Install and Reinstall problem 1

[MickeD]

Hi,

We have a huge database application written on Clipper, and now working on "upgrading" to VB6.
It will be very long process, and we desided to do it "step-by-step" (or module-by-module).
But every new module need an installation and we have some troubles with automatic uninstall of an old version.

Is there any tool which can help?

Or is there any way to run .EXE from server? We have more than 300 workstations and it's very difficult to install the application on each one.

Thanks
Micke

 

[swilliams]

You can use ghosting to run things from the server, or you can create a script that will copy the files to each client - run from the server - and register any components, or you can create the setup in VB as a 'silent' install, so that it accepts the defaults that you normally get prompted for, or you can create the setup to run from a .bat file, so that you can run the installation silently and overwrite the default settings with settings in the .bat file. These scripts / exes / .. whichever way you go can be invoked from logon scripts,...

There are millions of ways to achieve this, but you just have to choose one - sometimes the hardest thing, as doing them is not that difficult.

Simon

 

[MikeLacey]

Micke,

We had exactly the same problem and, for a while, my job consisted of repairing PC installations... (450 of them :-()

We also had the problem of a VB app running across a WAN against an Oracle database, and it was this that made us do something.

This is how we tackled it then:

We used a product called Winframe, from Citrix corporation. This product runs applications on a central NT server but the display portion on a client PC, so it's not affected by WAN speeds. An unexepected side effect (unexpected by *me* at any rate) is that you only have to install an application on the server.... That is, just the once.

I started off planning to use this just for the remote sites but quickly saw the benefit (less work for me that is) of running the local users on Winframe as well. We don't roll out *any* client based apps now.

This is how I would tackle it now:

I would use Active Server Pages, VB script in a web page.

Now don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against Winframe or its baby half brother, Terminal Server, from Microsoft.

Nothing except cost, that is...

At the time I had two or three VB3 applications and Winframe has been the ideal solution for them. It seems unlikely that these applications (which are now written in VB5) will get re-written so that they can be browser based...

 

[MickeD]

Thanks a lot!
An aditional question about running application from the server: We are working on Novell Server :-(. Is it possible to install on it a VB application?

 

[listener22]

Don't forget that this would be a good opportunity to rewrite
the app into a 3-tier architecture. The data objects would be
on the server. The business logic objects would probably
be on the server. The user interface(s) would run on the
client. ADO with COM/DCOM.

 

[mohmehran]

You may use the novell server, but forget to have even a two-tier application, since the only think you have is file-sharing. So if you are serious developing these kinds of apps, switch to NT.

 

[MickeD]

Thanks again.
But HOW can I install VB App on Novell Server, or I must use another NT one as File server with Novell Server as Database Server ?

 

[MikeLacey]

Mick,

Think that, unless you go for some investment in Winframe or Terminal Server or converting your VB app to web, you will have to install the app on each client.

A thought:

Is it necessary for you (or someone) to visit each PC? Could the user click on a link in an email and install?

 

[MikeLacey]

Also -- another discussion in this forum might be of interest "Web enabling a VB application" started by VB400