Automatically updating a stack - How Do I Do It?

[Chipp Walters]

Hi Len,

See below..


> 1) At step 5 of the "Instructions" page, you say "...then check the version of it..." (the mainstack).  Can a custom property be read without launching or loading the stack that contains it?  I had always thought that you had to "start using stackfile" before you could read any properties from it.  It this is not the case, are custom properties the ONLY thing you can read (and set?) without opening/running the stack?

Yes, you can get the value of a fld from a closed stack, but you might
want to make sure it's a stack first...and you *should* close it
(delete stack) after reading it.

if there is a stack "C:/test.rev" then put fld "vers" of stack
"C:/test.rev" into tVersion

> 2) This kind of goes with question above: is the Vers property of the mainstack stored in the main stack file or is it in the altSplash launcher?

MainStack. The launcher has it's own version which gets checked. If
the launcher needs redownloading, I generally open a web page and let
the user download a new launcher. This is rarely done, as the code
which gets modified is typically in the mainstack or substacks.

> 3) When you have an application like MagicCarpet for example, that consists of a main app and plugins and maybe a few other files/images as well, do you only have one version number (i.e., the version of the mainstack and then just re-download EVERYTHING if any of the component parts has a change or does each file have it's own Vers variable that the mainstack checks (like the altSplash launcher does) and only download those parts that have changed?

I have another library which I use in my mainstack to manage the
versioning of all 'other' stacks, and files (using checksum), and
other stuff.

> 4) On Windows, is the "All Users" folder writable by any user or just readable?  I always thought that this folder required Administrator privileges to write.

You can use any of the specialFolderPath vars you like. My latest
version allows also for the creation of portable apps, which can be
installed anywhere (including a thumb drive). I prefer this as it's
easier to manage a single folder of files rather than dispersed all
over the drive.

> 5) What are the distribution/use terms for altSplash?  Do I need to buy a copy of MagicCarpet to be able to use it legally or just so I'll sleep better at night?  :-)  I'm going to buy it anyway but I just thought I'd ask in case there are any other restrictions on it's use.

Feel free to use it in your own commercial or personal apps.

best,
Chipp