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2007-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0
"Incorporate database installation features in minutes"

Overview

Custom dbInstaller is a powerful and user-friendly application database deployment and support tool developed by OTK Web Solutions. It is a customizable executable program (.EXE) that allows developers to incorporate incredible application database deployment features into their application installer without any coding effort. It can be added into any application installers that supports executable program as a Custom Action, such as Windows Installer.

For Developers

For application installation, developers can provide features like backing up existing database before restore, restore application database from backup source, change the target location of the data file and log file, execute post-install custom SQL script file, update Windows or Web application config file upon success and more. For application uninstallation, developers can provide features like backing up the database before detaching or dropping the database. All these features can be tailored painlessly according to their application design, knowledge level of their target users, and the configurations of the target environment.

For Technical Supports

Technical supports can also use it as an independent distributable database deployment package and support tool. It can be used to provide database patches, upgrades, and data migrations, both remotely and on-site. It is a cost efficient tool to cut down database deployment and support costs and improve productivity and efficiency. As database is a crucial part of any database-driven application, Custom dbInstaller has incorporated additional safety features such as alerting users for certain unsafe combination of options before the installation and uninstallation without sacrificing the freedom of the power users.

System Requirements

OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 is specifically designed to support applications that leverage on Microsoft SQL Server 2000, MSDE 2000, SQL Server 2005, and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. It is capable of running on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista.

What to do next?

dbI 2.0 received 100% Clean & Safe to Install Award from DownloadSofts.com

2007-12-12T23:14:00.001-08:00

OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 has received a 100% Clean & Safe to Install Award from DownloadSofts.com:

"Our software experts have done some tests over your product named "OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0". They were very impressed by the quality and cleanliness of the program and they are just eager to test your future products.
They found "OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0" clean of adware/spyware and they qualified it as "100% Clean and Safe to install". Accordingly to the tests results made by our team, we grant your product with "Clean & Safe" DownloadSofts Award." (2007, DownloadSofts.com Team)

dbI 2.0 receives Grade 5 Vista Files Award

2007-12-05T21:31:00.001-08:00

OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 has received a Grade 5 Vista Files Award from Vista-files.org:

"Your software OTK Custom dbInstaller was reviewed and estimated by the staff of VISTA-FILES.ORG web site. After downloading and testing there was taken the decision to give an award for your program OTK Custom dbInstaller. Your program is estimated for the grade 5." (Vista-Files Staff, 2007)

OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 Released!

2007-12-04T22:39:00.001-08:00

Finally, OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 is released! We apologize for the delay. Since the release of our first free edition on 2nd January 2007, we have learnt a lot from the past. Now, with this new version, we have added a lot of exciting new features in order to make achieving full application deployment automation, especially for those database-driven application, possible at the most affordable price and lowest cost of ownership!

What's New in 2.0
Below are the great new values that we have been added to this new version:

Backup option before install/uninstall
Options selection safety check
Restore from backup source or execute custom SQL script file or both
Selectable target location for data file and log file to restore
Update connectionString in app.config or Web.config
Command-line arguments to be dynamically called by installer's custom actions or independently run from task scheduler, command window, and shortcuts.
Uninstall with database detach or drop option
Fully customizable user interface behaviors based on usage, target users, and target environments
and more...

How to move forward?
The following is a list of useful resources for you to find out more about Custom dbInstaller 2.0:

Download the Fully Functional demo version with sample application and setup project for you to quickly get started
Read the full product description here to have a quick overview
Run through the Quick Tour
Download and evaluate through the complete product documentation here
No, I want to buy it now!

We hope that you enjoy playing with the demo and discover how Custom dbInstaller 2.0 can give you a tremendous gain on your cost saving, productivity, and better customer relationship!

Custom dbInstaller 2.0 Quick Tour: Step 1/3

2007-12-04T22:33:00.001-08:00

SQL Server Connection Wizard Dialog

Features:

Support Windows and SQL Server Authentication.
Can be configured to allow only either one authentication mode or both.
Customizable application name, product logo, and company name*.
Entire dialog box can be hidden during runtime.
Next button will turn to Install/Uninstall if the rest of the steps are not allowed to be edited by the users.
Progress bar and message will be visible when the Next/Install/Uninstall button is clicked.

* Company name will be the licensee's name as registered during purchasing process.

