See inline

-----Original Message-----

From: Malcolm Greene [mailto:mgreene@bdurham.com]=20

Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 12:44 PM

To: Multiple recipients of ProFox

Subject: Questions on Inno Setup capabilities

Greg,

Thanks for sharing about Inno Setup. I keep hearing such great things

about this product. Mind if I ask a "few" questions?

1. How much overhead does the Inno setup add to a distribution?

Overhead as in file size? Very little - it uses compression, so the

total file size is of course going to be smaller.

2. Can Inno Setup update files in use (register replacement files for

update during next system bootup)?

Yes, it can. You just set a flag to tell it to do so.

3. Can Inno Setup accept command line parameters and act on these

paramters, i.e. to default to a different setup folder?

Note that I am aware of. One of the steps in the setup program that the

user runs is to select the location. This can

Also be surpressed so that they user has to install where you tell it

to. =20

4. Can Inno Setup read an INI file and/or specific Registry keys to

determine the location an application has been installed in and default

the setup folder to a known folder (vs. forcing a user to remember where

they previously installed an application?)

Yes, it automatically does this so after the first time an install is

run, the update will always install to whatever directory it was

installed originally. It stores this in the registry somewhere.

5. Can Inno Setup create setups that install in a totally quiet mode (no

user interface)?

I believe so, but I haven't done it. There is an option for Totally

Quiet Install.

6. Can Inno Setup return a DOS error code on success or failure?

Not that I am aware of.

7. Can Inno Setup register file associations?

Yes. It can also regester shared files, such as OCX's, .dlls etc.

8. Can Inno Setup register an uninstall option under Control Panel's

"Add/Remove Program" applet?

Yes. It creates an uninstall that can be run from the Control Panel, or

from the Application directory.

BUT WAIT THAT'S NOT ALL! - it will create a Start Menu ShortCut, as well

as a DeskTop shortcut for you. (The VFP 6 SetUp would not do this.)

Only 3 easy payments of zip, nada, zilch...

Hope this helps.

Greg

Message Number: 17

Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 11:29:28 -0600

From: "Greg Gum" <GGum@gpaccessory.com>

Subject: RE: Approaches to organizing application files in subfolders

(and max number of files per folder for reasonable performance)

Malcome,

Isn't there a DONTOVERWRITEIFEXISTS flag in your setup script so that

existing files are not overwritten when you do an update?

I use INNO SetUp and it has such a feature. Having said that, I

recently restructured my folders so that I have a folder called GRAPHICS

and then under that, I have a two Folders FRAMEWORK and CUSTOM. Any

files which can be customized are in the custom folder, so I don't ever

overwrite those, and the ones in the framework folder I do overwrite as

needed.

Inno SetUp is great for doing client updates. I never send out and

update without a setup program anymore as they are so quick and easy to

do.

Greg