Installer solution for WPF apps (with update/trial support)

Question

I have several WPF applications. And I think the number of apps would grow overtime. I want to create an installer with these features:

• Check for .Net version and ask the user to install it
• Support for creating a secure time-based trial version for the app with activation support.
• Template support: So I can create one general installer and modify it for each tool.
• Update support: Check for the new version of the app.
• Easy to deploy: There is a chance that I won't be uploading them myself.

If there is a tool which can help me with these, I'll be glad to use it. Commercial tools are fine too. If not, please suggest a streamlined process to achieve the optimal result.

Answer 1

Advanced Installer, Enterprise edition, with a good price, has also all these features. To learn the tool I recommend this tutorial, after which you can continue with tutorials for the updater and licensing library(trial support).

Answer 2

InstallShield will do what you are looking for but it's not cheap. They have really nice wizards, script editors, SQL packaging, version control, etc.

Flexera Software

Visual Studio 2010 / 2012 include the light version, but it can't really do more than wrap an app for installation. All the other advanced features are reserved to the paid versions.