SQL Express as an Option and/or continue if failed option...

[mittelhauser]

Ok how do you suggest that I handle this....

My program uses it's own instance of SQL Express 2005 by default and currently installs it using the application runtime. However, this fails for some people. Ironically, the people who it fails the most often for are ones who are the most technical and often have another instance of SQLExpress or access to a full SQL Server.

Anyway, my program can easily use another instance through it's config file so I'd like to provide the (advanced) option of not installing SQL Express. However, it doesn't appear that "Application Runtimes" are configurable by "Feature". This makes sense for something like .NET which would truly be required but not SQL Express which is optional.

So, how do you suggest that I make installing it an option ... OR at the least, provide the option for the installer to provide a dialog giving the user the option to continue the failed install rather than rollback...

-Jon

[MichaelNesmith]

Hi Jon,

Just customize the pre-built scripts to account for these special cases. You can also use the dialog editor to create a custom dialog for this purpose. If you'd like to start with pre-built dialogs that test a server connection, see the MS SQL Server Connection sample.