I work with a group that is asking for some advice regarding workflow automation of a package they currently build using an older version of InstallShield Express. They have testers work with a fresh daily build of their package each day, and are looking to automate the package build/deploy process as much as possible.
Their question is whether InstallShield or AdminStudio would be able to do some/all of the following:
Each day at a specified time, build a group of files & folders at \\network_location\ into an MSI. Files would be updated on a regular basis; less frequently, new files would be added while others would be removed. The overall folder structure would probably remain the same but could potentially change over time, although \\network_location\ would always remain the same.
That's really the main part I'm not certain about, and so wanted to ask the community. After the MSI gets created, I'm thinking we could leverage SCCM to deploy and install to the desired target PCs.
Strange that this question has come up so many times lately...
The answer is that you can set this up as you're envisioning.
Here's what I said in a post recently:
Regarding being able to dynamically add files to your project...I've said before that some will disagree with me, but I still think a situation like you're in demands components that use Dynamic File Links to determine which files are included. Adding a dedicated component for every file is just a maintenance nightmare in the real world. I explained it in a lot more detail in this post.
I'm not fully aware of what the Automation Interface can do, specifically whether you can use it to establish an automated build framework. We use it to update things in the project like the ProductVersion, Properties, ProductCode, and Path Variables. However, we use home-grown intranet web pages and Perl scripts to allow our inhouse staff to request MSI packages. Our configuration management team has been using Hudson + Visual Build Pro to do similar things.
