Packaging Program
in [Visual Studio]
|
From: WebBiz on 4 Oct 2006 17:25 Greetings! Recently someone with Win98 had a problem when installing and trying to run my VB6 program. Some files that needed to be on the machine were not, or were too old, or a variation of such. My XP customers have no problem installing my app. I've been using INNO_Setup to package my installation. Without really being up on how to determine what all files need to go with the program, it is pretty much hit-n-miss for me. I used to use the VB6 package program, but it makes VERY BIG downloadables. The INNO program makes them so much smaller. But with this recent Win98 issue, I had to do the fat VB6 deployment/package wizard. So rather than 3 meg download, it was 8 megs! My question is this: 1. What do you recommend as a good deployment/packaging program? I'm I cool with Inno, or is there actually better/easier? 2. Is there an easy way to determine which files I must install with my program? Inno requires I know upfront what they are. 3. How do you know whether you should replace the file on the user's machine if it already exists? Is there Win98 vs. XP file issues? I want to make sure that all the proper files get loaded onto the machine if necessary, whether they are using Win98, XP, Win2K, NT, etc. Thanks in advance! Rick
From: mayayana on 4 Oct 2006 18:26 You really should figure out what all of your dependencies are and be clear about which versions to ship. You shouldn't ship anything in a newer version than what's on Win2000 because of system file protection. The new files won't install. The PDW will figure out what files you need, and should choose the right versions, whether you use the PDW for the final install or not. The PDW also includes the runtime files by default. Usually you won't need those. I just provide a link for the rare cases where the runtime is not already installed. That saves you about 1 MB. > Recently someone with Win98 had a problem when installing and trying to run > my VB6 program. Some files that needed to be on the machine were not, or > were too old, or a variation of such. My XP customers have no problem > installing my app. > > I've been using INNO_Setup to package my installation. Without really being > up on how to determine what all files need to go with the program, it is > pretty much hit-n-miss for me. > > I used to use the VB6 package program, but it makes VERY BIG downloadables. > The INNO program makes them so much smaller. > > But with this recent Win98 issue, I had to do the fat VB6 deployment/package > wizard. So rather than 3 meg download, it was 8 megs! > > My question is this: > > 1. What do you recommend as a good deployment/packaging program? I'm I cool > with Inno, or is there actually better/easier? > > 2. Is there an easy way to determine which files I must install with my > program? Inno requires I know upfront what they are. > > 3. How do you know whether you should replace the file on the user's machine > if it already exists? Is there Win98 vs. XP file issues? > > I want to make sure that all the proper files get loaded onto the machine if > necessary, whether they are using Win98, XP, Win2K, NT, etc. > > Thanks in advance! > > Rick > >
From: WebBiz on 4 Oct 2006 19:21 "mayayana" <mayaXXyana1a(a)mindXXspring.com> wrote in message news:DyWUg.6929$o71.545(a)newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... > You really should figure out what all of your > dependencies are and be clear about which > versions to ship. You shouldn't ship anything in > a newer version than what's on Win2000 because > of system file protection. The new files won't > install. > > The PDW will figure out what files you need, > and should choose the right versions, whether > you use the PDW for the final install or not. > The PDW also includes the runtime files > by default. Usually you won't need those. I just > provide a link for the rare cases where the runtime > is not already installed. That saves you about 1 MB. > >> Recently someone with Win98 had a problem when installing and trying to > run >> my VB6 program. Some files that needed to be on the machine were not, or >> were too old, or a variation of such. My XP customers have no problem >> installing my app. >> >> I've been using INNO_Setup to package my installation. Without really > being >> up on how to determine what all files need to go with the program, it is >> pretty much hit-n-miss for me. >> >> I used to use the VB6 package program, but it makes VERY BIG > downloadables. >> The INNO program makes them so much smaller. >> >> But with this