InstallAware

Hello! From what i've seen it looks like this is the best installer to handle detecting an instance of sql 2005 express and install it if not found.
what i'm dealing with is that i have an application i've developed that currently uses an access MDB file for storing the data. i'd really like to get away from that and move to sql express and embed sql express in the installer. if i go with the $299.00 version of installaware can i detect an sql express instance and install my instance name if not found? are there prebuilt scripts to aid me on this? also as far as using the tables already in my mdb file, i'll need to somehow have those tables automatically setup during the install or afterwards automatically. can this be done? if it can is it very complex to achieve? are there documents explaining how to do it or prebuilt example scripts?

thanks!

Hi,

I'm not sure which edition you're referring to as the $299 version. If you're thinking of Express, which is $199, this will be quite hard to do.

We have a special running right now for the Studio version, which you can get for just $509 - this will be the best value you can get , its part of the Internet Explorer 7 campaign we've got that expires this Friday, so I'd not miss out on that if I were you.

Checking for and installing your custom named instance of SQL Express is very easy. Also, you can run your own database script to create your initial database - these are all pre-built items that are available right inside the visual portion of the IDE, so it should be smooth sailing.

I just saw this response : (
I was going to go ahead and get the studio version today if i could get that discount price. any way i can still get that? been out of town away from email.