Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

[preston2]

First off please bear with me as I am a newbie to all this Alpha 5 stuff. The last time I did any program creating was with Pascal and we all know how long ago that would have been.

I am currently a screen printer and I will be using A5 V10.5 to create some software for the textile decorating industry.

As part of my testing to figure things out I took a simple DB created in A5 and used the "Create Install Package" to create the install file. I had it include the runtime as the machine I was going to test the ap on does not have A5 installed on it.

The install creation seemed to work fine so I ran the created setup file on the test machine and it completed the install with no problems.

The issue was I did not get any desktop icon (may have been my fault during creation) nor did the test program show up in the list of installed programs. Then looking at the install directory I only saw executable files for Alpha 5. I cannot remember the exact name of the file but it was something like Alpha5.exe . When I started the file to bring up the test program I got a window asking me for my Alpha5 runtime license number.

So I guess the first actual question is do I have to give my runtime license number to all the people I end up selling programs to or did I do something wrong? I would think that the install package creator would know my A5 Runtime was licensed and thus not ask customers I sell apps to for my License number.

Second question is every app I create going to be called Alpha5.exe and have Alpha 5 show up at the top of the app window when the program starts?

Please excuses me for being dummy on all of this but I am a fast learner. And if all of this has been answered before, I searched and could not find clear answers so just point me to the right places.


Thanks,
Preston..

[Clunes]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

Yes the number needs to be with the application. However, if you put the License number in a text file called License.key (note the extension) and put that into the runtime directory then you will not be asked for the license key.

Alpha5.exe does need to be with every app, but Alpha does have a tool to change its name to something else. See their products page. You can change the title to whatever you want by either the desktp shortcut or like I do - I have an autoexec that has a line a5.window_title = "Insert title"

[preston2]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

So do I put the License.Key file in my runtime directory or does that file need to be included in the installation package going to the my customer?

I looked for that tool but did not see anything that seemed to be it. I will ask the Alpha sales department about it.

Thanks.

[preston2]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

Ok putting the License.Key file in the installation and having it installed on the customers computer worked great. So thank you very much Sir.

[Clunes]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

When you create an install file you can add the license key as an additional file. Need to ensure that it is in the runtime directory. I use a third party installer, so not sure that the Alpha installer will put it there if the runtime is in a different path to the datafiles. I think that if you add it from there then it should put it back into that same path

Another good item in the installer is the restrict the number of users. This creates a 'startup.control' file. It also must be in the runtime directory and will control how many users can open the file at anyone time. If it is missing then anyone can open. Need to put a check script into the autoexec which looks for its existance when opening.

[nugget3825]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

Preston, Sadly I went through the exact same thing. Let me know if you would like a "How to" step by step. Would make me feel good to be able to give back to the Message Board Community. If you already have it solved, great. If not, it's probably one of the easier things to do once someone shows you "how" the first time.

lar

[Ted Giles]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/Using+...ation+Packages
and
http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/Alpha+...me_Application
and
http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...-a-license-key

[preston2]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

Preston, Sadly I went through the exact same thing. Let me know if you would like a "How to" step by step. Would make me feel good to be able to give back to the Message Board Community. If you already have it solved, great. If not, it's probably one of the easier things to do once someone shows you "how" the first time.

lar

Anything you feel like putting together would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[CALocklin]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

... Alpha5.exe does need to be with every app, but Alpha does have a tool to change its name to something else. See their products page. You can change the title to whatever you want by either the desktp shortcut or like I do - I have an autoexec that has a line a5.window_title = "Insert title"

You can also change the name of the Alpha5.exe to something else - Fred_McGillicutty.exe if you'd like. That does solve some of the problems - but I believe it still leaves some issues with certain error messages. (So just write an error free app!)

But if you rename (or copy - see next paragraph) the Alpha.exe, you will also have to rename/copy the ".errors" and the ".manifest" files.

In fact, on my system I have both Alpha5.exe and Alpha5_aims.exe. The Alpha5_aims.exe is only used for my customer list which is open all day. That way if something crashes and I need to shut it down from the Processes tab of the Task Manager, I know which one is for my customer list and don't end up closing it by mistake.

[gitpicker]

Re: Creating a Desktop install package - and then the confusion begins.

Concerning nuggetsoftware's (Larry Carraher) offer to create a step-by-step installation procedure, has that ever been done? I would be very interested in such document. I am a newbie and struggling with "reading in between the lines" with the general procedure in the documentation. I feel like I should be able to get this thing going, but there seem to be a lot of small steps requiring certain choices in between the steps of the general procedure. Concerning creating the bootstrap, I read this on a POST (italics):

Now at least I think I see what you are talking about. Having never had a need to go the dummy bootstrap route, I am not sure I am the one to be helping you. First, let's be sure you need to go that route. Are you in control, either directly or remotely, of setting up the networked application and runtimes? If yes, then you do not need to go down the bootstrap route. Just set your Master database to auto refresh Shadows in the Control Panel, Tools, Network Optimize and then install your Master database on the server. Then install your runtime on the workstations, run it and navigate to the Master DB on the server and open it. Now in the runtime again go to Tools, Network Optimize and this time click the Create Shadow Database button. After that finishes, you are done. Just make sure your users open the Shadow to do their work. When a change is made in the Master, you up the version number under Tools, Network Optimize (in the Master DB) and the next time Shadow users open the application it will automatically update to the newest version.

The bootstrap you refer to is needed only if you are creating a runtime install such that you expect others to have to setup the Shadow DB. They install the runtime and open the "dummy" application you include that has the exact same name as your Master DB and has the autoexec you refer to. That autoexec asks for the path to the Master DB (they presumably know where it is, ha, ha!) and the rest of the autoexec creates the Shadow--or so I presume since I have never had a need to go down this route.

For a self described "newbie" this may still seem daunting, but I hope the above helps a bit.

I got lost at, "install your runtime on the workstations, run it and navigate to the Master DB on the server and open it. Now in the runtime again go to Tools, Network Optimize and this time click the Create Shadow Database button." When I did that, the Network Optimize option was not ON the Tools Menu, either with or without the database open. Perhaps it meant to go back to the runtime installed on my development computer and not the runtime I just installed on the client computer. I was not sure. At that point I was not sure where to go. At any rate, a clear and concise step-by-step would be much appreciated. I am sure once I get successfully get through this one time, much more will be clear concerning the overall process and the steps required to complete the installation.

Thanks,

Mike R.