Why Use Inno?

[Seraphino]

I just have a question, why use Inno when NSIS is so much better. Just check it out. It is just so much more powerful than INNO I think. What do you think?

[randem]

Describe "More Powerful"

[RhinoBull]

Since MS desided to distrinbute source for their P&DW utility I never looked back so I say "Why bother with either?" or should I say "Why bother with anything but P&DW"?

[RobDog888]

I use the P&D Wiz for my VB6 projects and never had any issues. It works just fine.

Now for .NET the default installer also works fine.

Basically it just boils down to what features are important to you and make a choice based upon that. I dont think I would ever pay for an installer since there are good ones already provided and third party ones that are free too, if you want more power/features.

[cssriraman]

I use the P&D Wiz for my VB6 projects and never had any issues. It works just fine.

Now for .NET the default installer also works fine.

me too.

I had no issues with P&D.

[randem]

An Inno thread hijacked by PDW. If it were the other way around someone would have said something by now...

Things that make you go hmmmm...

[RobDog888]

I dont think so as the context of the original post is to invoke a discussion of which installer to use type question.

Do you have anything on NCIS vs. INNO or other installer?

[kleinma]

I didn't like the PDW (or the .NET installer) because it creates multiple files that you need to distribute

I went to INNO because it allowed me to compile EVERYTHING into a single setup.exe file, with the needed files (like .net framework) to get extracted at install time.

Now I haven't used nullsofts installer, I am sure it does a decent job..

HOWEVER, I don't see how its in ANYWAY possible that its "so much better" or "more powerful" than INNO.

INNO is fully customizable, allows win32 API calls, etc... you can do ANYTHING you want with it. So how exactly do you get "more powerful" than that??

[RobDog888]

I havent used it either but if I ever need more power I would use something other then the P&D Wiz. I would probably use INNO since it has allot of praise from members here.

Usually the budget is about ehausted when it comes time to create the installation package so time is of the essence. Quick and simple.

[kleinma]

I havent used it either but if I ever need more power I would use something other then the P&D Wiz. I would probably use INNO since it has allot of praise from members here.

Usually the budget is about ehausted when it comes time to create the installation package so time is of the essence. Quick and simple.

well once I created a basic installer for a .NET application, most of the work was simply to replace certain values with what had to do with the app I was making an installer for.

So if I were to make a program today, changing the installer script I have to work with it would take me about 10 minutes

[RhinoBull]

...INNO is fully customizable, allows win32 API calls, etc... you can do ANYTHING you want with it. ...

So does P&DW - full source is available so you can do anything as far as your imagination goes...

[Al42]

So does P&DW - full source is available so you can do anything as far as your imagination goes...

And you can make a single file package out of what it gives you.

[kleinma]

And you can make a single file package out of what it gives you.

From what I recall, the PDW creates a setup.lst, a cab file, a setup.exe, and setup1.exe (the VB6 installer app)


I actually had a bunch of issues with the PDW which made me stop using it, like it would include the wrong dll for projects that referenced mdac, it would also include a C runtime msvcrt.dll that crashed other peoples computers because it was not the correct version.

After I moved to INNO I didn't look back. I even encorporated it into the software that manages our customers, so we can compile and upload software to them on the fly in a setup.exe package.

[RobDog888]

Yes, those are good points for stepping up to another installer. I think it takes a few "issues" to push some of us to look elsewhere other then the P&D Wiz. Without running into issues its hard to see a reason why to change.

[RhinoBull]

I have personally done hundreeds of installs using P&DW myself and yet to run into any major issue.
There is only one (the famous "...file is outdated..." thing) that did give me a bit of headach but that's my job to figure it out.
Also, ALL occurences of that same issue were experienced on NT4 machines.

I'm tired of listening about how bad P&DW is...
It is a serious program that MS simply gave away and if you are serious programmer than make it better - you've got everything you need.

My appologies to anyone who was offended.