Detecting and Deploying Prerequisites

This is the 2nd of a multi-part series on deploying VSTO Applications using NSIS. Part 1 of the series can be found here.

Step 4: Ensuring MSI 3.1 is available

Before proceeding you need to make sure the client computer has MSI 3.1 installed. Click here to find out how.

Step 5: Checking whether Excel is Installed

Being an Excel Worksheet-Level Customization, it makes no sense for this app to be deployed on a computer that doesn’t have MSO Excel 2003 Professional installed. Lets see how we can achieve this. If you do a bit of research you can find out that with VS Deployment Projects, this is achieved by doing a Windows Installer search for the component ID {A2B280D4-20FB-4720-99F7-40C09FBCE10A}.

Since performing a Windows Installer Search is a common and desirable feature, I came up with the following macro:

!macro GenerateMsiSearch functionName componentId 0
    Function ${functionName}
        Push $0
        Push $1
        StrCpy $0 ""
        StrCpy $1 ""

        System::Call "msi::MsiLocateComponent(t '${componentId}', t, *i) i .r1"
        DetailPrint "Component ID: ${componentId} Install State: $1"

        ${If} $1 == '3' ; installed on local drive
            StrCpy $0 '1'
        ${ElseIf} $1 == '4' ; run from source, CD or net
            StrCpy $0 '1'
        ${ElseIf} $1 == '-3' ; Path  to the component returned more data than our buffer can handle. Which means we do have this installed.
        ${Else}
            StrCpy $0 '0'
        ${EndIf}

        Pop $1
        Exch $0
    FunctionEnd
!macroend

When invoked, this macro will generate a function, with the give name that will search for the specified Component ID. So the code to detect Excel 2003 becomes:

!insertmacro GenerateMsiSearch "IsExcelInstalled" "{A2B280D4-20FB-4720-99F7-40C09FBCE10A}" ; Version 2003

Section "MainSection" SEC01 ; Determine whether the user has the required version of Excel installed
    Call IsExcelInstalled
    Pop $0
    ${If} $0 == '0'
        MessageBox MB_OK "A compatible version of Microsoft Office Excel was not found. Setup cannot continue."
        Abort
    ${EndIf}

So, why did I make this a macro that generates a function, and not just a function that accepts the component ID as a parameter? Well, parameter passing is not that straight forward with NSIS, and I believe this leads to much cleaner code at the end.

Step 6: Ensuring .NET 2.0 Runtime is Present

You can find plenty of ways to do this on NSIS web site. Here’s one of them.

Step 7: Ensuring VSTO is Present

!insertmacro GenerateMsiSearch "IsVstoInstalled" "{D2AC2FF1-6F93-40D1-8C0F-0E135956A2DA}"

Function InstallVSTOSE

    Call IsVstoInstalled
    Pop $0

    ${If} $0 == '0'
        SetOutPath '$TEMP'
        SetOverwrite on

        Banner::show /NOUNLOAD "Microsoft VSTO SE..."
        File 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages\vstor\vstor.exe'
        ExecWait '$TEMP\vstor.exe /q:a /c:"install"' $1 ; '$TEMP\vstor.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"' $1
        Delete '$TEMP\vstor.exe'
        Banner::destroy

        ${If} $1 == '0'
            DetailPrint "VSTO 2005 SE was installed successfully."
        ${ElseIf} $0 == '3010'
            SetRebootFlag true
        ${Else}
            DetailPrint 'VSTO 2005 SE Installation failed with error $1'
            Abort
        ${EndIf}
    ${Else}
        DetailPrint 'VSTO 2005 SE already installed.'
    ${EndIf}
FunctionEnd

We now have the scripts in place to deploy the application components as well as the to determine all prerequisites are available. All that is left is to add the boiler place Update Manifest and Set Security code. Easiest way to do this is to bring the code over a new .NET EXE project and pass the installation-dependent (e.g. Installation Path etc.) parameters as command line arguments. You can then execute the EXE as the last step of the installation.

For a little over a year, we’ve been working on a very sophisticated Microsoft Excel 2003 Document Level Customization project. We have nothing but pride towards the ingenuity of this application. But, there was one aspect that consistently overshadowed its success: Deployment.

Visual Studio Deployment Projects help you generate a setup app quickly and easily. It has the ability to look up source projects and determine all the components that need to be deployed. This makes things remarkably easy when you want a rudimentary installation. But, for anything out of the ordinary,  you will find that this offers you very limited help. To workaround these limitations you have to pick up a tool called Orca. Now, here’s where things get really dirty.

To use Orca, you have to have some semblance of the MSI database format. That isn’t actually so bad. A simple search on the Internet will fetch you loads of information regarding the subject. But, figuring out the format is just the beginning. You then have to weed your way using some ugly hacks. That’s not all; you have to reapply those hacks with each build. If you are willing to live with the inconveniences, there’s still a lot you can achieve using Orca. Musical Nerdery has a neat example on the subject.

Anyway, the point is we got sick and tired of working within these constraints and started looking for alternatives. After some serious considerations we opt to go with NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Installer Suite). We were mostly excited about its low footprint and its powerful scripting language. Continue reading “VSTO App Deployment using NSIS – Part 1” →