Help!
A question I came across on another Delphi list that I have been discussing
with the author. I apologize for the intensity of the following question.
This guy is quite worked up by his problem. But does anyone have any ideas
on how to fix it?
[>] It would appear that you have not yet tried to get one of your programs
to work on ANOTHER system which does NOT have Delphi on it - or anywhere
near it.
Having created your Application with Delphi4 (and I understand Delphi5) you
cannot simply copy the resultant .EXE file to another machine. It won't
work!! Because (for starters) it will probably be looking for a DBE (Data
Base Engine)- without which it CANNOT work. (I understand that with Delphi5
the situation is not the same.) If you are using your development yourself
(on the development machine) you won't (shouldn't) have a problem. Because
the DBE (amongst other things) was installed when you installed Delphi4.
But if you plan to sell your software or develop it on a contract basis (as
many developers do) your user (3rd party) machine will obviously NOT have
Delphi4 installed on it. Nor (strictly speaking) does your Application NEED
everything that you have in your Delphi 4 installation.
The problem arises in deciding WHAT has to go onto your 3rd party machine.
WHAT changes to make to the registry and .DLL files, etc on that system. A
complex business too big to go into here.
Supposedly to spare us mere systems analysists/programmers this problem
Inprise benevolently include Installshield Express in the Delphi4 CD-ROM. (I
am led believe this also applies to Delphi5) IT is expected to put you in a
position to create a set of disketts - whilst IT includes all the right
files and magic - so that you simply use "Add/Remove Programs" from Windows
"Setup" to "distribute" your marvelous software to that system.
In fact you have to (are obliged to - in terms of your user-agreement with
Inprise) "distribute" to a 3rd party machine in this manner. The problem
being that MY Delphi4 package had an Installshield Express version on it
which was looking for "datapump" files - which do not even come with
Delphi4!! Leaving my version about as useful as a saddle fitted to a cow!!
(Data pump files apparently come with Delphi4 ENTERPRISE.)
In the meantime Inprise and Installshield then (individually or
collectively) set about remedying the problem with 2 "patches". But after
having downloaded these I STILL cannot create a working .IWZ (Installshield
File) which will create the diskettes I need to SUCCESSFULLY distribute my
application to a 3rd party machine.
And - worse - evidently Inprise cannot EITHER. Not even from a complete
simple working project which I sent them. They claim they CAN - but
strangely (and probably significantly) CANNOT or WILL not PROVE it. By
simply sending me an IWZ file that WORKS on MY system and produces the
required result ON MY CLIENT'S system. Equally strangely Installsheild
themselves remain silent about this to the point of ignoring all my e-mail
on it - looking for help.
Meanwhile you might like to take the following into account - as sent to me
by another systems analyst.
"Installshield is a nightmare to setup, and maintain, because if you add a
file to your setup etc, you always have to remember to add it to
installshield.
The other real time-wasting thing is that to truly test the final setup, you
really need a virgin machine with nothing on it except windows, so you can
be sure you've included everything (thus simulating a client).
You can't use your own machine with 100% confidence unless you really know
what you are doing, since you already have everything necessary and it won't
reflect if you didn't include everything in Installshield. This has to be
tested on Windows 95, Windows 98, and NT. This means re-configuring a
machine each time with a blank operating system.
We have a dedicated person and machine for this process - since you know how
long it takes just to install Windows every time - with Windows NT - this is
a 1.5 hour process. And if you run your test, which is unsuccessful
because you left out a file or something, the whole process must be started
all over again.
You also can't rely on UnInstallshield - it still leaves things lying around
in terms of DLLs, and registry entries if it doesn't successfully complete
the installation - and I don't trust it anyway because some of the files we
distribute are common .DLL files shared with other companies products, so
Installshield sometimes thinks it best to leave these .DLLs there when
uninstalling for safety sake, which doesn't help your "virgin" machine
scenario. Because you therefore can't use the same "virgin" machine twice
for your test!!
And our stuff is helluva complex, because we don't work with Paradox, but
Interbase, Oracle and MS SQL server via SQL Links, which means a whole lot
more stuff to contend with.
So all in all, yes, Installshield and the whole setup process for any
product is a VERY LARGE PAIN IN THE ASS!"
If you are more fortunate - please let me know!! And HOW you did it!!
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