[New installer]

Who's to say our dependency checking won't get more complicated in the future? What if we run into a wall where NSIS can't do something we need it to do? With our solution we have complete flexibility. There's no reason to use NSIS just for the sake of using NSIS, and it does not "work better" for our needs.

NSIS allows you to write plugins in C/C++/Delphi. So that means that if you can do it in C, you can do it with NSIS.

-dandaman32

[New installer]

NSIS has a function that can check for .NET framework. This way you can at least drop "SetupShim.exe"

 Function IsDotNETInstalled
  Push $0
  Push $1
  Push $2
  Push $3
  Push $4

  ReadRegStr $4 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \
    "Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework" "InstallRoot"
  # remove trailing back slash
  Push $4
  Exch $EXEDIR
  Exch $EXEDIR
  Pop $4
  # if the root directory doesn't exist .NET is not installed
  IfFileExists $4 0 noDotNET

  StrCpy $0 0

  EnumStart:

    EnumRegKey $2 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \
      "Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\Policy"  $0
    IntOp $0 $0 + 1
    StrCmp $2 "" noDotNET

    StrCpy $1 0

    EnumPolicy:

      EnumRegValue $3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \
        "Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\Policy\$2" $1
      IntOp $1 $1 + 1
       StrCmp $3 "" EnumStart
        IfFileExists "$4\$2.$3" foundDotNET EnumPolicy

  noDotNET:
    StrCpy $0 0
    Goto done

  foundDotNET:
    StrCpy $0 1

  done:
    Pop $4
    Pop $3
    Pop $2
    Pop $1
    Exch $0
FunctionEnd

And directly out of my installer's source:

Call IsDotNETInstalled
Pop $0
StrCmp $0 1 +4
MessageBox MB_OK|MB_ICONINFORMATION "The installer was unable to detect the Microsoft .NET Framework.  $(^Name) requires the .NET Framework in order to run.$\n$\nPlease click OK to exit Setup."
ExecShell open "http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&displaylang=en"
Quit

You can see that this works better than having a whole separate program do nothing but check for .NET framework!

As for your translation problem, the ExperienceUI has a German translation creation in progress.

Also your installer network is over 1 MB, mine is <800kb, this can make a difference for dialup users.

-dandaman32

[New installer]

Screenshot:

-dandaman32

[New installer]

I noticed how Paint.NET is installed...you wrote an MSI package that contains the data, your own UI, and an NSIS-based wrapper, I'm guessing for the compresson.

The installation works, but why do you have, like, three different stub loaders before the users actually see the installer window? Perhaps you don't see what you're missing in NSIS... :?

I have written a new installer entirely in NSIS. It was tested on a computer that had never seen the light of Paint.NET, and it worked seamlessly. It was originally developed for Beta 3, but at the last minute I updated it for 2.5b4.

The full NSIS source code for the installer itself is included, but it was developed using a currently unreleased version of the ExperienceUI and you will need the ExperienceUI version 1.1M2 (currently release pending, but I made it so I can do what I want with it) in order to rebuild the installer.

Download this cool new installer: http://www.freewebtown.com/dandaman32/pdn/PDNSetup-2.5b4.exe

EDIT: This installer is experimental. DO NOT try to just use it if you are new to Paint.NET for now, and by downloading and running this file you are doing so at your own risk!

Until further notice, all updates to this installer will be posted on this thread if needed.

-dandaman32