Use of 'Other' tab in the Project Manager 2

[Bryan - Gendev]

For years I have added non prg or frx etc files used in my application to the 'Other' tab area.

I'm unsure as to whether this is intended to add the files to the exe to save including them in the application's program folder when installing on a user's PC. Is there a description of the use of the 'Other' tab somewhere in the Help?

Or can someone just tell me...

Thanks

GenDev

 

[Mike Lewis]

The main reason to use the Other tab is to provide a convenient way of accessing various files from within your development environment. The files might or might not be intended to be included in the EXE.

Typicaly, you would add a Config.FPW to the tab if you want to bind that file into the EXE. Graphic and icon files can also be placed there. Also .H ("include" files).

However, you can also use the tab for files that have nothing to do with the EXE. Examples might include Word docs that are used for program specifications or software licences; spreadsheets that are used for project plans; and so on. The advantage of doing this is that it gives you a convenient way of opening the files without leaving the development environment. Provided the file type has an association within Windows, you can click the Modify button to open the file.

Be aware that all files added to the Other tab wll be included in the EXE by default. So, in the case of docs, spreadsheets,etc, you need to explicitly exclude them.

Does that answer your question?

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[Olaf Doschke]

>to save including them in the application's program folder when installing on a user's PC
No, that's decided by the exclude or incluide state of any file, not only in the OTHERs tab.

Take a look at the context menu of a file. Files excluded from compilation will not be part of the EXE built and will also have a small icon beside their name, a circle with a diagonal, like a traffic sign disallowing something. A default for that inclusion/exclusion exists for any file type. I'm not so sure all files put into the others will be included, as Mike say, but even if that's the case you can always override the default per file and there is no reason to put files here, just for getting an inclusion state.

And what is included in a setup and where which files go on a destination PC is not decided with the project manager at all, besides files being included in the EXE or DLL you build most likely will of course be installed, because you will install the EXE or DLL itself. But those files are then not needed separately anymore. More general what files are installed on a customer PC and where is decided by designing a setup and putting together whatever files with whatever absolute or generic destination folder. That's not part of VFP projects. You only have indirect influence and dependencies. If you exclude a report from compilation, you typically don't do this, because you don't need the report, but you want to be able to modify the report at runtime, so you'll put this frx and frt into a setup later. Also the setup may contain a chm help file you do with another product, or docs done with Word, or Excel Sheet templates or mdf/ldf MS SQL Server database files, and all those files don't need to be in your pjx at all. You compose the installation files in Installshield or Inno Setup or whatever setup product you use. This is separate step of your deployment and not part of the VFP project.

VFP projects are all about maintaining all files you need during development of your EXE or DLL for the one or other reason, mostly of course all the source code files compiled into the product. You can have files excluded from compilation into the EXE and also not included in a setup later, eg DOCs or txt files describing your job, or how-tos etc, which are needed for your work, but not by customers.

The only reason I see for the other tab is, it has the least important files types (menus - you mostly will have two or three per project, text files - which include .h header files, and then other files, really all other files including images, but any file extension is allowed here). So it saves two more tabs to also put in menus and text files here, but it has no special meaning.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Mike Lewis]

I'm not so sure all files put into the others will be included, as Mike say,

In my experience, any file you put into the Other tab is always included by default. I've never seen a case where that's not so. In fact, as far as I know, the Data tab is the only one where newly-added are excluded by default.

Mike



__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[Olaf Doschke]

>as far as I know, the Data tab is the only one where newly-added are excluded by default
It would make sense, as databases and tables are the only files you would want to modify normally.
I think if you add APPs and FLLs they are excluded by default, too, for obvious reasons.
I wasn't sure about doc(x),xls(x) and other document types, but you're right, by default they will be included into the EXE file.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Bryan - Gendev]

Thanks once again Mike and Olaf,

I use Inno compiler and have always included in the inno script all of the files needed when running my app. So my users get everything they need.

GenDev

 

[Olaf Doschke]

> my users get everything they need.
I'm sure that's the case, if it wouldn'T, you would have fixed it.

Nevertheless this has little to do with the others tab. As Mike is right about the default inclusion default for other files, you may only have a too big EXE by including too many files via that tab, it's very unlikely you get too few files from VFP's inclusion/exclusion mechanism, as it only excludes the files you want to have seperate in most every case: The data.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Bryan - Gendev]

Would you recommend that I remove files from the 'Other' list. I don't need easy access to any of the family of files my app uses - I have a system of links on my desktop that takes me wherever I might need to go from time to time. ?
In the interests of a smaller exe?

GenDev

 

[Olaf Doschke]

There is no single decision to make about other files, this has to be made decided in regard of the use of the files. And if you don't need and want them in the EXE, you can also leave files in the project and set them to be excluded from compilation.

For example I would neither remove nor exclude images used in your exe, or it might look awkward at runtime.

But I can't give you a general recommendation not knowing what files you put in there and for what reason.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Mike Lewis]

If you don't need easy access to the files from the development environment, and if the you don't want the files to get bound into the EXE, then there is little point in including them in the Other tab.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads