How to Use the Setup Wizard in Professional Visual FoxPro

• Professional Edition of Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 5.0

SUMMARY

This article discusses the steps followed by the Visual FoxPro Setup Wizard. The Professional Visual FoxPro Setup Wizard creates distribution disks from the files in your distribution tree. To learn about the distribution process and how to prepare your distribution tree before running the Setup Wizard, please see Chapter 10, "Creating Distribution Disks," in the Professional Features Guide.

NOTE: The Setup Wizard is included only with the Professional Edition of Visual FoxPro.

MORE INFORMATION

NOTE: If the Setup Wizard has never been run, an additional step occurs before Step 1 listed below. This additional, initial step asks for a directory to place compress file in. This directory cannot be the same as the root directory of your application.

Step 1 - Distribution Tree

The directory that you specify for your distribution tree must contain all files and subdirectories you want to create in a user's environment. The Setup Wizard uses this directory tree as the source for files that it will compress into the disk image directories.

The Setup Wizard records the options you set for each distribution tree and uses them as default values the next time you create a setup routine from the same distribution tree.

NOTE: You cannot use the DISTRIB directory that the Wizard creates as the directory for your distribution tree. Also, it is a good idea to place your source tree outside the Visual FoxPro directory.

Step 2 - Optional Components

Select the system features your application uses and the operating systems on which users can install your application. The Setup Wizard will create a setup routine that includes all necessary system files for the system features you specify.

The following table lists the sizes of files that could be included with your setup routine.

                                        Select this option if
Option                         Size     your application...

Visual FoxPro 3.0 Runtime      3.5 MB   Requires the Visual FoxPro Runtime
                                        (VFP300.ESL) to execute.

Microsoft 5.0 Graph Runtime    2.2 MB   Includes forms that use Graph 5.0
                                        controls.

ODBC Drivers                   3.5 MB   Communicates with tables other than
                                        Visual FoxPro .DBF files. When you
                                        select this option, the ODBC
                                        Drivers dialog box appears so that
                                        you can select necessary drivers.

ODBC Drivers (Win32s)          4.3 MB   Communicates with tables other than
                                        Visual FoxPro .DBF files. When you
                                        select this option, the ODBC
                                        Drivers dialog box appears so that
                                        you can select necessary drivers.

Win32S (1)                     4.0 MB   Is being distributed to users
                                        running Windows version 3.11.
                                        Visual FoxPro applications require
                                        Win32s.

Windows 95 (1)                 0.5 MB   Is being distributed to users
                                        running Windows 95.

Windows NT (1)                 0.5 MB   Is being distributed to users
                                        running Windows NT.

The sizes listed above represent the bytes used after the files have been installed on a user's hard disk. When the user runs the setup these sizes might be slightly exaggerated.

Step 3 - Disk Images

The Setup Wizard creates a distribution subdirectory containing disk images for each disk type you specify. If you select the Netsetup option, the Setup Wizard creates a single directory to hold all the files.

You can create the disk image directory before you run the Setup Wizard. If you want the Setup Wizard to create the directory for you, type a directory name in the text box.

Step 4 - Setup Options

The Setup Wizard creates installation dialog boxes with the title you specify in the Dialog Caption box. It also places the copyright statement in the About Setup dialog box that the user can access from the About command on the Setup application's control menu. Entries are required in the Dialog Caption and Setup Copyright boxes. The Post-Setup Executable entry is optional.

NOTE: To advance to Step 5, you must ensure that the insertion point (mouse pointer) is not in the Dialog Caption or Setup Copyright box.

Step 5 - Default Destination Directory

The setup routine places your application in the directory you specify in the Default Destination Directory box.

Step 6 - File Summary

NOTE: To create a Windows Program Item and icon for your application, you must select the PM Item option, providing the information described in the following table.

The Setup Wizard lists your files in a grid. You can change the settings for any file by clicking the item you want to change. The following table describes the settings displayed in each column:

Column       Description

File         The file name as it will be created on the user's computer.

Target Dir   The file can be installed on the user's machine in the
             Application directory, Windows directory, or Windows System
             directory.

PM Item      If you select this option, the Wizard displays the Program
             Manager Item dialog box, so you can specify the program item
             properties (description, command line, and icon).

             In the command line, you can use an embedded %s sequence to
             replace the application directory. The "s" must be lowercase.
             Use the %s sequence when you install files in application
             subdirectories. This ensures that files are installed in
             the correct subdirectory if your users specify a name for
             the application directory other than the default name. The
             following example installs MYDATA.DBF in the MAINDATA
             subdirectory of the application directory:

                %s\MAINDATA\MYDATA.DBF

             If you specify an icon that is outside your source tree, the
             setup routine installs the icon in your application directory.

OLE          If you select this option, the generated setup registers the
             OLE control when it is installed on a user's computer. This
             does not register a design-time license for the control on the
             user's computer. It is a good idea to have your setup register
             OLE controls to ensure that your user always uses the correct
             version of the control.

             Visual FoxPro allows an OLE control to be created or
             instantiated only if the control and its license have been
             purchased and installed on your computer. License information
             is saved with the form or class. This allows distributed forms
             to run successfully on users' computers. Users cannot modify
             these forms in design-time unless they also purchase a
             design-time license from the manufacturer of the control.

             You may distribute visual class libraries that contain OLE
             controls. New controls based on these visual classes can be
             added to running forms. Users, however, may not modify these
             visual classes, create controls based on them, or subclass
             them.

             OLE controls may be developed and distributed without charge
             or licensing requirements. However, most are designed so that
             they fail without a license. There are currently two types of
             licenses for OLE controls, design-time and run-time. A
             design-time license allows you to create new OLE controls. A
             run-time license allows you to run a form that contains an OLE
             control.

             For more information about distributing applications with OLE
             controls, please see the "Distributing OLE Applications" topic
             in the Visual FoxPro Help file.

Step 7 - Finish

When you choose Finish, the Setup Wizard records the configuration for use the next time you create distribution disks from the same distribution tree. It then starts creating the application disk images.

The Setup Wizard creates and compresses several unique files the first time it runs and saves them for subsequent runs. Therefore, the first run of the Setup Wizard takes longer than subsequent runs.

After the Setup Wizard creates the disk images you specified, copy the images to master disks. Then copy and combine the disks with the rest of your distribution package.

After you create a set of master disks, you can delete the disk image subdirectories. However, you should retain the COMPRESS subdirectory, so the next time you use the Setup Wizard, it only needs to compress files that have changed since creating the previous set of disks.

The COMPRESS directory contains the same files that are in the source directory. The only difference is that they are compressed. If one of the files in the source directory has been changed, then the Setup Wizard will recompress it.