No Automation folder

For all your non-technical questions.
johnbyerly
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:30 pm

No Automation folder

Postby johnbyerly » Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:35 pm

Hi,

I downloaded and installed InstallAware Developer to evaluate. I was looking for examples of the automation interface and saw that there are some in the Automation folder in the install folder. However, there is no Automation folder in the install folder. Here are the folders I have:

authenticode
Dialogs
drm
group policy
html
interop
ivpb
Plug-Ins
runtimes
Samples
Templates
trans
Visual Studio Add-In

When I installed InstallAware, I selected the install minimum option. Is this the problem? If so, how can I get the Automation folder (and example code).

Or is there some other way?

Thanks!

JAB

FrancescoT
Site Admin
Posts: 5360
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:28 am

Re: No Automation folder

Postby FrancescoT » Mon Apr 15, 2013 8:04 am

Dear JAB,

the IA Automation interface is available with InstallAware Studio Admin edition only.

Please have a look at the following link for list of features included with each IA editions.
http://www.installaware.com/right-edition.htm

Regards

NOTE
This post has been moved to Pre-Sales topic
Francesco Toscano
InstallAware Software

White Papers (HowTos) - http://www.installaware.com/publication ... papers.htm
Publications - http://www.installaware.com/publications-review.htm
InstallAware Help -F1 anywhere in the InstallAware IDE

johnbyerly
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:30 pm

Re: No Automation folder

Postby johnbyerly » Mon Apr 15, 2013 9:12 am

The comparison of the editions says "Web Based Automation Interface". There is nothing about my application, the install image, or the deployment that has anything to do with the web.

Are you really saying that IA has no interface available to automate building other than through the command line? That is, other than the Studio Admin edition?

JAB

FrancescoT
Site Admin
Posts: 5360
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:28 am

Re: No Automation folder

Postby FrancescoT » Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:16 am

Dear Jab,

... I suppose that what you are searching for it is not the "Automation" InstallAware interface, but the InstallAware "Command Line Build Tools" utility (MiaBuild).
If true, of course the "Command Line Build Tools" utility is included with IA Developer edition.
(Please refer to "Building from the Command Line" in IA documentation for more detailed info).

am I wrong?

Regards
Francesco Toscano
InstallAware Software

White Papers (HowTos) - http://www.installaware.com/publication ... papers.htm
Publications - http://www.installaware.com/publications-review.htm
InstallAware Help -F1 anywhere in the InstallAware IDE

johnbyerly
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:30 pm

Re: No Automation folder

Postby johnbyerly » Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:32 am

Okay, maybe I need to take a step back here.

This is what we are trying to do: I have a little program that we use to automate the checkout, build, building of an install image, and uploading of the install image. I was searching for an interface that could be called (via direct DLL call (yuck!), COM (yuck!), or .NET) from my little build program to build the install image. I just got done singing the praises of InstallAware to my boss because I discovered in the documentation that such an interface existed. Of course, the documentation said nothing about the fact that you had to purchase the Studio Admin version to get it.

(As a side note, after I told my boss that IA may be the way to go for us, I discovered that we would have to either purchase a floating license (for the Developer edition) or a license for the Studio edition to be able to develop on one machine and do automatic nightly builds on the other. So, the competitive upgrade discount to switch from InstallShield was all but eaten up and it would cost nearly the same amount for InstallAware (with discount) as for InstallShield (no discount) to get the same features. But, we are not big fans of InstallShield, so we thought we might give InstallAware a shot. Now it appears that to get the automation we wanted (and can get from InstallShield), we need to cough up even more money. Even with the discount, it will now cost us $1000 more to go with InstallAware.)

So, given the above description, my assumption is that, for a company with a limited budget, our only option to automate the build is to shell out to the command line to build the install image. Is this correct, or am I missing something?

JAB

FrancescoT
Site Admin
Posts: 5360
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:28 am

Re: No Automation folder

Postby FrancescoT » Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:36 pm

Dear Jab,

the InstallAware Automation interface is much more then a simple tool, but it is an SDK that allows to programmatically emit and build complete setup projects. In other words, You can programmatically do what you do using the IA IDE.

So, given the above description, my assumption is that, for a company with a limited budget, our only option to automate the build is to shell out to the command line to build the install image. Is this correct, or am I missing something?


If your requirements are limited to automate the build process only, I really suppose that the best solution is to use our command line build tool.

