Download the latest version

[Pc_Not_Mac]

Hello, I was thinking of allowing .msi contact my server and request the lastets version of the software.
For example let say the user downloaded version 1.0.0.0 of the application, but latest version 1.0.0.5.
How would i force the installer upgrade to the newer version?
P.s
I don't know if this feature evening available.
This is just for educational reasons.

[Pc_Not_Mac]

105 views with no replies
Is this even possible?
I was thinking of allowing the application check on start up for a new version, but imagine how this will look like.

1.)You download version 1.0.0.0.
2.)You start the wizard and install.
3.)The application starts up and finds new update.
4.)Downloads a wizard.
5.)Forces the user to uninstall version 1.0.0.0.
5.)Forces the user to run it again.
6.)Starts the application.

Does anyone less see this being a pain?
What can i do?

[dilettante]

Hello, I was thinking of allowing .msi contact my server and request the lastets version of the software.

What do you mean by ".msi" here?

MSI is "Microsoft Installer" which was renamed Windows Installer a long time ago. My guess is that you really mean a .msi file, i.e. a deployment package. These are actually just databases and can't contact anything, so you probably mean you want to add directives to make MSIEXEC.EXE do this when it processes the Actions table in the .msi database. Ok.

Well you can add things like script or DLL Custom Actions to do almost anything, but once an install has started it isn't really practical to start another install.


Your next post changes the story a little.

Checking in the installed and running application is probably more practical. Windows Installer doesn't do anything to help with checking for new versions or downloading them, but it does offer patching techniques you might use if your application does the checking and downloading. Some of the features supporting such things require later versions of Windows Installer (some of which are not available before Windows 7). Though a lot of these features go back as far as the 1.1 release some important features require at least the 3.0 Installer.

This is just for educational reasons.

In that case you might not want to put in the effort required. This can be a big subject because doing it correctly can entail so many small things.

You might take a look at Patching and Upgrades for an overview.

[Pc_Not_Mac]

dilettante i have no idea what want to do.
I'm going to focus on developing for now