Installers?

[bidgeeman]

Hi.
What is the best installer to use? What is the one that is used to install Rurev? What installer do most people use for their apps?

Cheers
Bidge

[mblackman]

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

[Mark]

Hi Ridge,

Several people, including me, build their own installers with Rev.

Best,

Mark

[FourthWorld]

Historically, I've used DMGs on Mac (which can be made with Disk Utility, included with OS X), and a full installer on Windows using Wise Install (which is less expensive and IMO easier to use than InstallShield, and has far more options than I've needed).

But like Mark and others, I'm migrating to my own custom installer. It's a tad larger than what I get with Wise Install, and of course it takes a bit to craft, but going this route lets me create a fully automated deployment tool which takes me from development to upload in one click for all platforms.

[bidgeeman]

Making a custom installer would be quite beyond my newbie skills just now. As a complete begginer at Runrev i'm finding it extremely frustrating to find information on doing the most basic of things, eg, putting a scrollbar on an image. I was trying to drag the scrollbar from the left hand toolbox onto a grouped image till i noticed the scroll checkbox in the group properties. Being able to create your own application like an installer is an amazing thing to be able to do. The possibilitis are endless and that's what keeps me going

Thanks you for the responses
Bidge

[Janschenkel]

Hi Bidge,

Here's the installer builder that I've been using for my projects. It was built using Revolution and creates .MSI files for Windows and .DMG files for MacOSX.
http://www.sweattechnologies.com/InstallGadget/

Best regards,

Jan Schenkel.

[bidgeeman]

Hey. Thanks Jan

Bidge

[trevix]

I'm trying to make my application installer but I have a problem with protected folders such as the "application" folder on Mac and Windows.
I have been using a "CanWriteToFile" function (found on the RunRev resources) to check for write permission and it obviously reports me that these are protected folders.
I was supposing that the "revCopyFile" and "revCopyFolder" commands would push the system to ask me for administrator name and password, but this is not the case.

Is there a solution or I have to tell the user to log in as administrator before the install ? (beginners may not be so up to the task...)

n.b. I need an installer because my users download a zip file and I noticed that on Windows most users dont understand a "copy these files to...." message inside the unzipper. They just want to click on something (inside the unzipper) that will do the job...

Thanks for any help
Trevix

[Mark]

Hi Trevix,

There are a few installer packages available for Windows. This would probably solve your problem instantly. Examples are InnoSetup, InstallGadget and something new that was recently mentioned in the Revolution newsletter. Economy-x-Talk has a special service in this respect. We have a special procedure to make custom installers for people with special wishes.

Now, to answer your question, there are different folder for "all users" and "this user". On the Mac, for example, /applications refers to the application folder for all users, while ~/applications refers to the application folder for the current user. On Windows, you can use the specialfolderpath function with different numbers. If you check the long path to these folders, you will quickly see whether you have the right folders, as their path should include something like" /All users/" or "/User Name/".

Best regards,

Mark

[trevix]

Thanks Mark. As usual you are prompt and nice...

I have no problem with Mac and Windows understanding of "all users" and "this user" special folders.

What I am talking about is that, since"RevCopyFolder" or RevCopyFile" works trough Applescript (as from Dictionary), and surely Applescript has a way to have the system to ask administrator name and password when someone try to copy something on administrator folders (like the Finder does...) using AS , I wonder why "RevCopyFolder" does not do that.
If you confirm me that "RevCopyFolder" is only partially implemented on this regard, I will have to make my Applescript script and replace entirely "RevCopyFolder".

The same for Windows (but I think form me this will be extremely hard...)

I probably can solve the OSX part but I need help for Windows

p.s. I need/want to make my own installer
Thanks

[Mark]

Hi Trevix,

I never use revCopyFolder anyway. I use read/write commands with a progress bar if there is a lot of data to deal with and sometimes I use shell commands. Normally, I avoid AppleScript for this task.

Which folder do you want to write to? Normally, you can know in advance whether you will need administrator permissions.

You can run an AppleScript with administrator permissions by adding "withh administrator privileges" to the syntax.

Code: Select all

put "sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/*" into myShell
put "do shell script" && quote & myShell & quote && "with administrator privileges" into myScript
do myScript as AppleScript

The above snipped empties the trash. To copy a file, you'll need shell syntax such as "sudo cp " & quote & "<source folder>" & quote && quote & <destination folder>". You may need to add something to the cp command to make it recursive (please check the man pages).

On Windows, you can check whether an application is currently running with admin rights. There is a thread on this subject somewhere else in the forum.

Best,

Mark

[trevix]

On OSX I managed to arrange this script that should copy the file "MyFile.txt" from folder A to folder B.
I'm asked for administrator name and password (good thing) but I've got a "execution error" from RunRev (bad thing)
(This "quote" thing is insane....by the way:SUDO in italian means I sweat...)

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   put "trevix HD:A:MyFile.txt" into source_folder
   put "trevix HD:B" into destination_Folder
   put "sudo cp " & quote && "&" && quote & source_folder & quote && "&" && quote & destination_Folder  into myShell
   put "do shell script" && quote & myShell & quote && "with administrator privileges" into myScript
   do myScript as AppleScript
   put the result
end mouseUp

"MyScript" end up being:
do shell script "sudo cp " & "trevix HD:A:MyFile.txt" & "trevix HD:B" with administrator privileges

Can you pin what's wrong ? Will this work on windows too?

[Mark]

Hi Trevix,

Most of the time, the shell uses the same paths as Revolution. You don't need to use the POSIX format. The shell syntax is incorrect. I'd add a line that puts the entire script into the message box before executing it. That will quickly reveal the mistakes.

You can use DOS commands in the shell function to copy files on Windows.

Best,

Mark

[trevix]

FINALLY....
This seems to work:

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   put "/A/MyFile.txt" into source_folder
   put "/B" into destination_Folder
   put "sudo cp -R -p " & "'" & source_folder & "'" && "'" & destination_Folder & "'"   into myShell
   put myShell into msg
   put "do shell script" && quote & myShell & quote && "with administrator privileges" into myScript
   do myScript as AppleScript
   put the result
end mouseUp

The -R allows copy of subfolder
The -p "...Cause cp to preserve in the copy as many of the modification time, access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID as allowed by permissions..."

I probably need also to fix permissions (may be "Sudo chmod -R 775 /file"?) so I understand I may have too many problems (and to little time to solve them...) and I better give up.
Thanks anyway

Trevix

[Mark]

Hi,

Anyone looking for a way to wrap a RunRev standalone in an installer might want to check out the Installer Maker Plugin for Runtime Revolution.

Best,

Mark