Installer that update only if minimum version present

[ralvy]

I'm looking for a new installer because my favorite one (Astrum) is officially out of business. One thing that I liked about Astrum is that it allowed me to build an updater that would update the user's installation only if their existing installation had a version number greater or equal to a given number. Can I do this with Actual Installer?

[Leo]

Actual Installer allows you to create update programs. But there is no specific feature to check an existing installation version.
However there is a solution: by using Actual Installer variables and commands.

First, you need to read a version number of currently installed application (whis is stored in Registry).
To do so, go to the System \ Variables page and add:

Code: Select all

Variable Name: <CurVer>
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*My Cool App*
Value Name: DisplayVersion
Type Value: STRING
Default Value: <AppVersion>

*My Cool App* - here should be your application name (you can use a variable <AppName>) or ProductID (e.g. {107F5F2E-A974-75C9-2237-5F98A87E8BB0}).
It depends on the installation program you used for earlier installations.

OK, now a variable <CurVer> containts a version number, e.g. 5.0

Next, we need to comapre this version number with the number specified on the General \ Information page of the update program.
Go to the System \ Commands page and add:

Code: Select all

Command: <SystemDir>\cmd.exe
Parameters: /C IF /I "<CurVer>" GEQ "<AppVersion>" ("<SetupTempDir>\msg.bat")
Launch on OS: All
Show: Normal
Launch: Before Installation
Wait: Yes

GEQ - greater than or equal
<SetupTempDir>\msg.bat - this batch file will be executed if the result of comparing is true. It just shows some message.


Example of the msg.bat file:

Code: Select all

@ECHO off
ECHO The latest version is already installed.
ECHO It is strongly recommended to not continue with the installation!
PAUSE

[Leo]

New version 5.3 of Actual Installer has a version comparing feature.
So if a user is trying to install or update the application that is already has a version number greater or equal to version about to be installed, setup program will warning the user.