Upgrading an Application

[Tom Patten]

I plan to market my application by the number of records or clients an organization has. This way the cost is related to revenue.

Anyway, I need a way to upgrade a 20 client application to a 50 client application.

Currently I use a field on the Menu.dbf called MAXIMUM and password protect it. To upgrade a user calls and asks to upgrade from 20 to 50. So he says, "The check is in the mail" and I give him the password to change the 20 to 50".

No problem...

Well, he says, why don't I just change it to 150!!!!!!!!

BIG PROBLEM! So I guess I'll need to email a small file to change the Menu.dbf "maximum" field to 50.

Any suggestions on how to easily and quickly do this would be much appreciated. Could I just append the one field to update, or would I have to send the whole dBF file - not very big, just one record.

Or other approaches.

Thanks

Tom

[Michael Humby]

RE: Upgrading an Application

If it is only the data, just send the .dbf and .cdx file in a self extracting zip to overwrite. This is assuming your application installs to a fixed path.


Michael

[Peter.Greulich]

RE: Upgrading an Application

Tom,

Just mail the single Menu.dbf file only.

In the future, you might want to create some kind of a magic coding scheme. So you would give the client a secret code or number that would translate to 50 or whatever. Of course, the code would have to be clever enough so that the end-user couldn't just randomly start typing in values hoping to get a lucky strike. With ver. 5 you can password protect the dbf.

Peter

[Tom Patten]

RE: Upgrading an Application

Thank you Michael and Peter,

Yes it does install into a fixed path, but then I'd have to remember the other 20 fields or so in the menu.dbf file. It contains all the information that is unique to the agency. One record though.

I guess I could have it lookup to a new dbf that only contained the one field - MAXIMUM.

Peter

I thought I came up with a "magic coding scheme", but once you give them the password, you cannot control what they do with it. UNLESS the field had a lookup in increments of 10 with "forced closest match". But why wouldn't they go up by more than 10?

Could put some code on the field to only let them go to the next step.

OnDepart: This.value previous.value + 9

Above would permit increment by 10 only? Yes?

This approach sounds easier, more convenient.

Other approaches.

Tom

[whanigsberg]

RE: Upgrading an Application

Hi Tom,

Here is another way; save the figure in a text file. It is easy to read and write to a text file using Xbasic.

Now here is a devious idea which somebody suggested a long while ago on the board. You don't have to give the file a .txt extension. So name it ABCDEF.dll and most people will never notice it and if they do will be scared to attempt to open it. Put it in the Alpha program folder and it will blend in quite nicely.

Remember that if you want to give them 50 users you don't have to write the number 50 as your code can include a routine to interpret the string "Blue Monk" to mean 50.

When they upgrade you can send them a new "dll".

Bill

[Bob Houle]

RE: Upgrading an Application

Hi Tom,
There are a lot of things you can do with the file_pointer.seek() command...

The absolute best scheme that I have found is to create a small file called: Regist.exe and place it in my ADB folder.

My A5 program runs it with script_play (it creates a temoporary binary file with all of my customers pertinent information. A5 reads it into global variables which are used throughout the prgram in reports, etc. The temporary file is erased as soon as it is written to assure privacy.

Check out the following script that I used in one program...

'Needed to operate:
' REGIST.EXE NOTE: Place these in the APP folder
'=======================================================================
' N.B. - Execute this script when loading your "Main FORM"
'
' It will check the user's information to determine if they are
' registered properly. It will read a binary file, and place those
' values in GLOBAL variables. Use these variables in every form and
' report that you can. This will force the user to register. If they
' are not registered, the GLOBAL variables will contain temporary
' infomation that will be 'awkward' for the user and in 21 days will
' stop working.
' e.g. in header of a report:
' create 2 variables the width of the page...
' 1 - CompanyName
' 2 - CompnayAddress, etc, etc.
'=======================================================================
DIM GLOBAL CompanyName as c
DIM GLOBAL CompanyAddress as c
DIM GLOBAL FirstName as c
DIM GLOBAL LastName as c

DIM GLOBAL CheckDate as c
DIM GLOBAL Registered as c
DIM GLOBAL ProgramName as c

'get the current directory
oldpath = dir_get()

'Execute regist.exe program
'This does some stuff [grin]
sys_shell("Regist.exe", 1)

sleep(1)

'open the register.dat file in the APP directory.
file_name = "register.dat"
file_pointer = file.open(file_name,FILE_RW_SHARED)

'Read the file's information
'-------------------------------------
'first field is: CheckDate 'field is 1 char long
file_pointer.seek(0)
CheckDate = alltrim(file_pointer.read(1))

'next field is: ProgramName
file_pointer.seek(1)
ProgramName = alltrim(file_pointer.read(100)) 'field is 100 chars long

'next field is: CompanyName
file_pointer.seek(101)
CompanyName = alltrim(file_pointer.read(100)) 'field is 100 chars long


'next field is: Registered
file_pointer.seek(201)
Registered = alltrim(file_pointer.read(1)) 'field is 1 char long

'next field is: CompanyAddress
file_pointer.seek(202)
CompanyAddress = alltrim(file_pointer.read(120)) 'field is 120 chars long

'next field is: FirstName
file_pointer.seek(322)
FirstName = alltrim(file_pointer.read(50)) 'field is 50 chars long


'last field is: LastName
file_pointer.seek(372)
LastName = alltrim(file_pointer.read(50))

file_pointer.close()
file.remove(file_name) 'kills the file... not needed

'This was used for testing only.
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'trace.writeln("CheckDate: " +CheckDate)
'trace.writeln("ProgramName: " +ProgramName)
'trace.writeln("CompanyName: " +CompanyName)
'trace.writeln("Registered: " +Registered)
'trace.writeln("CompanyAddress: " +CompanyAddress)
'trace.writeln("FirstName: " +FirstName)
'trace.writeln("LastName: " +LastName)

If CheckDate = "1" .and. Registered = "0"
response = ui_msg_box("Bare Point Systems","You needed to register before today!", UI_STOP_SYMBOL)

A5.Close()
End If

dir_put(oldpath)
'==========================================================================
'Continue your program from here
'==========================================================================

[Tom Patten]

RE: Upgrading an Application

Bill and Bob,

thanks for your ideas. Lots of food for thought. And shows the many approaches available, especially when combined with the creativity of folks on this board.

I ended up using Passwords to open fields that automatically update MAXIMUM by 5 records per time. So the user does not enter the number. AND the password can only be used once. AND the password is a calculated field that changes every hour.

I did similarly with an Expiration Date field. This way by showing the fields on a form, the user can see if they are approaching the end of their Test Period or Record Maximum.

Thanks Much

Tom