Creating Installer using IZPack

-Download and install IZPack from the given link (http://izpack.org/downloads/)

(Note: I have tried both the version 4.3.5 and 5.0.0, and 4.3.5 version seems more promising)

-create a separate folder which will contain all your files for the installation (i have created it in a D Drive with name myInstaller)

-copy the bin folder from the directory where you have installed your IZPack to you newly created directory.

-create a xml file with name "install.xml"

	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" standalone="yes" ?>
	<installation version="1.0">
		<info>
			<appname>Your AppName</appname>
			<appversion>1.0</appversion>
			<authors>
				<author name="Name" email="[email protected]"/>
			</authors>
			<url>ThisIsMyProject.com</url>
		</info>
		<guiprefs width="640" height="480" resizable="yes"/>
		<variables>
			<variable name="DesktopShortcutCheckboxEnabled" value="true"/>
		</variables>
		<locale>
			<langpack iso3="eng"/>
		</locale>
		<resources>
			<res src="shortcutSpec.xml" id="shortcutSpec.xml"/><!--This is used for creating shortcuts in desktop and program group-->
			<res id="LicencePanel.licence" src="License.txt"/>
			<res id="InfoPanel.info" src="Readme.txt"/>
			<res id="Installer.image.0" src="logo.png" />
		</resources>
		<panels>
			<panel classname="HelloPanel"/>
			<panel classname="LicencePanel"/>
			<panel classname="TargetPanel"/>
			<panel classname="PacksPanel"/>
			<panel classname="InstallPanel"/>
			<panel classname="ShortcutPanel"/>
			<panel classname="FinishPanel"/>
		</panels>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.codehaus.izpack</groupId>
			<artifactId>izpack-standalone-compiler</artifactId>
			<version>4.3.5</version>
		</dependency>
		<packs>
			<pack name="Base" required="yes">
				<description>Base Files</description>
				<file src="app.ico" targetdir="$INSTALL_PATH"/>
				<file src="MyProgram.exe" targetdir="$INSTALL_PATH"/>
				<file src="License.txt" targetdir="$INSTALL_PATH"/>
				<file src="Readme.txt" targetdir="$INSTALL_PATH"/>
				<fileset dir="myFolder" targetdir="$INSTALL_PATH/myFolder">
					<include name="**"/>
				</fileset>	
			</pack>
			<pack name="XYZServices" required="no">
				<description>XYZServices files</description>
				<file src="someMoreFile.txt" targetdir="$INSTALL_PATH"/>
			</pack>
		</packs>
		<native type="izpack" name="ShellLink.dll"/>
		<native type="3rdparty" name="COIOSHelper.dll" stage="both">
			<os family="windows"/>
		</native>
	</installation>

-create shortcutSpec.xml for creating shortcuts of your installed files

	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
	<shortcuts>
		<skipIfNotSupported/>
		<programGroup defaultName="Tpsynergy Transform Client" location="applications"/>
		  <shortcut
			name="My Application"
			programGroup="yes"
			desktop="yes"
			applications="yes"
			startMenu="yes"
			startup="no"
			target="$INSTALL_PATH\MyProgram.exe"
			commandLine=""
			description="My Application Description"
			iconFile="$INSTALL_PATH\app.ico"
			iconIndex="0"
			initialState="noShow"
			workingDirectory="$INSTALL_PATH">
			 <createForPack name="Base"/>
		   </shortcut>
		<shortcut
			   name="My App Uninstaller"
			   programGroup="yes"
			   desktop="no"
			   applications="no"
			   startMenu="no"
			   startup="no"
			   target="$INSTALL_PATH\Uninstaller\uninstaller.jar"
			   commandLine=""
			   iconFile="%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll"
			   iconIndex="31"
			   description="Uninstall My Application">
			<createForPack name="Base"/>
		</shortcut>
	</shortcuts>

-If you have runnable jar file of your project then you can use launch4j to create an exe of the jar file.

-Now to create the installer

   1. first open the command prompt

   2. go to the bin directory of IZPack installation directory

   3. now run the following command "compile D:\myInstaller\install.xml -b D:\myInstaller"

-you will get an install.jar file in the "D:\myInstaller" directory, use it to install the application