Product Review: InstallAware
It is so common to distribute software as installers, that so many installation solutions are available in the market.
Even though I am just running a small open source project named Code Beautifier Collection, I have to make a good quality installer to please users.
Inno Setup
I have been using Inno Setup for a long time. Generally speaking, with help of Pascal Script support, I could do nearly everything in the installer to provide as many features as I can imagine.
However, it is not yet a perfect solution too. Its main disadvantages are,
- Inno Setup installers are Microsoft standard compliant. You should create MSI installers in order to pass the certifications.
- Inno Setup does not provide a powerful wizard to guide newbies. The learning curve is tough. That’s why I spent so much time learning it.
- Pascal Script authoring is really hard and sometimes error prone. Usually I wrote the script in Delphi, test it and then copy back to Inno script file.
InstallAware Studio
When I install InstallAware I soon understand why Marco Cantu find it professional.
I think Ribbon UI is cool but I prefer a VS-like UI.
Compared to Inno Setup, IA has some main advantages,
- IA creates standard MSI installers.
- IA allows you to work with wizards and with script based development simultaneously.
- MSIcode can be debugged within IA. This reminds of modern IDEs such as Delphi and C++Builder. Meanwhile, you do need to type MSIcode manually and every line is generated using a panel and wizard, so you can make fewer mistakes.
IA provides professional dialog templates, web deploy and other advanced features which I do not want to touch right now. They are cool, but maybe required only by large projects such as CodeGear Delphi and C++Builder.
In all, it is nice to have a copy of IA. It really reduces the complexity of creating a powerful installer.