The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer

ISBN-13: 9781590592977 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 320 str.

Phil Wilson

Opis

Installing new software is perhaps the most adrenalin-inducing experience you'll have on a computer, aside from whatever games you might play. It's not hard to see why. You give over control of the system to a program that often demands Administrator privilege and that then starts updating some of the most fragile parts of your system. You might know the actual product being installed quite well, but there's rarely any documentation about what the installation of it will do to your system. It might install kernel drivers or Services, it might alter your personal settings without your permission, and it might result in other applications on your system no longer working. For a company building and shipping software, the installation might be the first time the customer has seen your product or your company, and it's your opportunity to make a lasting impression one way or the other. An unreliable installation will affect the cus- tomer's image of you for a long time. The goal of this book is to show you how to build safe and secure installa- tions. Its focus is Windows Installer technology on the Windows NT series of operating systems for Windows 2000 and above, and you'll build example pro- jects as Visual Studio Setup and Deployment Projects. Aside from the actual nuts and bolts of building Windows Installer-based installations, I'll offer advice on how to build a reliable installation and what you should and shouldn't do.

Spis treści

A table of contents is not available for this title.

O autorze

Phil Wilson graduated from the University of Aston in Birmingham, U.K. with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, but he preferred computers to test tubes and eventually worked for 15 years on developing operating systems for Burroughs and Unisys mainframes. Phil started programming for Windows in the early 1990s and has developed in MFC, ATL COM, Visual Basic, and C#. He has been involved in installation design and technology for about eight years, and he became a Microsoft "Most Valuable Professional" for Windows Installer in 2003. To get away from computers, he plays and records guitar, and enjoys camping in the California desert.