recent Win98 issue, I had to do the fat VB6 > deployment/package >> wizard. So rather than 3 meg download, it was 8 megs! >> >> My question is this: >> >> 1. What do you recommend as a good deployment/packaging program? I'm I > cool >> with Inno, or is there actually better/easier? >> >> 2. Is there an easy way to determine which files I must install with my >> program? Inno requires I know upfront what they are. >> >> 3. How do you know whether you should replace the file on the user's > machine >> if it already exists? Is there Win98 vs. XP file issues? >> >> I want to make sure that all the proper files get loaded onto the machine > if >> necessary, whether they are using Win98, XP, Win2K, NT, etc. >> >> Thanks in advance! >> >> Rick Thanks for your reply. I'm confused about the first paragraph: > You really should figure out what all of your > dependencies are and be clear about which > versions to ship. You shouldn't ship anything in > a newer version than what's on Win2000 because > of system file protection. The new files won't > install. How do I figure out what 'versions' to ship? I write the programs on my XP Home system. When done and ready to package, I don't know what files Win98 can or cannot run. What tells me that I wrote my program with a version that is too high for other systems? Okay, I ran PDW and it gives me a list: comdlg32.dll comdlg32.ocx fmtkit32.dll igtabs40.ocx igtoolbars50.ocx mscomctl.ocx msvbvm50.dll msvcrt.dll scrrun.dll VB6 Runtime and OLE Automation. So I should include all of the above EXCEPT the VB6 Runtime, correct? As for a packaging program, what do you find to be really, really good and easy to use? Thanks. Rick
From: Alfie [UK] on 4 Oct 2006 20:13 On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 16:25:30 -0500, "WebBiz" <justask(a)andyouwillget.com> wrote: >1. What do you recommend as a good deployment/packaging program? I'm I cool >with Inno, or is there actually better/easier? > >2. Is there an easy way to determine which files I must install with my >program? Inno requires I know upfront what they are. > >3. How do you know whether you should replace the file on the user's machine >if it already exists? Is there Win98 vs. XP file issues? > >I want to make sure that all the proper files get loaded onto the machine if >necessary, whether they are using Win98, XP, Win2K, NT, etc. > The basic rule to avoid such issues is to build and test on the lowest level OS that you wish to support, in this case, Win98. Keep a minimal install Win98 box around for that, or have a dual boot system so you can use it for testing. You can take that a step further by developing on the lowest level OS, but that's not always necessary if you understand what has changed in controls, libraries, and APIs (also which library functions, APIs have been deprecated or changed) under new OS'. For APIs http://www.allapi.net/ is invaluable, for libraries it's not always obvious whether full backwards compatibility is available. That way you avoid using any new features not supported in older OS', and when you build, regardless of your packaging software, it will always use the older versions. When installing, any installer worthy of the name will not try to 'update' new versions with your packaged old versions. If you build from the lowest version you should only then need to deploy any custom controls or non-standard controls/libraries that you are using. -- Alfie <http://www.delphia.co.uk/> Borrow money from pessimists-they don't expect it back.
From: Steve Gerrard on 4 Oct 2006 21:39
"WebBiz" <justask(a)andyouwillget.com> wrote in message news:7mXUg.20522$2g4.11454(a)dukeread09... > "mayayana" <mayaXXyana1a(a)mindXXspring.com> wrote in message > news:DyWUg.6929$o71.545(a)newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... > > Okay, I ran PDW and it gives me a list: > > comdlg32.dll > comdlg32.ocx > fmtkit32.dll > igtabs40.ocx > igtoolbars50.ocx > mscomctl.ocx > msvbvm50.dll > msvcrt.dll > scrrun.dll > VB6 Runtime and OLE Automation. > > So I should include all of the above EXCEPT the VB6 Runtime, correct? > According to your first post, when you had the Win98 user run the PDW setup, it worked, is that right? If so, the PDW would have made a "Support" folder, with the versions of each file it used in the setup. Those are the ones to use. Your list doesn't look like 8 Meg to me, and what is different in the Inno setup that it includes only 3 Meg? The general wisdom is not to include msvcrt.dll; doing so can cause "file in use" errors, and most users have several versions already and there is no need. |