I have an installer for the updates on both platforms Win and Mac, what makes 
it pretty easy.
My Splash stack checks for updates (if there is internet, e.g. if you can 
access URL google.com, if there is a newer version for this platform, etc.). If 
there is an update, it starts the download of the update (and unzips it on 
windows), starts the downloaded installer and exit itself.
Now the installer is launched (on Mac the user has to open the DMG) and the 
installer can replace everything including the start application. At the end of 
the update the installer calls the (updated) application and the user goes on 
with the new update. So the update circle is closed.

Tiemo

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: use-livecode [mailto:use-livecode-boun...@lists.runrev.com] Im Auftrag von 
Graham Samuel via use-livecode
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 10. Mai 2017 13:35
An: How to use LiveCode <use-livecode@lists.runrev.com>
Cc: Graham Samuel <livf...@mac.com>
Betreff: Update strategy?

Apologies if this has come up relatively recently, but I have not been very 
attentive to the list for a bit…

I have a desktop app (though in principle it could be on mobile) which uses a 
variant of the ‘splashscreen’ structure. What happens is that the app as seen 
by the operating system is actually an initialisation stack, which then calls 
in a stack containing the bulk of the script and graphics for the app and 
executes that. (I call this a ‘data stack’ although this is a bit of misnomer, 
as it does contain the script libraries that do most of the work.) The clean 
(template) copy if this data stack is stored in the app’s resources folder, and 
is loaded the first time the app is started; thereafter the user can alter the 
data stack, and the altered version is saved in the application data folder. 
There is a reset facility for going back to the clean template.

When a new version of the app is installed, the splash stack detects that the 
data stack is in old format (actually, that it has an old version number) and 
forces a reset, thus ensuring that the latest data stack comes into use.

All this works quite nicely, but I notice so many apps that automatically check 
for updates, providing a dialog to the user offering to do the update: if the 
user agrees, then the update takes place without further intervention.

I can kind of see how to do this (the splash stack checks with the server where 
the app originated to see if there is a more up to date version, then somehow 
replaces itself), but are there any gotchas in this approach? One I can think 
of so far is when the user runs the app offline, so that any approach to the 
server will fail - not sure how to detect that. Also, so far I am vague about 
how a running standalone can replace itself - something do do with file names, 
perhaps?

I’d be grateful for any advice or experience.

Graham


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