[RESOLVED] Package and deployment VB question

I've looked in the setup1.vbp to try and figure this out, but I'm having a little trouble with it this morning.

First my situation:
I need to write an Autorun program for a custom project CD, not merely autorunning a setup program this is going to be a GUI for the CD basically.

The problem I know I'm going to run into is if a person tries to run my CD on a computer that does not have VB runtimes or any of the non basic controls I may use in the interface.

Now I know the Package and Deployment wizard has a way of copying over and registering all controls previous to running the installation program, this is the code I was looking for. I figured if I could incorporate it into my program then I could just have it copy and register the files and then run my executable as normal.

This is the part where I get confused, in setup1.vbp for the package and deployment wizard, the program is set to start on frmSetup1.. so of course I go there and look in the Form_Load sub, and only thing I can find is this note:

VB Code:

'
    ' The Setup Bootstrapper (SETUP.EXE) copies SETUP1.EXE and SETUP.LST to
    ' the end user's windows directory.  Information required for setup such
    ' as setup flags and fileinfo is read from the copy of SETUP.LST found in
    ' that directory.
    '

So am I assuming correctly that there is another application that pre runs before the actual Setup file that this program creates? Is there anywhere I can access the source for that application, or can someone tell me a way to duplicate it's actions?

I imagine you can do that but PDW isn't the best option for that. What you would need to do is to create two setups and a seperate program. One would run the other one after installing the VB Runtime files and what else you wanted to accomplish.

I actuall worte a small C program that did that for use. I did the build with all required parts in the exe (it was preety small). That started first then called the installation routines for the choice that the user would make.

I thought about doing just that Gary, was contemplating it since I made that post earlier today... the problem is I have littel knowledge in c coding. I can usually read it and follow it but have never created my own program in it. So I'd be doing a lot of research and code copying in order to get that done in C on my own at this point :)

And Randem sorry I think I misconveyed my message to you, I realize it would take 2 seperate installations. VB unfortunately apparently has no way of creating a executable that requires no runtime files to be installed on the system in order to install the runtimes that the other executable would need. I'd have to do it through C++ or have someone do it for me. I was using the PDW purely because it was the only VB app that I knew of that I thought accomplished this task in VB only, but apparently I was wrong because their initial setup.exe is not VB.

Thanks for the reply's, if anyone feels like helping me on a simple app to copy and register a list of files and then shell out another file I'm open to the help! :)

Use Inno Setup... No program coding involved. Just use the scripting language to do it. Really simple...

You still arn't understanding it Randem... I dont want a full setup file. I want a simple application to load without any setup crap.

You pop the cd in your computer it autoruns loads the dlls it needs and loads the GUI program for the CD, I dont want the user to have to install the GUI.

Now if inno setup has a way to do this without going through a full setup then yeah that could work but I was under the impression that it was just like any other installer and would run a full fledged installation.

What do you think would be in the installation besides what you put in it??? :confused:

If all you want to load are dll's and the GUI... Just load that.

You could even run it silently...

I got inno setup to do what I wanted it to do thanks for the suggestion Randem. I had just never used it and didnt realize I could do it where there would be no user interaction which is the main thing I was after. And it's even capable of running the exe file from the CD using the {src} constant... pretty nice. I'll prob use inno setup more often now, it was easier than using Wise to setup Windows Installer.

Great!! A powerful yet simple tool...