[OT] Win convention question

[xbury.cs at clearstream.com]

First of all you should delete you registry entries and application files 
which is normal.

What is ultra bad is to delete the folder if there is any preferences. If 
you need to reinstall
you will have teh same problem as with runrev resetting all your prefs 
again... Very bad...

GTR does this and you loose ALL your scores, car modifications, settings 
and if you
added mp3s to the music folder, you will loose those too! It happened but 
found a 
backup I was only too glad to have made! I can't tell you how disgusted I 
was when
I found out it had deleted everything.

Secondly, if you use the command 

get shell("set")

you will find a bunch of variables to help you find what you need.

Notice this is not the regular PC installation you see everyday by 
default!
Also note, all the first words can be called via %NAME% to get that value
in a shell.

like %SystemRoot% is your system folder...

C:\home\Administrator>set
ALLUSERSPROFILE=D:\home\All Users   <- where the "my documents would be
APPDATA=D:\home\Administrator\Application Data
ClusterLog=C:\WINNT\Cluster\cluster.log
CommonProgramFiles=D:\app\common
COMPUTERNAME=ZEROZEROSIX
ComSpec=C:\WINNT\system32\cmd.exe
HOMEDRIVE=C:
HOMEPATH=\home\Administrator
LOGONSERVER=\\ZEROZEROSIX
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=2
OS=Windows_NT
Path=D:\app\Windows Resource 
Kits\Tools\;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\Sys
tem32\Wbem;D:\app\SecureCRT\;D:\app\AIXNT;D:\app\Symantec\pcAnywhere\
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=x86
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=15
PROCESSOR_REVISION=0209
ProgramFiles=D:\app
PROMPT=$P$G
SESSIONNAME=Console
SystemDrive=C:
SystemRoot=C:\WINNT
TEMP=D:\home\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp
TMP=D:\home\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp
USERDOMAIN=ZEROZEROSIX
USERNAME=Administrator
USERPROFILE=D:\home\Administrator
windir=C:\WINNT


What you want is either 
%ProgramFiles% --- the default application folder where you would install 
your stuff
or
%CommonProgramFiles% --- settings - but optional
or
%USERPROFILE% where my documents would be and the famous 

D:\home\USERNAME\Application Data\myapp\ for example...

AFAIK, it works on NT4 until W2K3 no prob...

So first, the settings should be either in
- the registry (not the best place but easy to find)
- the program's folder - default for all programs
- the program's common files - usually shared information for applications 
although
 it's not always for sharing purposes that it's there - I would avoid this 
anyway...

For multiusers, the prefs is either in the registry or the UserProfile 
where you want. but 
the userprofile app data folder is the right place.

Windows HIG are futile ;))

cheers
Xavier

On 02.02.2005 03:16:20 use-revolution-bounces wrote:
>Frank D. Engel, Jr. wrote:
>> On Feb 1, 2005, at 7:19 PM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
>>
>>> On a Mac, you customarily install an app by dragging the app or a
>>> folder from a DMG to your drive.  Uninstalling means simply dragging
>>> it to the trach, and any preferences files are left behind.
>>>
>>> On Windows I use Wise Install to copy the app into its own folder in
>>> /Program Files/, and when the app is run it puts its prefs data in a
>>> folder within the user's Documents and Settings folder.
>>>
>>> Historically I've treated everything in the Documents and Settings
>>> folder as belonging to the user, and do not bother with uninstalling.
>>> Moreover, on multi-user systems I may not know where to find all of
>>> the user Documents and Settings folders for everyone who may have run
>>> the app.
>>>
>>> So what is the normal convention for uninstall on Win XP?
>>>
>>> Should I:
>>>
>>> a) leave prefs in the user's Documents and Settings files
>>>    as is common with files in the Mac's Preferences folder?
>>>
>>> b) Delete only the prefs data in the current user's Documents
>>>    and Settings folder?
>>>
>>> c) Attempt to delete prefs from the Documents and Settings
>>>    folders for all users on the computer?
>>>
>>>
>>> Extra bonus points for Win HIG verse and chapter; I couldn't find the
>>> section on how to handle such things.
>>
>> You can't possibly be expected to track down prefs files for each user
>> on a multiuser system.  Consider that the uninstaller may be running
>> on a system where the software would be accessed by users who have
>> roaming profiles on a windows server; the preferences would not be
>> stored on the local machine, and the account under which the installer
>> is run may not even have access to the users' profiles in order to
>> delete the prefs files even if it tried!
>
>Good point.  So I can rule out #3.
>
>So should I bother with #2, or treat the user's Documents folder like
>Mac developers treat the Prefs folder and not bother with deleting it?
>
>Is there an established convention?
>
>I could only find a recommendation from Micro$oft on cleaning up any
>added registry entries, and I'm already doing that.
>
>
>> What are the bonus points good 4, btw?  ;-)
>
>At the moment, Karma.  :)  But if someone can point me to where the Win
>HIG tells me I should leave the user's Documents and Settings folder
>alone I'll give them a license for their choice of WebMerge or 
devolution.


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