Next >

Custom dbInstaller 2.0 Quick Tour: Step 2/3

2007-12-04T22:32:00.003-08:00

Database Installation Options Wizard Dialog

Features:

Option to backup existing database if exists.
Option to restore from backup file supplied by the developer.
Option to skip restoration if the database already exists.
Option to overwrite existing database.
Option to execute post-install custom Transact-SQL script supplied by the developer.
Option to update the ConnectionString in the config file for Windows or ASP.NET applications.
Any of the above options can be disabled and hidden.
Entire dialog box can be hidden during runtime.
Next button will turn to Install if the rest of the steps are not allowed to be edited by the users.
Progress bar and message will be visible when the Next/Install button is clicked.

< Back | Next >

Custom dbInstaller 2.0 Quick Tour: Step 3/3

2007-12-04T22:32:00.001-08:00

Database File Location Wizard Dialog

Features:

Able to have data file store on one drive/partition and log file on the other.
Leave any of the file location text boxes empty to follow the original path as recorded in the backup file.
Prompt to create new directory if not exists.
Shows available free space on each drive/partition to ease decision making.
Entire dialog box can be hidden during runtime.
Next button will turn to View Log when error encountered.
Clicking the View Log will view the error messages on Notepad for troubleshooting purposes
View Log button will turn to Retry once clicked.
Progress bar and message will be visible when the Install/Retry button is clicked.

< Back | Finish

What to do next?

dbI 2.0: Sample Application will be available!

2007-11-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 is targeted to be released on 1st December 2007. Another good news is, a sample application will be made available to those who downloaded and installed OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0 Free Demo. The first objective of this sample application is to give the developers a quick look at how dbI can do for them and how it can perform. The second objective is to allow the developers to quickly get started with dbI 2.0 in getting their application installer delivered.

The following describes how the sample application helps to achieve these two objectives:

After installing dbI 2.0, there will be a shortcut available at Start menu pointing to otkdbi_SampleSetup.msi.
The core purpose of otkdbi_SampleSetup.msi setup package to demonstrate to the developers how the standard Windows Installer is going to call the dbI wizard dialog in helping this sample application to install its SQL Server database.
After completing the installation, a new program group called Sample Application will be created under OTK Custom dbInstaller at the Start menu. This new program group contains the following shortcuts:

- OTK Custom dbInstaller Sample Application. This will launch the sample application as shown in the above screenshot, which allows you to test the connection from this sample application to its database, view the connection string updated by dbI, view the sample SQL script, open the sample setup project folder and lots more.

- Open Sample Setup Project Folder. This shortcut allows you to open the sample setup project folder, giving you an option to extract the project source code. This sample source code will be the most effective tool for you to quickly incorporate dbI 2.0 into your application setup project.

- Open otkdbi.exe.config. This will let you quickly open and inspect how the otkdbi.exe.config was being configured for the sample application to run in demonstrated behaviour.

We hope that this sample application will provide a great database-driven application pakacging experience to you.

OTK Custom dbInstaller received great review from 3D2F.com

2007-11-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

3d2f.com editors have called the future version of OTK Custom dbInstaller "The Best Among the Like". Read it here!

Discover the magic of OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0

2007-11-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

Discover the magic of our upcoming new release of OTK Custom dbInstaller 2.0! It is targeted to be released by end of November 2007, which is very soon! Click on the image to download the high quality brochure in PDF format.

OTK Custom DBInstaller 1.0 Released

2007-01-03T01:23:00.000-08:00

Screenshot I - OTK Custom DBInstaller 1.0

Greetings and welcome to the OTK Custom DBInstaller blog site!

Custom DBInstaller is one of the software components developed by OTK Web Solutions. It is being used by OTK to provide installation of the required SQL Server database for its upcoming RAD product called OTKRap. This component is now being released to the public free of charge in order to help those Microsoft .NET developers to incorporate a database installation feature into their Setup or Web Setup Project, which originally does not provide by Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Fortunately, the Setup or Web Setup Project allows developers to add custom actions, which can be any customized EXE, DLL, or Installer Class. Therefore, Custom DBInstaller has been built as a standalone executable primarily for this purpose.

Screenshot II - Adding Custom DBInstaller to Custom Actions Editor

In order to meet some major requirements, it has been modified to take advantage of the app.config file so that it is able to customize by the developers to suit their preferences, such as changing the form title, whether to allow users to overwrite the existing database and so on.

Screenshot III - Custom DBInstaller's configuration section.

Hope you will find this component useful and feel free to feedback to us on anything about this component.

Thank you.

Antonio Ooi
Founder & Software Architect
OTK Web Solutions
"Zero Compromise, Our Inspiration"

How to integrate Custom dbInstaller with your installer in 3 simple steps

2006-12-24T22:41:00.000-08:00

Step 1 of 3: Configure otkdbi.exe.config file

Open otkdbi.exe.config file in Microsoft Visual Studio.
Edit the settings according to your application, target users, and target environment.
Save it.

