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From: Johan Stäck on 22 Feb 2010 04:41
Hello,

I have this rather "hairy" VB6 program that depends on quite a few
external components.

I have now successfully used "Make My Manifest" to produce a manifest
file, so that I no longer need to run a "proper" install.
Just copy a folder with everything needed to the target machine.
However, since the app uses a vwf codec, I still have to ensure that
this codec is installed on the target machine.

Is there a way to include the codec in the manifest file, and have a
100% xcopy deployment?

I assume that the "real" problem here is that I the fourcc code of the
codec needs to be in the registry.

/tia

Johan St�ck
Stockholm

Sweden
From: Dee Earley on 22 Feb 2010 06:23
On 22/02/2010 09:41, Johan St�ck wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have this rather "hairy" VB6 program that depends on quite a few
> external components.
>
> I have now successfully used "Make My Manifest" to produce a manifest
> file, so that I no longer need to run a "proper" install.
> Just copy a folder with everything needed to the target machine.
> However, since the app uses a vwf codec, I still have to ensure that
> this codec is installed on the target machine.
>
> Is there a way to include the codec in the manifest file, and have a
> 100% xcopy deployment?
>
> I assume that the "real" problem here is that I the fourcc code of the
> codec needs to be in the registry.

And the fact that you may not be able to distribute said DLL (and it's
dependencies)

--
Dee Earley (dee.earley(a)icode.co.uk)
i-Catcher Development Team

iCode Systems
From: Schmidt on 22 Feb 2010 06:43

"Johan St�ck" <johan(a)stack.se> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:7uf1qjFn6hU1(a)mid.individual.net...
> Hello,
>
> I have this rather "hairy" VB6 program that depends
> on quite a few external components.
>
> I have now successfully used "Make My Manifest" to
> produce a manifest file, so that I no longer need to run a
> "proper" install.
> Just copy a folder with everything needed to the target
> machine.
> However, since the app uses a vwf codec, I still have to
> ensure that this codec is installed on the target machine.
>
> Is there a way to include the codec in the manifest file, and
> have a 100% xcopy deployment?
Not that I knew...
But there's another solution for that, which requires some
efforts though.

> I assume that the "real" problem here is that I the fourcc
> code of the codec needs to be in the registry.
Normally yes.
But you can workaround that, by decoding your
Frames (I assume you want to decode them from
within an *.avi-File) ... by using the OpenDriver-
and the ICM (Installable Compression Manager-APIs).

Please read about the ICM (online) per MSDN.
The ICM-API is hosted within "msvfw.dll" - and a dynamic
codec-install can be forced over the OpenDriver- and
GetDriverModuleHandle-Calls, which are hosted within
"winmm.dll".

Here's the "basic-sequence", how to proceed...
(not "out-of-the-box" working-code ... only the principle)

Public FourCC As Long
FourCC = Make4CC("abcd") '<- put your codec-FourCC here

'place "YourCodec.dll" in the App.Path, to make the call succeed
hDrv = OpenDriver(StrPtr("YourCodec.dll"), 0, 0)

If hDrv Then
hMod = GetDriverModuleHandle(hDrv)

If hMod Then
Addr = GetProcAddress(hMod, "DriverProc")

If Addr Then
Call ICInstall(Make4CC("vidc"), FourCC, Addr, 0,
ICINSTALL_FUNCTION)

'now the Decoder should be available within your Process-Space
'so, you can open the Decoder for decompression now...
hDec = ICOpen(Make4CC("vidc"), FourCC, 2) '2=Decomp

If hDec Then
Public defined: BIComp as BitMapInfoHeader
Public defined: BiDec as BitMapInfoHeader
'...now populate all the BIComp- and BiDec-members accordingly
'...and don't forget to Set the BIComp.biCompression-Member
BIComp.biCompression = FourCC

'now prepare the ICM for continous Decompression
If ICSendMessage(hDec, _
ICM_DECOMPRESS_Begin, BICom, BIDec) = 0 Then

'success, Decoder is opened...
'you can now subsequently use the ICSendMessage
'Calls, to decode compressed ByteBuffers into DIB-memory
'the compr. ByteBuffers can be retrieved over normal AVI-File-
'readout-Calls (without defining a FourCC in the AviFile-
'opening-sequences - just open your AVI for subsequent
'readout in "anonymous mode" (plain compressed ByteChunks)
End If


Here's the principle of the just mentioned (ICSendMessage-
based) FrameDecoding-Routine:

BiComp and BiDec are defined globally...
SrcBuff and DstBuff are Pointers to the start of preallocated
(large enough) ByteArrays (DstBuf gets the DIB-Content).

SrcBuf and the CompressedLen (SrcBytes) was readout
beforehand with the above mentioned "anonymous" Avi-
Frame-Content-Readout...

Sub DecompressBuffer32(ByVal SrcBuff As Long,ByVal SrcBytes As Long, _
ByVal DstBuff As Long)
Dim ICD As ICDecompress
If SrcBuff = 0 Or DstBuff = 0 Or SrcBytes = 0 Then Exit Sub

On Error Resume Next
BIComp.biSizeImage = SrcBytes
BIComp.biWidth = 640
BIComp.biHeight = 480

BIDec.biBitCount = 32
BIDec.biCompression = 0 'RGB
BIDec.biWidth = 640
BIDec.biHeight = 480

ICD.lpbiInput = VarPtr(BIComp)
ICD.lpInput = SrcBuff
ICD.lpbiOutput = VarPtr(BIDec)
ICD.lpOutput = DstBuff + EvenOdd * dx * 4

ICSendMessage hDec, ICM_DECOMPRESS, ICD, ByVal Len(ICD)
If Err.Number = 0 Then
'success
End If
End Sub

I leave all the Cleanup-Functions (as e.g. CloseDriver or ICClose)
up to you... ;-)


The principle works for me (without registering) even on
Vista and Win7 - at least for the MJPG-codecs which
I'm dealing with here at work.


Olaf


From: Schmidt on 22 Feb 2010 06:58

"Dee Earley" <dee.earley(a)icode.co.uk> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:uSqtuF7sKHA.4860(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> > I assume that the "real" problem here is that I the fourcc
> > code of the codec needs to be in the registry.
>
> And the fact that you may not be able to distribute
> said DLL (and it's dependencies)...
Many (simpler) codecs come in a single Dll.
And the deploy-rights depend on the codec-vendor
(but there are also some open-source-codecs for the
simpler encoding-schemes).
Sometimes the rights depend also on, if for example
only the decompress-direction is needed.
And then there are 3rd-party vendors who offer(ed)
their codecs for purchase - I've bought some
codecs some years ago from LeadTools and from
MainConcept.

Olaf


From: Johan Stäck on 22 Feb 2010 07:19
Schmidt wrote:

> Normally yes.
> But you can workaround that, by decoding your
> Frames (I assume you want to decode them from
<snip>
>
>
> Olaf
>
>
Olaf!

That is a great idea, which I will follow up...
The actual problem here is decomp only of DV frames.
I have been working with all the easily available (and some not so
easily availible....) DV codecs.
My normal procedure is to call DrawDibDraw which (given the right
parameters) will decode the frame into a CDibsection for further processing.
Thanks for the tip!


/Johan
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