It is a long time since I did a shrink erap of a an aplication. In VB3
there was an aditional application that did a very basic shrink wrap.
This produced a source that could be edited.

I am on VB6 and need to shrink wrap. There is a Publish option from the
tools menu but this takes me to a aform that asks for
VCM
    Local Database

I am lost here.

Any ideas or do I need to buy install shield which is a bit over the
top for me as I would probably not need it again. There are no
complecated external activeX controlls.

Desmond.

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With VB6 you should have gotten the 'Package and Deployment Wizard' and
there should be an entry for that under start / programs right next to VB6.

There will be a Setup1.VBP project under your VB6 install directory that you
can customize to create the SETUP1.EXE that the install package uses.

Check out Inno Setup.

www.innosetup.com

It's freeware.

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Thanks for that. The only thing out standing is how to change the
default directory. To for example
h:\DesApp
Here is the setup.lst I want the exe in the above directory

[Setup]
Title=Lotto
DefaultDir=$(ProgramFiles)
AppExe=Lotto.exe
AppToUninstall=Lotto.exe

You *could* just edit the setup.lst file directly, but you'd have to do it
every time you run PDW. Instead, at the Install Location step of PDW, change
it there.

Using a folder like the one you have suggested, like "c:\DesApp" would
bother some users because they may not want to frequently access that
folder. It puts off some users so they don't buy your product. I am for one
like to keep the root folder list as small as possible. This obviously
depends on what you need.

If for some reason your app works only in a specific folder, then you may
have something like this:

Open "c:\DesApp\config.txt" For Binary As #f

Instead change it to:

Open App.Path & "\config.txt" For Binary As #f

This way your app will work in any folder.


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I also don't like programs installed to immediate subfolders of the drive's
root, nor do I think it should be the default.  But if he wants to make it
the default (and still allow the user to specify an alternate folder), I
guess that's his choice. To a large degree, it depends on the target
audience. If they're even somewhat knowledgeable, they'll probably have
their own folder structure.  For example, I have 7 logical drives.  4 are
for different versions of Windows (allowing multiboot) and files that must
be installed on the same drive as Windows.  Another is for anything
development-related (Visual Studio, source code, etc.).  Another is strictly
for games. The last is for all other apps (MSOffice, Quicken, general tools
and utilities, etc.).  I would definately be extremely annoyed if an
installation did not let me install the app to my I:\ drive (my "apps"
drive) and in a subfolder of my choosing.  I get annoyed enough that
programs install parts of themselves here, there, and wherever, regardless
of the installation folder that I choose (I blame MS for starting that
mess).  It's also possible this app is for a specific company and for
in-house use only and the company wants the app installed to a certain
folder.

If he's forcing this installation folder because he's hard-coded that path
into his app, then you're absolutely right.

Why on earth would you want to do that? That's nothing but laziness. Let the
user choose where to put the program.

There's nothing wrong (IMO) with that being the default.  I agree that under
no circumstances (well, VERY few) that it should be forced on the user where
he/she can't where the program gets installed.

Yeah, I guess I meant, "Please supply in excruciating detail your rationale
for needing to do such a thing. In triplicate." Generally they can't and the
ultimate reason for wanting to is to avoid coding for variability, i.e.,
laziness.

Show quote Hide quote Good God!  Did I really write that mess of a paragraph?  Sheesh.  I guess I
need to proofread better. <g>

You still seem to be assuming that installation is being forced to that
folder  Maybe that is what he's after, but I didn't take it that way. I'm
giving him the benefit of the doubt.

But I agree that if your forcing a certain installation folder because
you've hard-coded the path, that IS just being lazy....and I have no
sympathy for any programmer that does this.

Show quote Hide quote By "shrink wrap", I'm guessing that you're talking about packaging your
application for distribution.  I've never heard that process called "shrink
wrap", though.  As far as I know, shrink wrap is a term that applies to
products (be it software or whatever) sold on store shelve.  I guess it
could be somewhat applicable.

VB6 includes a tool called Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW, for short).
If you installed PDW when you installed VB6, there should be a shortcut for
in your VB Start Menu program group.  However, PDW may not be the best tool
for you to use as it's quite outdated and can be troublesome under later
versions of Windows.

Two free tools that you might want to consider are Visual Studio Installer
(free from Microsoft) and Inno Setup (a free tool from a 3rd-party).

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/vsi11/default.aspx

http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

some applications put there application in there own folder you can
change it if you want. I personaly prefere this instead of only having
one folder in windows called program files and 10 million sub folders.

But the problem is you weren't clear.  Some people who read your post
thought you were asking how to force installation to a certain folder and
not give the user a choice on where the program should be installed. That's
why you're getting flack.

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Efficient way to parse large files
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Subclass Help WM_NOTIFY
BAS Module!