Designing an installer

[jonnyboy12]

Hello. I am working on many c++ programs right now that are mostly run in the form of an exe. I have noticed that most programs that i aquire from other people have some sort of installer. I can see how you would need to get all program files in one place. Why don't people just use on big batch file? Whats is the normal procedure for making an installer and why do people do it? I use ms visual, thanks people.

[nezachem]

0. The installer makes end users comfortable.
1. An end user is more or less sure that the thing she installs is what it claims to be. See bullet 0.
2. Most applications need third party libraries, drivers, services, registry settings, and whatnot (not to mention previous versions and cross-version compatibility). Most of the times these prerequisites contradict the target system's setup, and have to be resolved. The installer takes care on the issue (or at least it prevents the catastrophe). See bullet 0.
3. The installer knows - and records - what's been installed, which makes possible to undo the installation. See bullet 0.
4. I might forget other reasons. What's important is bullet 0.

[adityatandon]

Well.. i got ur point. Coz i made an installer exe file myself, coz i needed it for a project recently.. There are two ways this can be done..

1) Using WinRAR
2) Using an inbuilt utility in windows

First Option
Create a RAR file out of the project( basically put ur exe in a RAR file) and then on the menu bar.. where it gives options like add, extract to etc etc with symbols, the last option is SFX, which stands for self extracting archive... Use that to create a file which will work to install ( or make it appear as if its installing ur file ).

Second Option
On ur computer, search for an executable file called 'iexpress.exe'. This allows u to create Self extracting executables, which when run can make it look like a software.

Hope that solves ur query :)