On 25 iulie 2007 12:12 CubicDesign wrote: Subject: Re: Problems while creating/running apps for Vista > > > Crhris: makes me think that this is the death of the program files > location for small developers such as myself. > > I think you are right. The Program Files folder lost somehow its > purpose. My first priority is to deliver a small application that is > able to run under non-administrator conditions. Because under XP, > 'Program files' was taboo for me, and now 'C:' is also taboo, the only > solution is to install the program on Desktop (as somebody suggested). > Nice work Microsoft! >
Chris: I'm a small developer myself. NOTHING is stopping me from installing my application to Program Files under Vista - in fact, it's the right place to install Program Files! Also NOTHING is stopping me from installing read-only data in the same location. Vista is only stopping me from installing USER data under that location. But hey, there are better places for user data: There's the "Application Data" folder and there's the "My Documents" folder. If you're developing "small" applications, My Documents might actually be a very good location to store user data as the user is more likely to back up that data when moving to a new computer (as opposed to backing up the "Program Files" folder when doing the same move). I agree, the user will not back up the "Application Data" folder (most users will not know they have such a folder to start with). If your current design SEEMS difficult to upgrade because it expects to be able to write to the installation directory, don't worry, it's easily fixed. It's just a matter of using search & replace to change hard-coded paths and, eventually, changing current directory after your application starts so relative paths work as they always did. Using "Program Files" as a "data store" is dead for everyone, not just "small developers". My exe's look very much the same as Microsoft's or Adobe's or Autodesk's exe's. And if you think storing your data in My Documents would look strange because your data is a database, or is in binary format, or is not supposed to be double-clicked to be open, then think again, because it's been done before. Ever used VmWare? By default it creates it's Virtual Machines in the My Documents folder! And some of the virtual machines I'm using are over 50Gb in size! Of course, I'm not sotring those monsters in My Documents, but I find that an reasonable default. CubicDesign: Program Files has not lost its purpose. It's just that its purpose is now enforced using OS-based tools. You know full well you're doing something you're not supposed to do (installing applications without administrative privileges), that's where your problems originate. And you know you'll always have to fight this battle, because every Windows version is likely to include more and more tools to help enforce Administrative limitations. I fully understand your raisons for doing this and I agree with you, it's something you absolutely must do. But it doesn't change the fact that your trying to work around administrative limitations. We all have our battles... -- Cosmin Prund _______________________________________________ Delphi mailing list -> [email protected] http://www.elists.org/mailman/listinfo/delphi
