Hi,

    I wish to create an MSI to allow the installation of a basic ASP.Net 2.0 Web Application.  The app has no db connectivity.  It just returns a string on a default page.  How do I create the MSI to allow the installer to define the directory on the machine it is to be deployed on to.  I have tried a Web Setup Project, and A Web Deployment Project but don't seem to be able to find the option to allow the installation folder to be set at runtime - can anyone help me please?

Thanks

Andrew

Hi,

    I found an answer to this question.  I found a great blog post on Scott Guthries Blog which goes through using Visual Studio Web Deployment Projects and Creating an MSI for the project/website - http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/11/06/429723.aspx 

 Then I found a great article on Code Project which details how to use Orca from the Windows Server 2003 SDK to modify the MSI to allow the implementation of the choose directory to install to as opposed to accepting the standard c:\inetpub\wwwroot path - http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/11/06/429723.aspx

 This is exactly what I want to be able to do for installation of my projects/sites as we install to a different location than c:\inetpub\wwwroot and we give the MSI to an infrastructure team to deploy so this saves having to hard code the installation path too.

 Hope this helps others

 Cheers

Andrew

Hi Andrew, Just inserting the proper link:

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/ChangeVDirWebSetupProject.asp

Hi,

    Can we do the same things with a .Net 1.1 web setup project?

    We can't use Orca with .NET 1.1 I guess, because when I go through microsoft for downloading it, the system requirement for it listed, .NET 3.0.

    Any help on this?

Regards, 

Savita

LaTtEX:

Hi Andrew, Just inserting the proper link:

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/ChangeVDirWebSetupProject.asp

Whoops didn't realise I'd copied the link to Scott's blog twice.  Thanks for that.

Cheers

Andrew

Hi,

   I've been in touch with the Windows SDK Team and they have said that the Windows SDK has a requirement that .Net Framework 2.0 is installed, it does not have a requirement on .Net 3.0.  And you should be able to use Orca with any version of the framework as it is unmanaged and not dependent on .Net Framework

Orca is supplied as orca.msi in the SDK.  Download the SDK and just install the Orca.msi if thats all you need although I'm not sure if you need to install the SDK first. 

 Hope this helps.

 Cheers

Andrew

Hi,

    Now, i am able to download orca and I updated the installer msi according to the steps mentioned in the CodeProject artical, but during tranformed installer execution on Welcome dialog, clicking on next button gives following error:

The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error cde is 2810.

I built the old installer through Visual Studio 2003 web setup project, and it is working fine but the transformed one is not. 

What could be the problem? If it can;t be used with VS 2003, is there any other alternative for the same?

Regards,

Savita 

Hi,

   sorry it's taken a couple of days for me to get back to you.  I've set up a sample .Net1.1 application and tested modifying the MSI.

I found a list of Windows Installer Error codes at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372835.aspx.  The details of the 2810 is as follows:

"On the dialog[2] the next control pointers do not form a cycle.  There is a pointer from [3] to [4] but there is no further pointer." 

I had a look at the resultant MSI in Orca from the transform as per the code project article and it seems for .Net1.1 you will need to make a modification to the WebFolderForm Row which adds the BrowseButton, you need to change the Control_Next to be DiskCost

I way I interpretted the error message was that the MSI that is created with the orginal transform results in two controls on the WebFolderForm which both have the Control_Next to be Cancel and this is what was throwing the error, so I went through and found the button/edit control which didn't receive focus on the form - in this case DiskCost.

Plus part of the reason the transform doesn't map straight away is because in .Net 1.1 Web Setup Projects also enable the setting of the port number.

Give this a go and let me know how you get on.

Cheers

Andrew

Hi,

    Thank You for the timely help. I could able to get rid of that problem, apart from the fact that, the Control_Next for PortEdit i not changing to InstalEdit. I had added one row in the transformation file for this change. But still it was not reflecting.

    After making this change, when I installed my websetup, I found that, it is not saving to my said target directory, but into 'C:\IntetPub\wwwroot' only. :(.

    I find everything is fine in the msi file. QAny other changes to be done for .Net 1.1 project?

Regards,

Savita

Hi,

    Now that I am able to get rid of all errors and able to install the application at my desired location. But it is not creating the virtual directory at all.');" title="Sad - ">

    Is there anything to do for this?

 Regards,

Savita         

Hi, erveryone,

Great! This is just what i want.

Thank you!