[OT] Win convention question

[Frank D. Engel, Jr.]

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Why don't you just use an existing installation package such as Inno 
Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php), since that will provide 
these things for you "for free"?

Inno Setup will let you specify files to be copied, where to place 
them, registry entries to be installed (and removed), it automatically 
handles placing your program in Add/Remove Programs (and provides an 
uninstaller), and it is used by numerous other projects, so that the 
interface will be familiar to many people (and it's quite similar to 
many other installation programs, enough so that even someone who never 
did use an Inno Setup installer but who has installed other programs 
should have no trouble using it).  It allows for a great deal of 
customization, and if you get the ISTool script editor in the 
QuickStart pack, it is very easy to use... well, for a Windows program 
anyway ;-)

You can also trigger an external program, so if there are "oddball" 
tasks to be performed when installing or uninstalling your program, you 
can create a small tool with just the functionality needed to handle 
those particular tasks, and call on that tool during the installation 
or uninstallation process.

Did I mention that this is free?  Other tools are available as well...


On Feb 2, 2005, at 6:32 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote:

> xbury.cs at clearstream.com wrote:
>> 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...
>
> Agreed.  What I've done instead is use the Application Settings 
> folder, which is hidden from users be default.  Thanks to the handy 
> tips at SonsOThunder.com I was able to find the constant that Win98 
> through XP uses to return the path to that folder:
>
>   specialFolderPath(26)
>
> So now I don't touch anything in the user's My Documents folder, only 
> Application Settings.
>
> I think I'll cover storing prefs in my next revJournal article.  
> There's far more to it than it would seem at first glance.
>
> One of this byproducts of this odyssey is a bit of a disappointment in 
> Apple:  it's a rare day when Micro$oft offers a clear usability 
> advantage of Apple, yet Micro$oft has a stronger position on an app 
> cleaning up after itself than Apple's "toss the app in the Trash and 
> let the user figure out what to do with the prefs file" approach.
>
> -- 
>  Richard Gaskin
>  Fourth World Media Corporation
>  ___________________________________________________________
>  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com
> _______________________________________________
> use-revolution mailing list
> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>
>
- -----------------------------------------------------------
Frank D. Engel, Jr.  <fde101 at fjrhome.net>

$ ln -s /usr/share/kjvbible /usr/manual
$ true | cat /usr/manual | grep "John 3:16"
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life.
$
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