Does anyone know if I NEED To wrap my Office 2007, vsto-based add-in in a MSI? It seems to be a lot of extra overhead and headache, just to have it not work anyway.
When I do get it to install, I still need to run the vsto installer, even though I have tried to use the |vstolocal switch to keep the add-in's deployment centralized.
Has anyone pulled this kind of install off successfully?
I've deployed VSTO from SCCM without using an MSI.
The trick is a simple command line:
"%commonprogramfiles%/microsoft shared/VSTO/10.0/VSTOInstaller.exe" /i <path to vsto>
VSTOInstaller.exe [[/install ] | [/uninstall ]] [/silent] [/help]
/install, /i: Install the solution. This option must be followed by the fully qualified path of a deployment manifest in the form http://, https://, or \servername\foldername.
/uninstall, /u: Uninstall the solution. This option must be followed by the fully qualified path of a deployment manifest in the form http://, https://, or \servername\foldername.
/silent, /s: Install or uninstall without prompting for input or providing information.
/help, /?: Generate this help message.
EXAMPLE: VSTOInstaller.exe /i \servername\foldername\AddIn.vsto
Be aware that with the /silent option "trust for the addin has to be built into the project or it will default to 'don't install' when using the silent switch." (source: TechNet post)
I've tried it, and you don't need to wrap it in an MSI if you're happy for users to manually install it. If you:
use the publish tab in project -> properties
setup your "publishing folder location" and "installation folder URL" properly
set and all of the other meta-data properly, including stuff in your AssemblyInfo.cs file
whack the "publish now" button
share out the installation folder and email out the link
ensure that users have the right permissions to install it (local admin I guess, you'd need to check)
It worked for me. On Windows 7 and XP too.
The whole "this publisher is untrusted" thing is a complete mess, trying to fix that involves writing some really stupid code that tells Windows that "hey, by the way, I am actually trusted". I didn't bother and just told people to ignore the warning.
I'm guessing that you only need an MSI if you want to push out the add-in using active directory and do an automated install.
