Chris just announced in the forums that the build server is now up and running for SharpDevelop 2.1. This includes a new installer for SharpDevelop using WiX rather than NSIS. If there are any problems with this installer please report them in the forum.

Installing

The installer is now an MSI file and not an executable as it was previously. To install, download the MSI file and then double click it to install, or right click the file and select Install.

If you install under an account with Administrator privileges SharpDevelop will be installed for All Users.

You can install SharpDevelop under a non-privileged account, however the following things will not be done:

• NGen is not run on SharpDevelop.exe.
• NUnit is not installed in the GAC. Without this the Unit Testing window cannot be used.

Uninstalling

Open the Control Panel.

Select Add or Remove Programs.

Select SharpDevelop 2.1.

Click the Remove button.

Upgrading

The new installer now supports upgrades and will upgrade an old SharpDevelop 2.1 if it finds one. To upgrade simply run the new installer without uninstalling the previous version of SharpDevelop.

You cannot install an older version over the top of an existing installation (i.e. downgrade).

You can install SharpDevelop 2 alongside SharpDevelop 2.1.

What does the Installer do?

• Installs the SharpDevelop files.
• Adds a desktop shortcut to the SharpDevelop executable.
• Adds program menu shortcuts for SharpDevelop and a link to the SharpDevelop website.
• NGens the SharpDevelop executable (Admin only).
• Installs NUnit into the GAC (Admin only).
• Registers file associations for:
  • .booproj
  • .cmbx
  • .csproj
  • .prjx
  • .sdaddin
  • .sln
  • .vbproj
  • .wixproj
  • .xfrm

Future Improvements

The following improvements should hopefully be added to the installer at some point.

• Optional file assocation with SharpDevelop.
• Choose UI language.
• Choose name of program group.
• Option to install source code.
• Check if optional components (e.g. FxCop, NCover) are installed and advise the user to install them to activate certain features inside SharpDevelop.