doesn't have .NET Framework installed,
he runs dotnetfx.exe. This is a 25-MByte file. Although it
can be redistributed by a software producer, it is hardly
practical for users to tie up my Web server to download
a 25-MByte file along with 200 KByte setup.exe files.
At the same time, I fear that users redirected to the
Microsoft download page will become lost.

Has anyone else confronted this problem, and found a
workable solution?

"Nick Harris" replied:

Sorry...life sucks. ;-)
Microsoft it shipping all win XP editions now w/ dotnetfx.exe for 1.1
installed. Every language I've ever used had this problem until m$ updated the platform.

This is a bit tedious, but have you tried tying in the microsoft updater
block to use BITS to download everything necessary in the background, that way it's no imposition to the client?

Thanks, Nick. That does sound like one solution, but is the updater

function available for other Win32 OS's besides XP? My concern isn't so much with
XP users, but NT/98/Me users. I also hesitate to enrol clients (whom I'm
trying to sell) into something as "devious" as a background program that
talks to the Internet without their knowledge, even though my most
paranoid client knows that Microsoft has only noble motives when they
wish to talk to his machine. (Insert appropriate emoticon right here.)

When he proactively downloads an install program, I want him to
be done with installation then and there, and know approximately
what happened. I don't even want to touch his Registry without
informing him and assuring him that he can un-install it later in
an orderly way.

One user did give me an idea which I think might have merit.
And that is, edit the .msi file to remove Framework features which
may work out when the user is downloading simple demos.
The .msi file can edited with Orca, an installation database
editor that be downloaded from Microsoft at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=255905

Later, if he installs the full version, he can do so from a CD
which has dotnetfx.exe on it. Or if he is downloading from a
site where he has paid the software producer money, I
suppose the software producer should be prepared to
absorb the expense of letting customers download this
large file.