NSIS example of auto-update the installer itself? - nsis

Question

I am looking for a NSIS example that is able to update itself with the latest version of the installer.
The logic is simple: check if the publish URL is newer than the current executable and download it and recall itself with the same parameters.
Mainly that's would me something like "wget --timestamp URL" but so far I wasn't able to find any NSIS file download extension that is able to download a file only if is newer.

Answer 1

INetC::head will grab just the HTTP headers from the server but IMHO downloading a .ini file with version info from the server is better...

Answer 2

Here's something I wrote that might be of help to you. I have not tested this thoroughly but it did work on the first couple tests I ran. This is just an example I threw together for a project I'm working on. Hope it's of use to you. =)
VersionCompare Function
;=#
;= Taken and modified from:
;= http://nsis.sourceforge.net/VersionCompare
Function VersionCompare
!define VersionCompare `!insertmacro _VersionCompare`
!macro _VersionCompare _VER1 _VER2 _RESULT
Push `${_VER1}`
Push `${_VER2}`
Call VersionCompare
Pop ${_RESULT}
!macroend
Exch $1
Exch
Exch $0
Exch
Push $2
Push $3
Push $4
Push $5
Push $6
Push $7
BEGIN:
StrCpy $2 -1
IntOp $2 $2 + 1
StrCpy $3 $0 1 $2
StrCmp $3 '' +2
StrCmp $3 '.' 0 -3
StrCpy $4 $0 $2
IntOp $2 $2 + 1
StrCpy $0 $0 '' $2
StrCpy $2 -1
IntOp $2 $2 + 1
StrCpy $3 $1 1 $2
StrCmp $3 '' +2
StrCmp $3 '.' 0 -3
StrCpy $5 $1 $2
IntOp $2 $2 + 1
StrCpy $1 $1 '' $2
StrCmp $4$5 '' EQUAL
StrCpy $6 -1
IntOp $6 $6 + 1
StrCpy $3 $4 1 $6
StrCmp $3 '0' -2
StrCmp $3 '' 0 +2
StrCpy $4 0
StrCpy $7 -1
IntOp $7 $7 + 1
StrCpy $3 $5 1 $7
StrCmp $3 '0' -2
StrCmp $3 '' 0 +2
StrCpy $5 0
StrCmp $4 0 0 +2
StrCmp $5 0 BEGIN NEWER2
StrCmp $5 0 NEWER1
IntCmp $6 $7 0 NEWER1 NEWER2
StrCpy $4 '1$4'
StrCpy $5 '1$5'
IntCmp $4 $5 BEGIN NEWER2 NEWER1
EQUAL:
StrCpy $0 0
Goto FINISH
NEWER1:
StrCpy $0 1
Goto FINISH
NEWER2:
StrCpy $0 2
FINISH:
Pop $7
Pop $6
Pop $5
Pop $4
Pop $3
Pop $2
Pop $1
Exch $0
FunctionEnd
UpdateCheck Function
;=#
;= Author: demon.devin
;= http://softables.tk/
Function UpdateCheck
!define UpdateCheck `!insertmacro _UpdateCheck`
!macro _UpdateCheck _NAME _LINK _URL _VERSION
Push `${_URL}`
Push `${_VERSION}`
Call UpdateCheck
Pop `${_NAME}`
Pop `${_LINK}`
!macroend
Exch $1
Exch
Exch $0
Push $0
Push $1
DetailPrint "Current Version: $1"
GetTempFileName $R1
NSISdl::download $0 $R1
ReadINIStr $R0 "$R1" "PAFInfo" "Version"
DetailPrint "Latest Version: $R0"
${VersionCompare} $1 $R0 $R4
${If} $R4 == 0
${OrIf} $R4 == 1
ReadINIStr $R3 "$R1" "PAFInfo" "Name"
StrCpy $File `$R3`
StrCpy $R2 ""
StrCpy $Link ``
${Else}
ReadINIStr $R2 "$R1" "PAFInfo" "DownloadLink"
StrCpy $Link `$R2`
ReadINIStr $R3 "$R1" "PAFInfo" "Filename"
StrCpy $File `$R3`
${EndIf}
SetDetailsPrint none
Delete $R1
SetDetailsPrint lastused
Pop $1
Pop $0
Exch $R2
Exch
Exch $R3
FunctionEnd
WGetDownload Function
;=#
;= Author: demon.devin
;= http://softables.tk/
Function WGetDownload
!define WGetDownload "!insertmacro _WGetDownload"
!macro _WGetDownload _RETURN _TEMPFILE _URL _FILENAME
Push ${_URL}
Push ${_FILENAME}
Call WGetDownload
Pop ${_TEMPFILE}
Pop ${_RETURN}
!macroend
Exch $1
Exch
Exch $2
Push $1
Push $2
!define WGET `$PLUGINSDIR\wget.exe`
