We're looking at buying InstallShield Pro for a specific job but need someone to confirm it can do what we want before we spend the $$$ and hours learning how to use it.
We need to deploy a field laptop application that uses an Oracle XE (Express Edition) database, but we want the non-technical end-users to be able to install it themselves rather than send the laptop back to base. We note that Oracle Corporation themselves used InstallShiled for the lightweight Oracle XE Windows version (all other Oracle products use the java-based Oracle Universal Installer).
If we want to provide the end user with a single idiot-proof setup that installs Oracle XE, loads a database, adds an ODBC data source then loads the other software all in one go, do we need to:
1. Have our setup run the Oracle XE setup first using a response file in silent mode, then wait until that completes before continuing with a script to load the database, then install the other software components we need? If so, if the Pro version what we need?
or
2. Is there some way we can look inside the Oracle MSI package and somehow "repackage" it so that we can combine what it does with the script to load the database and install the other software compents we need?
and
3. If we do 1 or 2, will an "uninstall" removed the lot?
I ran through the tutorials and found the simplest way was to add the Oracle InstallShield Setup (OracleXE.exe) as a "prerequisite" so the main Setup launches that first with a silent response file before continuing. No reboot is needed, so as soon as it's finishes, my Setup can resume with a SQL script to silently create the Tablespaces, add the users and load the data from an export before finally installing the remaining software components. It seems too easy.
