InstallAware

Not sure if this has been asked and answered, so I apologize in advance if this is redundant.

Can I create an installation that is located on a network server, place a shortcut to that installation on client machines and then have the installation check to see if the user has the program installed or needs an update to their currently installed program prior to running the program?

Does that make sense?

So the steps would be (in other words):

1. Network admin places installation program on the LAN
2. Network admin places a shortcut on client machines pointing to installation program.
3. User double clicks on shortcut and the installation program determines if the user has the program or needs an update to the program and then proceeds with an install.
4. The program starts up.

Can InstallAware help me in this situation? Is there a better way to achieve this?

Thanks in advance,
Sean

Yes, this is in fact very easy to do.

If you create a new InstallAware setup and place its shortcut, the following is typically what happens:

1) If the product is not installed, end-user gets a welcome page
2) If the product is installed and is the latest version, end-user gets a maintenance page
3) If the product is installed but is not the latest version, end-user gets an "uninstall previous version to install the new version" page

So if you just customized these standard dialogs - without even needing to modify your setup script, you could achieve the effect you want. And if you need more custom behavior, you could just make the necessary changes to your setup script. The logic that checks for the necessary cases is already there - you'd just customize it a little further.