Anyone using a third-party update tool for LC-originated desktop apps?

[Graham Samuel]

Trevor, this is great stuff! I will now study it very carefully. I absolutely agree that there should be some kind of standard solution offered to LC developers. I’ve been saying for a long time that deployment is really the big issue for developers who have signed up to, and wish to depend on, LiveCode. Other topics under this heading include:

- code signing;
- installer production
- uninstallers to get rid of hidden files (neither the Mac nor the Windows built-in uninstall processes do a good job, not sure about mobile)
- workaround advice for users faced with aggressive anti-malware software that threatens to reject anything new
- uploading to servers using FTP clients

I’ve had to tackle all these, and I know there’s more, for example submission to the various app stores out there..

Anyway I’m about to start another chapter of my education!

Thanks again

Graham



> On 22 Jan 2018, at 16:06, Trevor DeVore via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 5:04 AM, Graham Samuel via use-livecode <
> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
>> Nowadays it’s customary for quite modest apps after launching to notify
>> the user of an update being available, with the possibility of carrying out
>> the update there and then, or refusing. A succession of dialog boxes guides
>> the user through the updating process and shows progress. The update
>> somehow bypasses the normal installation process, accepts existing license
>> data, and simply replaces the app. If the app has a document open, then the
>> new copy of the app re-opens it.
> 
> 
> Graham,
> 
> There are a lot of different approaches to this in the community. Here is
> my take on it. Currently I'm using the code in the following repository for
> automated updates. It is a Helper that I use with the Levure framework and
> I haven't documented it at all.
> 
> https://github.com/trevordevore/levurehelper-app_updater
> 
> It is a combination of Sparkle for macOS (Monte wrapped this up in an
> external for me) and LCS for Windows that I've been using over the years.
> Both macOS and Windows download an entirely new application. On macOS the
> app is zipped up and Sparkle downloads the zip archive, unzips it, and
> installs it. If the update requires authentication that is handled. On
> Windows the updater just downloads the Windows installer executable that is
> used for installing the app for the first time. This is an installer built
> using Inno Setup which will prompt the user for administrative permissions
> if need be.
> 
> I prefer to replace the entire application when I do updates. My apps are
> installed in a number of different environments. I would often get reports
> of problems when trying to update the app in pieces inside of corporations.
> Plus if you don't update the exe on Windows then the version number of your
> app won't be reported properly in the File Properties dialog. When I
> switched to downloading and running a full installer on Windows the reports
> of issues after running the updater dropped to 0.
> 
> In my ideal world the Windows side would use WinSparkle as it would be nice
> to leverage the work of a 3rd party. I like using code that is being tested
> by a lot of other people and which is entirely focused on automatic
> updates. I didn't want to create an external around it, however, so I've
> been waiting for the LCB to DLL interface in the engine to mature. I
> imagine WinSparkle could probably be wrapped using LCB now.
> 
> https://winsparkle.org
> 
> I would like to see the LC community have a standard automatic update
> solution available that is easy to use and is very reliable in all
> environments. To me it makes the most sense to leverage the work done by
> others who are focused on automatic update.
> 
> -- 
> Trevor DeVore
> ScreenSteps
> www.screensteps.com
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