Next >

How to integrate Custom dbInstaller with your installer in 3 simple steps

2006-12-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

Step 2 of 3: Add Custom dbInstaller related files to Setup Project

Open your Setup Project and create a folder, e.g. dbInstaller, under your application folder to store your Custom dbInstaller related files.
Add otkdbi.exe, otkdbi.exe.config, Otk.Dbi.CustomActions.dll, your application or company logo, database backup file, and custom SQL script file to this folder.

< Back | Next >

How to integrate Custom dbInstaller with your installer in 3 simple steps

2006-12-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

Step 3 of 3: Add otkdbi.exe and Otk.Dbi.CustomActions.dll as your Custom Actions

Add otkdbi.exe as Install custom action and assign the following to the Arguments property:
-i -cfg:"[TARGETDIR]YourApplication.exe.config"

This is to update the connectionString of your application's config file.
Add Otk.Dbi.CustomActions.dll as Uninstall custom action.
Save and build your Setup Project.
You are done!

< Back | Finish

What to do next?

OTK Custom dbInstaller FAQ

2006-12-19T03:06:00.000-08:00

For answers concerning about orders, payments, or delivery, please click here.

Q1.	Who are your target audiences?
A1.	Organizations and individuals that develop software applications based on Microsoft SQL Server database. They are ISVs, freelance developers, DBAs, and even end user's companies that need to support remote branches with their inhouse-developed database-driven applications.
Q2.	Is Custom dbInstaller only meant for software that packaging with installer?
A2.	No. OTK Custom dbInstaller can be run separately just to install the new SQL Server database or updating existing SQL Server database based on the given custom SQL script file.
Q3.	We have SQL Server Management Studio to manage our application database, why do we need yours?
A3.	Custom dbInstaller may come into handy for the following scenarios even though your target deployment sites have the SQL Server Management Studio installed: You need to deploy to a remote end-user location where it does not have a dedicated technical support for SQL Server and it is too expensive for you to send your technical support to another geographical area. You want to ensure that your .NET application is able to connect to the newly installed database with the connectionString that is being tested and verified during installation. You want to ensure your proven deployment procedures are being encapsulated in one single package so that it can be executed consistently through out every production site. You do not want to do it manually by human, which may sometimes prone to mistake.
Q4.	We already have our DBA standby, why do I need your Custom dbInstaller?
A4.	In that case, you can take advantage of the Custom dbInstaller's command-line supports and the custom T-SQL script file execution feature, in conjunction with your DBA skills, to provide the following services to your end-users that run on SQL Server 2005 Express (without SQL Server Agent): Perform scheduled database backup using Windows Task Scheduler. Perform scheduled indexing task using Windows Task Scheduler. Perform certain scheduled database manipulation tasks, such as INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE of certain data which required by your application to function accordingly.
Q5.	I can write my own custom action to install the application database, why do I need Custom dbInstaller?
A5.	You may have various applications that target on various users with different knowledge level. Therefore, you may need to custom develop each custom action for each different application. Furthermore, this may be too time consuming and not cost efficient as your resources may only be allocated to focus on your application development but not deployment. Another reason is, while developing your custom action, your major objective is to get the database installed for a specific application. Hence, you or your developers may not have time to think about the future support facilitation. This could cost a lot of money and time when comes to post-deployment support tasks. OTK Custom dbInstaller provides great deal of flexibility and agility for you cater for variety of application type and user knowledge. It allows you to focus on your deployment business logic without worrying about how to package it or who your user is. You can run through the Quick Tour for a greater picture of how Custom dbInstaller helps you to achieve this.
Q6.	We develop custom projects and not off-the-shelf software products, do you think we still need Custom dbInstaller?
A6.	As far as the custom project is concerned, due to its nature, change requests often happened. Therefore, this may lead to constantly change of database structure, bugs fixing and so on. If you want to cut down the deployment and support costs that due to this situation, you may need to consider using Custom dbInstaller. Furthermore, many custom projects need to perform data migration, namely migrating from old system database to new system database. When this happens, what you usually do is to have a proper plan on the migration, including writing complex SQL script to achieve it. During implementation time, you want to automate your migration tasks and make sure everything will be executed according to plan rather than based on human. Then Custom dbInstaller may be helpful. Feel free to send us your feedback if you need Custom dbInstaller to do more in this area. You may also need to refer to answer A2, A3, and A4 as they are very much relevant to your question.

OTK Custom dbInstaller Awards Collection

2006-01-13T02:47:00.000-08:00