Evaluating versions

[ddormier]

I own a small software company using VB6 SP6 and the MS P&D Wizard to build and ship software. I've also modified the setup1 program to handle the special cases needed for my software. The P&D Wizard suits my needs for new installations but doesn't play nice for updates and packages. For these, I've been using WINZip self-extracting files and manually delivering them to my customers (via Email or Snail-mail).

Currently, I'm looking for a solution that will enable my customers to download product updates from my web site. The solution must also allow me to verify the customer attempting the download (via My SQL - also on my web site) and self-terminate if not validated.

In the future, I'm looking to extend the above solution to utilize online registration and activation features during the initial installation.

Which of the InstallAware versions will let me do this? I've been studying the Express Help files, but, am unclear if I would be able to retrieve from the user their customer information through the standard dialogs (Express version). Or if I would need the Developer or Studio version.

Also, do you have any higher-level overviews and\\or sample solution models of InstallAware projects available? I'm still stuck in P&D Wizard-land.

[sinan]

I think you'll need Studio, so you can customize the dialogs and prompt your users with the correct fields for information to verify their registration/activation.

If you feel the standard dialogs provided may suffice, Developer will also do - you do need scripting to post data to your servers for authentication and Developer does have that. Studio adds dialog editing on top of scripting, so if you have a need for customized dialogs, you'll need Studio.

[LarryinLA]

Hi, I have a gamesite where the game client is downloaded for play. It is free and there are no restrictions on who downloads that game but keeping the client constantly uptodate is an important issue. We would like to add new art and features easily. Can we do whatever we need with InstallAware Express?

An entirely different question for a future installation. Will this product be able to support individualized downloads? Meaning, could you set it to download specialized information, depending upon the user? This would allow us to customize art in the future between players.

Thanks

[sinan]

Yes, I believe you can do both with InstallAware, but you will need custom scripting for those - so definitely Developer or above.