Silent Install

[tritan]

I have a about 15 users and I'm looking to have our desktop support group install the newest version of PL/SQL Developer onto our desktops. Is there a "silent" install that can be used with a parameter or 'answer file' for the key?

Thanks

 

[Marco Kalter]

You can either create a single PL/SQL Developer installation on a file server and provide a shortcut for all registered users, or copy the central installation to the clients. PL/SQL Developer does not require any other files than the ones in its installation directory.

------------------
Marco Kalter
Allround Automations

 

[tritan]

Thanks Marco,

But that means that someone has to type in the key code for each install. I was looking for a way to SMS (Systems Management Server) or 'package' it so that there was 'NO Response' necessary by the end user. ie. we could install it during the evening or without them even knowing.

Thanks,
Tritan

 

[Taz]

Does the lastest major version of PL/SQL Developer 6.0 has the capability of silent installs, and/or allow silent package being built and deploy using remote tool such as SMS 2003?

 

[Marco Kalter]

When you unpack the installation files, or perform a normal installation, you will find instructions for a silent install in the install.txt file:

Scripted installation
---------------------

In addition to the normal installation procedure, you can also create a script
for unattended installation. To do this, you need to modify the setup.ini
file. This file has a [AutoSetup] group with several values to control the
installation process. You can define the following values:

 * Silent
   Indicates if the setup process runs invisible and automatically, can be
   true or false (default).
   When silent is false, the values below act as defaults in the setup
   application.

 * LicenseAgreement
   Indicates if the license agreement will be shown, can be true (default) or
   false

 * Language
   The language that will be used (enter the filename, like dutch.lang)

 * Path
   The installation directory (default "Program Files"\PLSQL Developer)

 * CreateGroup
   Indicates if a PL/SQL Developer group with shortcuts should be created, can
   be true (default) or false.

 * CreateGroupIn
   The group where the PL/SQL Developer shortcuts will be created.

 * CreateShortcut
   Indicates if a shortcut on the desktop should be created, can be true
   (default) or false.

 * TemplateFiles
   Indicates if the template files should be installed, can be true (default)
   or false

 * KeywordFiles
   Indicates if the keyword files should be installed, can be true (default)
   or false

 * ExternalExecute
   Allows you to run an external application after setup has finished
   successfully.

 * AutoStart
   Indicates if PL/SQL Developer should be started after installation, can be
   true or false (default)

To create a completely silent install that will automatically start PL/SQL
Developer after installation you can define the section like this:

[AutoSetup]
Silent=true
LicenseAgreement=false
Language=
Path=
CreateGroup=true
CreateGroupIn=
CreateShortcut=true
TemplateFiles=true
KeywordFiles=true
ExternalExecute=
AutoStart=true

NOTE:
Before you can modify the installation process you need to get the installation
files. For the trial version you can use winzip to extract all files from the
exe file. For the registered version you can run the setup that asks for the
product code, and keep the ctrl key pressed when selecting the OK button. This
will bring up a dialog where you can select a destination directory.

 

[michaeldias]

Question regarding a custom installation from the unpacked files.

When a new patch or version is released I want to keep my custom installation. Would I just need to replace the executables and help files? If not where it be documented what files change between minor versions?

 

[Marco Kalter]

You can either replace the setup.ini file in the new installation with the modified version, or replace all other files in the old installation.

 

[michaeldias]

I have changed the unpackaged setup area to suit our needs and am very happy about the way in which this can easily be configured.

We are running the program from a file server and allowing some users to install the program on their machines - which is a requirement for them).

The HTML documentation is on a file server and the books folder for the indices has been copied across as part of the install. Post setup I use the setup.ini ( ExternalExecute= ) to run in registry fixes to finish the install. (regedit.exe /s allround_fix.reg). This enables help to be accessed immediately.

The one problem I have encountered is that when it runs for the first time the registry key
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Allround Automations\PL/SQL Developer\Docking]

is overwritten so I lose the setting for the docked window list that I had set up. There may be more things that can get overwritten but none that I could find. Can the install be changed to either not do this or to install the registry keys on setup so that the ExternalExecute call overwrites any default parameters.

Many many thanks,
Michael

 

[Marco Kalter]

The one problem I have encountered is that when it runs for the first time the registry key
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Allround Automations\PL/SQL Developer\Docking]
is overwritten

That should not happen. We'll check it out and will try to fix it.

 

[michaeldias]

Slightly more information: when I run a batch file that calls setup and then my registry file everything works fine. When the setup.ini references a batch file to import the registry all keys get imported except the docking one gets overwritten.

 

[Marco Kalter]

Okay, thanks for letting me know.

 

[michaeldias]

Last thing. I have to change the unpackaged setup files to contain a read only params.ini file otherwise the setup overwrites it with a default version.