I've never used the PDWizard for VB6 before.  It seems to be forcing
me to install programs in a folder of it's choice designated by
$(AppPath).  How can I redefine $(AppPath) to the target of my choice?

No, it's the folder that the user chose to install the app to.

Also, you may want to check out Inno Setup. It's free and open source and
makes one single EXE file without any dependency on any DLL other than those
that came with Windows 95 and after. It has a modern look, and has support
for common things, like modifying the registry, viewing readme, and license
files. PDW doesn't have built-in support for these, but you can modify it
since it's using a helper setup1 project that is written in VB6, but this
takes time. Here is the link to Inno help for VB6 page:

http://www.jrsoftware.org/iskb.php?vb
http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

Show quote Hide quote I took a quick look at this and, at first blush, it seems to  require
a lot of learning.  Other that the default installation directory, the
PDW was pretty simple and straightforward.  I had it working first
time through with little effort.

When I have more time I'll take another look at Inno.

   Also, in case you hadn't noticed, there is
*some* flexibility with locations. The PDW "wizard"
GUI is poorly designed and choosing paths is
one of the worst parts, so your options are not
obvious. When you get to the Install Locations
window, each file can be assigned to a destination:
AppPath, Program Files, Windows folder, System folder,
etc. You can also enter a folder name to have that
folder created. For instance, if you want abc.dll
installed to a subfolder named "bin" inside your
main program folder, then you can just select
$(AppPath) and type in after it the following: \bin
The installer will then create that folder during install
and copy the selected file to it.

   The location choice dropdown list, and the ability
to edit the field, are activated by clicking in the
Install Location field for a given file.

$(AppPath) is the folder you choose upon installation. I don't understand
what you mean...

Show quoteHide quote

I have the same problem.  I'm not sure who you mean by "you" in "you
choose."  I am the developer and I want to choose a default
installation location.   I assume there is a default installation
location that is assigned to $(AppPath).  I don't see where I choose
this default.

See "Manually Editing a Setup.lst File" in MSDN help. In particular,
DefaultDir. I am not sure if you can change this from PDW itself, I don't
use it anymore.

Thanks, editing the Setup.lst file worked.  Best I can tell there's no
way to modify it in PDW itself.

As "Nobody" noted:

This is in Setup.lst after you make a package:
DefaultDir=$(ProgramFiles)\ProgramFolderName

So your software will go into Program Files, with
a folder name of your choosing, unless the person
installing decides to chage that path during install.

  If you want to change that it might be a good
idea to at least warn people. It's really supposed
to be the choice of the person installing, and people
will usually expect Program files.

   If you want more flexibility see here:

www.jsware.net/jsware/vbcode.php5#set1
www.jsware.net/jsware/vbcode.php5#set12

  The second link is more up-to-date. It's a rebuilding/
updating of the PDW (which is actually a VB program)
that includes graphical options, options for icons
in Desktop and QuickLaunch, option to create an app
data folder, elimination of the setup.exe file, weeding
of the original code down to about half the original
size, and an optional class for setting permissions on
folders or Registry keys during install.

(This updated version takes a little more work, but
there are full instructions included and of course, it's
VB, so you can update it further if you like.)

BTW, MS said that "there are no plans to include VB6 runtime in future
versions of Windows beyond Windows 7.", so after Windows 7, the VB6 runtime
need to be included, but it's too early now. Here is where they said that:

Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
and Windows 7
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788708.aspx

I just tested Inno Setup with maximum compression settings to see how small
it gets. With no EXE or runtime, it's 282 KB. With VB6+SP5 runtime only,
it's 1133 KB. The reason for the 282 KB is that it includes the Pascal
engine, but that is not needed if you didn't add a [Code] section, which is
not needed in most cases. I have seen some posts that describe how to remove
the engine, but I think you need Delphi and recompile Inno. There are
probably some people out there with modified version that doesn't include
the engine, and that would save around 200 KB.

Here is the test script that I used(Remove the [Files] section so not to
include any files):

; Script generated by the Inno Setup Script Wizard.
; SEE THE DOCUMENTATION FOR DETAILS ON CREATING INNO SETUP SCRIPT FILES!

#define MyAppName "MyAppName"
#define MyAppVerName "MyAppVerName"

[Setup]
AppName={#MyAppName}
AppVerName={#MyAppVerName}
DefaultDirName={pf}\{#MyAppName}
OutputBaseFilename=TestSetup
Compression=lzma/ultra64
SolidCompression=yes

[Files]
; begin VB system files
; (Note: Scroll to the right to see the full lines!)
Source: C:\VB\VBRun60sp5\stdole2.tlb; DestDir: {sys}; OnlyBelowVersion: 0,6;
Flags: restartreplace uninsneveruninstall sharedfile regtypelib
Source: C:\VB\VBRun60sp5\msvbvm60.dll; DestDir: {sys}; OnlyBelowVersion:
0,6; Flags: restartreplace uninsneveruninstall sharedfile regserver
Source: C:\VB\VBRun60sp5\oleaut32.dll; DestDir: {sys}; OnlyBelowVersion:
0,6; Flags: restartreplace uninsneveruninstall sharedfile regserver
Source: C:\VB\VBRun60sp5\olepro32.dll; DestDir: {sys}; OnlyBelowVersion:
0,6; Flags: restartreplace uninsneveruninstall sharedfile regserver
Source: C:\VB\VBRun60sp5\asycfilt.dll; DestDir: {sys}; OnlyBelowVersion:
0,6; Flags: restartreplace uninsneveruninstall sharedfile
Source: C:\VB\VBRun60sp5\comcat.dll; DestDir: {sys}; OnlyBelowVersion: 0,6;
Flags: restartreplace uninsneveruninstall sharedfile regserver
; end VB system files

Now we're getting somewhere.  There is no option in PDW to specify the default installation folder. It's automatically a subfolder
in Program Files named after the project name (at least I think it's the project name...been awhile since I've used PDW).

However, after you've created the Setup package, you can modify the Setup.lst file.  This file is essentially an INI file.  There
should be a DefaultDir entry in the [Setup] section. Unfortunately, you'll need to make this change to Setup.lst after each time you
run PDW to create a package.

Show quote Hide quote default installation folder. It's automatically a subfolder
project name...been awhile since I've used PDW).
Setup.lst file.  This file is essentially an INI file.  There
need to make this change to Setup.lst after each time you
Or configure and save a deployment script.

-ralph

Show quote Hide quote I'm not sure the DefaultDir is even saved in that script. I'm pretty sure
it's just something that PDW writes to Setup.lst "on-the-fly". Been ages
since I've looked at a PDW packaging script so I could very easily be wrong
about that.

Show quote Hide quote Nope - I'm wrong.

I use a collage of intergrated P&D (and Setup1) utilites that I've modified
over the years. After a while I tend to forget what is 'me' and what is
'memorex'. lol

-ralph

-ralph

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