>Don't know why put url didn't work, perhaps you need both read and write
>privileges with it. The old way of reading and writing does work however:
>
> put "c:/metacard/mc.exe" into source
> put "c:/metacard/newmc.exe" into dest
> open file source for binary read
> open file dest for binary write
> read from file source until eof
> write it to file dest
> close file source
> close file dest
>
>
>regards,
>Tuviah Snyder
>It would seem more efficient to make a copy of mc.exe (called, say, mc.bup)
>as a separate file, and then use:
> put url "binfile:mc.bup" into url "binfile:c:/metacard player/mc.exe"
>in the installer. As the file mc.exe is needed to run the installer, this
>adds no overhead.
>
>That way,
>--
>Regarding Micro$loth: "Neither shall the Evil Empire dwell with thee" (Job)
>
>John R. Vokey
Hi Tuviah & John
Thanks for the additional suggestions - it looks like yet more "ways
to skin a cat"!
In the end I settled on the inclusion of a compressed copy of mc.exe
as a property of my installer stack (as suggested by Dave Cragg).
The steps I've taken to producing a self-installing app based on
distributing the MC player + a stack are as follows:
1) load compressed versions of "mc.exe", "mctools.mc" and "myapp.mc"
into user-defined properties of my "installer.mc"
2) use WinZip to build a Zip file (myapp.zip) containing:
- "installer.mc"
- "mc.exe"
- "mctools.mc"
3) use WinZip add-on utility to make an EXE that:
- converts "myapp.zip" into "myapp.exe"
- specifies the executable command: "mc installer.mc" within "myapp.exe"
To install my application, the user simply double-clicks "myapp.exe"
and this does the following:
a) "installer.mc", "mc.exe" and "mctools.mc" are unzipped into a temp
folder inside the current Windows Temp folder (the last two are used
simple to run the installer itself)
b) "mc installer.mc" is executed, which does the following:
- creates folder "C:\MetaCard Player" (if it doesn't already exist)
- creates folder "C:\MyApp"
- decompresses a copy of "mc.exe" into "C:\MetaCard Player"
- decompresses a copy of "mctools.mc" into "C:\MetaCard Player"
- decompresses a copy of "myapp.mc" into "C:\MyApp"
- sets up Win Registry entry for "*.mc" files
c) all temp files are removed from Windows Temp folder
I'll have a think about generalising my approach and then offer it to
this list for anyone who's interested.
Thanks again for all the input on this one!
Best regards
Peter
--------------------------------------------------------
Peter Reid
Reid-IT Limited, Loughborough, Leics., UK
Tel: +44 (0)1509 268843 Fax: +44 (0)1509 264986
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://www.reidit.co.uk