Regards
Francesco Toscano
InstallAware Software

White Papers (HowTos) - http://www.installaware.com/publication ... papers.htm
Publications - http://www.installaware.com/publications-review.htm
InstallAware Help -F1 anywhere in the InstallAware IDE

johnbyerly
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:30 pm

Re: No Automation folder

Postby johnbyerly » Mon Apr 15, 2013 1:48 pm

This is an unfortunate misunderstanding. And your web page that compares InstallAware to InstallShield is misleading (at best) or fraudulent. Under the heading "Web Based Automation Interface" InstallAware has a bullet and InstallShield does not. Now, I know for a fact that InstallShield Spring 2012 has an automation interface (DLL and COM). And it comes with their Professional edition, which is somewhere between your Developer and Studio editions.

InstallAware truly may be a superior product to InstallShield. But it is very frustrating to find out that many of the claims come with significant caveats.

Incidentally, our requirements are not limited to automating the build process. I assumed, possibly incorrectly, that InstallAware could do what InstallShield does, so I started my evaluation on the fringes. Unfortunately, I will now have to make doubly sure that InstallAware can perform as well as the documentation claims, and that it is not going to cost us an arm and a leg to get what InstallShield just requires an arm for.

Our application requires the installation of 15 unmanaged DLLs and between 5 and 8 mixed and managed DLLs as well as a handful of 3rd party DLLs. We also need an installer that can handle DifX, as well as be easily customizable for our 20 to 30 private labels. There are several configuration files, other supporting files, and a second application. In the previous version of our product, we used InstallShield, but that was before we started moving to .NET. Since we are shaking things up, we decided to look for a different installer.

JAB

FrancescoT
Site Admin
Posts: 5360
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:28 am

Re: No Automation folder

Postby FrancescoT » Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:47 am

Dear JAB,

you are totally free to have your personal opinions and we have no intention of forcing you to change them.
But from here to say that our website provides "fraudulent" information, honestly I believe it is inappropriate and even offensive.

I'm sorry for the limitation that you have with your current budget, but our sales terms regarding the features included with each IA product are strictly defined.

You are welcome to continue to discuss with us of any problem that you may have with using our products or related, to any other pre-sales question, but only if this is confined to the purpose of this forum board.

Regards
Francesco Toscano
InstallAware Software

White Papers (HowTos) - http://www.installaware.com/publication ... papers.htm
Publications - http://www.installaware.com/publications-review.htm
InstallAware Help -F1 anywhere in the InstallAware IDE

johnbyerly
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:30 pm

Re: No Automation folder

Postby johnbyerly » Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:14 pm

My point was this: the reason for the comparison on the web site between InstallShield and InstallAware is to inform potential customers of what each product has. And I get that a company that posts such information is going to slant it in their favor. That appears to be the way of the world, even if it is not totally honest. But to say that your software contains a feature and that the competitor's does not is, well, fraudulent.

The dictionary defines fraud as deceit or trickery. So, as I said, the comparison between InstallAware and InstallShield was either misleading or (deceit or trickery).

Why does this matter? Because I have invested, and continue to invest, a significant amount of time trying to evaluate products that meet our needs. While I was disappointed with the price of InstallShield Professional, at least I knew what the professional edition contained. When I searched InstallAware for information about automation, I found that there was an automation interface. However, nowhere in that documentation were the words, "This interface is only available in the Studio Admin edition of InstallAware". Why not? In fact, I wasted the better part of a day looking for the samples, and finally posted a message to this forum. Your response was to direct me to the web page where there is a feature comparison of the editions, which mentioned a web-based interface. More time is wasted as I tried to get clarification for that.

Incidentally, if you are disappointed by the fact that my opinions have been made public, consider the fact that when I click on Support on the web site, I am directed to this forum. I would much rather contacted someone over the phone and discussed this one on one. So, please don't blame me if the web site and documentation are misleading and I make my opinions about it public. Perhaps a better course of action would be to correct the problem.

JAB

johnbyerly
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:30 pm

Re: No Automation folder

Postby johnbyerly » Tue Apr 16, 2013 1:01 pm

!!!Correction!!!

I said the feature comparison only makes mention of "Web Based Automation Interface". Not sure how I missed this, but I see that the feature comparison for the editions, as well as the feature comparison to InstallShield contains an entry for "Automation Interface". I also see that it correctly states that InstallShield has an automation interface.

I am sorry I missed this and ranted about it.

JAB
(Now, if you want to put another plus in the InstallAware column, add an entry for .NET Automation Interface, which InstallShield doesn't have. Theirs is DLL and COM)

FrancescoT
Site Admin
Posts: 5360
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:28 am

Re: No Automation folder

Postby FrancescoT » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:29 am

:D
Francesco Toscano
InstallAware Software

White Papers (HowTos) - http://www.installaware.com/publication ... papers.htm
Publications - http://www.installaware.com/publications-review.htm
InstallAware Help -F1 anywhere in the InstallAware IDE


Return to “Non-Technical”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 33 guests