How to package PHP/MYSQL application for automatic installation

[benjibabs]

Hello all,

I am wrapping up my first web app designed with php on mysql dbase. I am looking to package it in such a way that my client can install this app like any windows application - click on appsetup.ext and the process of installing the required platform, dbase design and php files is automated. The steps I want to automate are below:

1.) install WAMP - this may not be included as I may just require client to have it before installing the app
2.) create dbase and tables in mysql
3.) copy over the php/HTML files to predefined directory on C drive.

I will appreciate any idea, suggestion, thought on how to do this. Also, name of available tools are welcomed.

Thanks.

[misson]

Rather than limiting your potential users to those running windows, I recommend simply compressing the files in archives (zip and tarred&gzipped, at the very least) and including a setup script. To complete installation after decompressing the archive in the appropriate directory, the site admin goes to the setup script page in a browser, enters whatever information is necessary (such as DB user & password), and it performs the initial setup (e.g. creating the necessary databases, users and tables; enabling necessary extensions) then (if successful) disables itself.

If you want an easy install package for Windows users, you can create it using a Windows installation package creator once the generic package/s is/are created. The Windows package would run your app's setup script once everything is in place. As for including a WAMP installer in your package, it would become outdated whenever WAMP is updated. Additionally, the WAMP installer doesn't appear to have an unattended installation mode; the user would need to step through the WAMP installation.