.Net deployment with Acrobat Reader

[Robert Selzer]

Hello,

Can someone give me an example of a bootstrapper package for Acrobat that checks for version number and uninstalls or installs the reader as necessary? I am using the AxAcroPDF Component in my VB.Net 2008 project. It works fine on the development box, but I was getting errors when I deployed to a destination computer. I discovered that Acrobat must be installed at the destination, so I am trying to create a Custom Prerequisite for Acrobat in the deployment project.

Thanks in advance.

[Plater]

You could have it as an "option", I have seen that.
"This program requires Acrobat 6.0 or better", and have like a checkbox for it to be "installed". Anyone who already has 6.0 or better should be instructed to not check the box?

[Robert Selzer]

Thanks for the quick response. However, I would like to automate the process.

[Plater]

Thanks for the quick response. However, I would like to automate the process.

There is probably a registry entry that you check.
I would shy away from "piggy-back" installing components, I would be really pissed (as would everyone in my company) if a piece of software installed version X of acrobat reader.
For example (true story)
It happened to my boss. We have a version back of acrobat professional. (Its expensive)
The software installler made him install the latest reader version. The reader version took precidence over the profesional version. Caused a lot of headache until I figured out what happened.
We were lucky that just un-installing the reader and re-running professional seemed to fix it. But it wasn't very nice of them to require what already existed.
So make sure you check for certain before forcing an install.