CAUG Feb 2014 - Kevin Anderson's talk: Using Inno Setup to Install Access 2013 Runtime Applications

http://www.caug.com/caugtalk-2014-02-inno-rt.html

Inno Setup's advantages over SageKey, Microsoft's Package Solution Wizard:

• Affordable
• Proven
• Stable
• Large customer base

My Primary Goals:

• Runtime install as part of app installation
• Correct desktop icon for path to Access

Secondary Goals:

• Add trusted location registry setting
• Automate support for 64-bit vs 32-bit Versions of Access
• Add signing certificate
• Add automatic signing as part of the build process
• Single-step uninstaller that can uninstall runtime too
• Other conditional install options as needed

Links:

• The Access 2013 product page;  buy it from the Microsoft Store $109.  Want to try it first?  Office 365 Home Premium offers a 1 Month Free trial which entitles you do download Access 2013 (it's $9.99/mo after the trial).

• VirtualBox - Oracle's multi-platform virtualization program, is a faster alternative to Microsoft's Windows-only Virtual PC.

• MS free virtual machines for testing IE; they can be used to test Access 2013 apps too.
• Useful overview on getting the free MS Windows 8 virtual machines working with VirtualBox found in this article from PCWorld: How to test-drive Windows 8 for free in VirtualBox.
• The Access 2013 Runtime download page
• Inno Setup home page
• Albert Kallal on installing Access runtimes
• InnoTools Downloader - tool my demo Inno Setup script uses to download the Access runtime from the web as part of the install process.
• ISTool - visual script editor/generator for .ISS script files
• Boyd Trimmell (HiTechCoach) example Inno Setup file for detecting Access versions and downloading runtime install files
• 64BitTwoArch.iss example script for installing on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows
• StackOverflow discussion on uninstalling an older version as part of the install; an older StackOverflow discussion of same.  StackOverflow clarification of the upgrade/downgrade cases and how they're handled.

BONUS - info on the raffle prize: Robert Aaron's Qubigon magnetic 3-D puzzle: it is available through Amazon or the Brainwright toy company.