Codegear RAD Studio unattended install

[Csimbi]

I could not find any post about unattended/silent installation of the Codegear RAD Studio.

I did some research and I got it working, so I thought I would post my findings so others could benefit from it, too.

I use Codegear RAD Studio v2009, but I am pretty sure that these parameters are valid for v2007 as well, since it uses the same installer.

1. RAD Studio install

SETUP.EXE /s KEY1=<KEY1> KEY2=<KEY2> KEY3=<KEY3> KEY4=<KEY4> LANGUAGE=<LANGUAGE> TARGETDIR="<TARGETDIR>" DEMOSDIR="<DEMOSDIR>" COMMONFILES="<COMMONFILES>" USERNAME="<USERNAME>" USERCOMPANY="<USERCOMPANY>"

Required parameters:

/s - silent install switch
<KEY1>: The first group of your serial number.
<KEY2>: The second group of your serial number.
<KEY3>: The third group of your serial number.
<KEY4>: The fourth group of your serial number.

Optional parameters:

<LANGUAGE>: The language setting. It is either English, French, German or Japanese.
<TARGETDIR>: The directory where you want to install Rad Studio.
<DEMOSDIR>: The directory where you want to install the demos.
<COMMONFILES>: The directory where you want to install the common files.
<USERNAME>: Name of the registered owner.
<USERCOMPANY>: Company of the registered owner.

Optional toggles (=TRUE or =FALSE):

AUTOCHECKFORUPDATES - Obvious.
INSTALL_AJAX - I did not find an Ajax installer on my v2009 disk; maybe a leftover from v2007?
INSTALL_BOOST - Obvious.
INSTALL_DBPACK - Obvious.
INSTALL_DEMEANOR - Obvious.
INSTALL_HELP - Sounds obvious, but has no effect on v2009 at least.
INSTALL_RAVE_REPORTS - Obvious.

There are a lot more parameters, but I did not really need them because the serial number will determine what components will be installed. If you are interested, just check the install scripts embedded in SETUP.EXE and you will find these. If you figure out how to use those properly, please post your instructions here.

2. Microsoft document explorer install

For some reason, the help system cannot install Microsoft document explorer silently. On top of this, the help system will refuse installation unless Microsoft document explorer is already installed. So, you will need to install Microsoft document explorer prior to installing the help system.

You can obtain the Microsoft document explorer installer from several places. There is one on the Rad Studio DVD, too; my script is using that one, so I refer to that when I say: grab a 7-Zip unpacker, extract the archive from the DVD, then run the following command:

mFileBagIDE.dll\bag\install.exe /q

3. Help system install

Help_Setup.exe /s TARGETDIR=<TARGETDIR>

Required parameters:

/s - silent install switch
<TARGETDIR>: The directory where you want to install the help system. NOTE: The "\HELP" will be appended to TARGETDIR automatically.

4. Importing your license

I did not bother with that since this is something you normally do on the first start and not the installation - it is just two clicks.

I guess it is possible to copy the license file to the appropriate place and update the appropriate registry keys.

5. Automating the whole process

I attached a script that will install both Rad Studio, Microsoft document explorer and the help system in one go.

The script is best used on a clean install, where the .NET framework is already installed. See this post for .NET installation.

The script is not completely silent; it will ECHO three lines to the screen during the installation, telling you when the installation of a certain component has began. I did this because the process it quite long even on a fast machine, so you don't wonder what's going on. If you don't like it, you can safely comment out these ECHO commands in the script.

My script requires only three things to work flawlessly (assuming you have the appropriate permissions on the system):

- The RAD Studio DVD in your drive.

- 7ZA.EXE in a directory included your PATH variable. 7ZA.EXE is the 7-Zip command line version. Get it here. Without this, Microsoft document explorer won't install, and as a result, the help system won't install neither (unless of course you have Microsoft document explorer already installed).

- Edit my script and replace the dummy serial number placeholders with your own serial number in the TARGETPARMS environment variable. While you are editing my script, you may want to update the TARGET* environments variables to your liking as well (if you are not happy with mine).

I know the script could be improved, but since it works, I did not bother.

If you have suggestions, post them along with the updated script here.

RADSTD_U.CMD

Edited August 20, 2009 by Csimbi