Installing application (generated by IS Express 5) in Windows 7 3

[SitesMasstec]

I have used InstallShield Express 5 (Limited Edition) which came packed with VFP 9 SP2 for some years to distribute my applications in SETUP.EXE form, recorded in a CD or sent by e-mail. The computer I use VFP and InstallShield has a Windows XP SP3.
Problem is when the user receive my SETUP.EXE file has a Windows 7 installed in his/her computer: the installation halts (even if the user activate the XP Mode inside the Windows 7).
Do anyone know how to solve this?
Thanks,

 

[Mike Lewis]

What error message do you see? Or, if there is no error message, what exactly happens when the program halts?

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[clipper01]

think once u go to Vista or higher , Installshield Express 5 needs to be upgraded. Depending on budget

a) upgrade to latest Installshield , expensive ++++
b) use freebie like Inno Installer, script based
c) I've used Tarma for years and right up to current W7 , costs about 90usd , but has superb IDE interface that far outweighs all the hassle of figuring out Inno scripts ( saw it recommended some years back by Rick Strahl of West-Wind , if good enough for him , will do me )

http://www.tarma.com/products/tin/register.htm

 

[DSummZZZ]

I've been using IE5 for several different installations and it works just fine on W7, with some caveats:

1- Make sure user has sufficient rights
2- Run the setup.exe as Administrator (Shift+Right-Click -> Run As Administrator)
3- Don't install in "C:\Program Files" directory. Best to install in a directory off C:
Of course, there are all sorts of other compatibility issues to consider like ODBC drivers and so on, but the those you'll have to deal with depending on your app.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[SitesMasstec]

Hi!
Mike, surprisingly I had no more error messages (last time I got error was on month ago) on installations on Windows 7 from the very same SETUP.EXE file
Clipper01 and Dave: I took notes from your valuable advices.
Thanks to you all.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

I can share your experience in one way: I once (and only once) had a setup.exe run on Win7, in which the setup seemed to be stuck.

As I know in general there is no problem, I waited. It took several minutes before the usual elevation dialog (asking to allow or log in with admin credentials) appeared(!)

This should not happen, as you are used to an elevation dialog appearing promptly after starting a setup. If this is your first experience with a setup, I can understand you're unsatisfied with Installshield.

As clipper said, you could also update Installshield, the version coming with VFP9 is from 2006 of course, Vista came 2007, Win7 2009, so from that outset a newer version wouldn't hurt.

One major change in Vista was how to acquire special folders, there's a big difference you can see here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb762584(VS.85).aspx

It's a reason people are going over to Inno setup, it's free, in continous development and you can do all the usual stuff in it, if you're willing to learn a bit of scripting (or find the Inno scripts for VFP apps).

You need to dive into the setup process a bit anyway, need to understand COM or ActiveX needs registration, what runtimes are for CHM help support, what is needed for XML functions, but also where data should go at a pc, if your install is for a single user, all users o a pc, terminal services, lan installation, client or server setup. Things that also depend on your application design.

But it's like it's always: Only if knowing what you really want and what you can do, you can find the best solution.

Some admins of customers prefer an MSI setup instead of EXE, as Software Management System can only deploy MSI files to clients.

So you see there are lots of things to consider and still people think this is something they can do in 15 minutes after spending a month programming the application.

I could still continue with knowledge you need about licensing ActiveX, copy protection, 30-day-trial mode, Creating an update installer and making the first setup in a way a update-installation is possible via the same kind of setup. The different forms of setups, setup dialogs, accessing registry, updating your config with the user choices made during installation, ClickOnce installations, Deinstallation (and not removing too much, eg DLLs shared) ... it never ends.

And if you do one customer a favor and hand out a non limited installer, it may already be too late to add protection to further setups. It is too late to shut the barn door after the fox has bolted.

Creating a setup is one of the most underestimated things a developer does. I'd bet it's not seldom a developer doesn't plan time for it, at least not more than a day, if even that much.

Most people don't even know their EXE needs support dlls called runtime, though this is the case for any EXE in any language. It's just some runtimes are preinstalled anyway and you could live without that knowledge with C++ or VB or nowadays even with .NET, as the .NET Framework is widley spread and widely available. So it is quite usual the exe you create is all that you need, even on a customer PC.

Each language not having a linker component does not links DLLS or their LIBs into the EXE, so you depend on DLLs, if only OS Dlls.

To round this up, I know Jochen Kirstaetter has already used NSIS as installer, which compares to Inno in the way you need to write scripts.

I'd always prefer installers supporting Merge Modules (MSM files), as that also handles deinstallation so much better in knowing what things were merged into the system at installation, keeping that info for uninstallation to see what needs to remain. Something you also should take care of - or ideally the setup creation software you use.

I bet you have cursed about some software keeping remains making the installation of the next version or some other software impossible. Do you want to be the one, over which others curse for that same reason?

All this is one motivation for the cloud or classic web applications, moving the responsibility towards a single server, keeping users at the newest version with just the update of that one server. With all the advantages and disadvantages...

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Mike Gagnon]

I have switched to created MSI files about 3 years ago.


Mike Gagnon

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