!define WGETCMD `"${WGET}" --html-extension --referer="http://www.google.com" --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.6) Gecko/20070725 Firefox/2.0.0.6" -T 10 --no-check-certificate "$Link" --output-document=$File`
MessageBox MB_OK|MB_USERICON|MB_TOPMOST "Package: $File$\r$\nLink: $Link$\r$\n$\r$\nClick OK to start download."
DetailPrint "Downloading: $Link"
SetOutPath `$PLUGINSDIR`
File `${NSISDIR}\Contrib\7zip\wget.exe`
WGET:
SetOutPath `$PLUGINSDIR`
ExecDos::Exec /TOSTACK `${WGETCMD}`
Pop $0
Pop $1
${If} $0 = 1
StrCmp $2 1 +3
StrCpy $2 1
Goto WGET
Goto FAIL
${EndIf}
${If} ${FileExists} "$PLUGINSDIR\$File"
ClearErrors
StrCpy $R5 true
StrCpy $R7 "$PLUGINSDIR\$File"
${GetSize} "$PLUGINSDIR" "/M=$File /S=0K" $0 $1 $2
IfErrors 0 +2
StrCpy $0 $0 * 1024
IntCmp $0 100 +3 0 +3
IntCmp $0 0 +2 +2 0
IntOp $0 103 + 0
IntOp $0 $0 * 10
IntOp $0 $0 / 1024
StrCpy $1 "$0" "" -1
IntCmp $0 9 +3 +3 0
StrCpy $0 "$0" -1 ""
Goto +2
StrCpy $0 "0"
MessageBox MB_OK|MB_USERICON|MB_TOPMOST "Your file $File was successfully downloaded! ($0.$1 MiB)"
Goto DONE
${Else}
FAIL:
StrCpy $R5 "Your file $File has failed to download using the WGet utility!"
Goto CANCEL
${EndIf}
CANCEL:
MessageBox MB_OK|MB_ICONSTOP|MB_TOPMOST "ERROR!$\r$\n$\r$\n$R5"
StrCpy $R5 false
StrCpy $R7 ""
SetErrors
DONE:
Pop $2
Pop $1
Exch $R5
Exch
Exch $R7
FunctionEnd
OpenWebPage Macro
;=#
;= Author: demon.devin
;= http://softables.tk/
!define OpenWebPage '!insertmacro "_OpenWebPage"'
!macro _OpenWebPage _URL
ExecShell open "${_URL}"
!macroend
EXAMPLE USAGE:
;=#
;= Author: demon.devin
;= More NSIS help:
;= http://softables.tk/docs
Section "MAIN"
ClearErrors
MessageBox MB_USERICON|MB_YESNO|MB_TOPMOST `Would you like to check for any possible upgrades?` IDYES CHECK IDNO NOCHECK
NOCHECK:
DetailPrint "What?! How can you improve if you don't check for upgrades?"
Goto DONE
CHECK:
DetailPrint "Checking for new version..."
${UpdateCheck} $0 $1 "http://softables.tk/repository/docs/manifests.ini" "6.25.11.0"
StrCmp $1 "" 0 +5
DetailPrint "You have the most recent version..."
MessageBox MB_USERICON|MB_OK|MB_TOPMOST `$0 is up to date!`
DetailPrint "Continuing with the rest of the operation..."
Goto DONE
DetailPrint "There's a new version available..."
MessageBox MB_ICONEXCLAMATION|MB_YESNO|MB_TOPMOST "New version of $File available.$\r$\nDownload now?" IDYES YES IDNO NO
NO:
DetailPrint "Fine! Stick with the old stuff. See if I care..."
Goto DONE
YES:
DetailPrint "Great! Downloading new updates now..."
${WGetDownload} $R0 $R1 "$Link" "$File"
${If} $R0 == true
${AndIf} $R1 != ""
DetailPrint "Downloaded: $R1"
DetailPrint "Awesome! The download was successful..."
CopyFiles /SILENT `$R1` `$INSTDIR\WGET\$R1`
DetailPrint "Extracting the contents now..."
File '/oname=$PLUGINSDIR\7z.dll' `${NSISDIR}\Contrib\7zip\7z.dll`
File '/oname=$PLUGINSDIR\7z.exe' `${NSISDIR}\Contrib\7zip\7z.exe`
ExecDos::Exec /TOSTACK `"$PLUGINSDIR\7z.exe" x "$R1" -o"$INSTDIR" -aoa -y` "" ""
Pop $0
DetailPrint "All done! Cleaning up temporary files..."
Delete `$R1`
DetailPrint "Finished. Enjoy..."
${Else}
DetailPrint "Something went wrong! The download was unsuccessful..."
MessageBox MB_ICONEXCLAMATION|MB_YESNO|MB_TOPMOST "You can manually download the upgrades by visiting:$\r$\n$Link$\r$\n$\r$\nGo there now?" IDYES WEB IDNO DONE
WEB:
DetailPrint "Launching web page now... "
SetDetailsPrint none
${OpenWebPage} "$Link"
SetDetailsPrint lastused
${EndIf}
DONE:
DetailPrint "Moving right along..."
SectionEnd