I've only started evaluating InstallAnywhere, so please forgive my general ignorance, especially if this is addressed somewhere in the documents.
I'm looking to distribute an installer on a web page. Simple enough. However, I need the installer to be 'seeded' with user-specific information that will be used in the initial setup and execution of my application.
The challenge is that an "ordinary person" (someone like my project manager's mom) can get the installer and user-specific information in a single click. Asking the user to download a second file to save alongside the installer won't be accepted by my project manager. This is in an effort to reduce support calls, as his mom is as likely to misunderstand the instructions as she is to follow them carefully. (I can sort of see his point, but I wonder why he has such a low opinion of his own mother!)
We have full control over the web server that will serve the installer, and can create the arbitrary user-specific information on the fly. Is it possible to get this user-specific info into the installer somehow?
Just a question: how would be the user-generated information file be generated (i.e. the user would fill a webpage and that would give him / her access to the install and the 2nd file?)
Yes, it's more or less a form that the user will enter / verify information. There are some auto-generated bits based on what the user selected before clicking on the link to the installer. Ideally, all this information would be passed into the installer for a single download and execution.
If you control the webserver, I guess that the easiest way would be to generate a text file and maybe a .zip (or a self extract, if .zip file is too complicated for the boss' mom) of both the installer and the text file. The installer will then proceed with the information found in the text file.
