Installer to distribute greasemonkey scripts

Have a look at the following:

http://wiki.greasespot.net/FAQ

Gary

I know where the scripts are and have already manually copied them to another computer, but it is a rather technical process that must be automated for non-technical users.

Are you in a position where you can buy an install package such as Installshield?  All of this would be very easy with installshield, though that's going to cost some money up front obviously.  I can give detailed info on this, if it is an option.

Otherwise, Nullsoft is indeed what I would recommend.  Here's some information about installing prerequisites with NSIS...which is essentially what you want to do (make sure Firefox/GM are installed).

http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Embedding_other_installers

Installshield is a bit expensive for this project.

I think I know how to check if firefox is installed, but I'm not sure about checking for greasemonkey (not that it matters, I think, because firefox would just reinstall it).  I would like for the installer to download the latest versions of firefox and greasemonkey rather than having a single version packaged with it that would have to be updated with each new version of firefox.  I will need, though, to determine the location of the current firefox profile in order to copy the scripts.

I will make a simple diagram to describe what I want the installer to do.

Well...this is just theory here but this is how I would check for GM (once I know Firefox is there).

Navigate to this directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\<windows username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox


Inside this directory there is a profiles.ini file that will tell you the current profile name.  Here's what mine looks like...

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/fpgho8op.default

So, now you have a profile name (and therefore the profile subfolder) where you would want to copy the GM files to.  A quick Google search should lead you to more info about the profile directory structure of Firefox.  I don't know enough about GM to know if it needs registry settings or not.  There appears to be a subfolder inside the profile folder where the extension files all reside.  But you can easily create registry entries if you have the windows rights when the install is run.

Once you know all of this info, you should be able to get Firefox and GM installed.  It will take some work, and I don't see any examples of exactly this anywhere, but it certainly seems possible.

Good luck, and hopefully this answer at least helps!

That makes sense.  What I need to know is how to read the ini file with nsis to find the path, then how to save that to navigate to it.


The other part I need is the downloader.  I am fairly sure that nsis can do it, but I don't know how to.  The static greasemonkey xpi url (doesn't change between versions) is simple to find; I don't know of a static one for firefox though.

I hope to start working on some code tomorrow so will post more specifics and some code then.

Diagram of what installer needs to do is attached.

InstallerDiagram.doc

I have begun coding and have completed installing firefox.

I think I can code most of it, but what I will really need help with is reading the ini file to get the profile directory.

I have also decided to just embed the firefox installer in my own and then let firefox update itself once installed (but haven't implemented that yet).


My code so far is attached.

!include "MUI2.nsh"
!include "LogicLib.nsh"
!include TextFunc.nsh
!include StrFunc.nsh
Name "InstallGreasemonkeyScripts"
OutFile "install.exe"
ShowInstDetails show
RequestExecutionLevel admin
InstallDir "$EXEDIR\test"
 
 
 
 
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_WELCOME
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_INSTFILES
    !insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "English"
 
 
Section main
	SetOutPath "$INSTDIR"
	ReadRegStr $R8 HKLM "SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox" "CurrentVersion"
	ReadRegStr $R9 HKLM "SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\$R8\Main" "PathToExe"
	${If} $R9 == ""
		DetailPrint "FF not installed"
		DetailPrint "Downloading Firefox"
		${Unless} ${FileExists} "firefoxSetup.exe"
			inetc::get /RESUME "" /POPUP "" "ftp://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/latest/win32/en-US/Firefox Setup 3.5.exe" "$INSTDIR\firefoxSetup.exe" /END
;		  Pop $0
		${EndUnless}
		${If} ${Cmd} `MessageBox MB_YESNO "Install Firefox with default settings?" IDYES`
			ExecWait "firefoxSetup.exe -ms"
		${else}
			ExecWait firefoxSetup.exe
		${endif}
		
		
	${else}
		DetailPrint "FF is installed"
		
	${EndIf}
SectionEnd

Select allOpen in new window

I will also need to edit the scripts from within nsis with data imputed by the user.

Sorry for the delay, I changed the design some, but your information helped.  I have completed the installer.