I finally managed to get my application updating through installshield LE, without the user having to uninstall manually first, what I am now wondering is:
Can I get the installer to use the application settings from the previous install, so the users saved settings don't change, causing the user to enter their settings every time there is an update. But at the same time, add any new settings to the config file.
Is there anyway to get the installer to not update certain files, for example, the database file is held in a folder called 'db' inside the program files directory, I obviously don't want the users database getting overwritten with a blank one.
Thank you.
Im not sure what programming language you are writing in, but I had this concern with a C# application I wrote. I see 2 easy ways of doing it:
1) With C# you can setup application setting variables that get written to an XML file in the users Application Data (on WinXP) directory. The nice thing about this is that writing to and reading from the settings file is really easy through the API:
To save and store a variable:
Properties.Settings.Default.UserName = UserName_txtbox.Text; // save contents of UserName_txtbox to UserName setting variable
Properties.Settings.Default.Save(); // write variable to file
To restore a variable:
UserName_txtbox.Text = Properties.Settings.Default.UserName; //load contents of UserName variable to UserName_txtbox
Because the file that contains these are not included in the installation directory of the application, they are preserved.
If you are using a different programming language, you can try to implement the same concept.
Create a settings file that your program updates externally from the install location. (Perhaps it can be in the install location. Im not sure how your installer "updates". Does it replace files or uninstall the old version and install the new version automatically? Play this this to find out...)
Your settings file can be a simple txt file, a bin file, an XML file, etc. Anything that you can read and parse easily. Then you can load settings from the file when the program loads and save settings to the file when the program exits.
Related
my application is required update its program files when it detects a new version on the server. The update mechanism is performed by the application itself, and it replaces old code with new code in the same directory. Which directory in linux is best suited for this? If there is a standard directory which has write access by default(analogous to %AppData%\Local for windows), I would like to know which one it is.
I have tried using /var/<my-app-name-here> and /opt/<my-app-name-here>, but none of these directories have write access by default. The only way I can use them update files in them is if the user uses sudo, so i would just like to avoid making those problems by just installing to a directory with write access to begin with.
I am using a tool called jpackage to make the .deb file which install the application.
I launched an appimage using appimagelauncher. Then, I modified some settings of that app.
I know that appimages are not installed, so it can't be uninstalled. So, I deleted the appimage file.
But, when I downlaoded the appimage again, I observed that the user's previously modified settings were still there.
Now, how can I completely remove those user modified settings and launch that software as if it were newly installed?
The AppImage format doesn't define an explicit place where the applications configuration should be installed. Which means that the application can write such file wherever they please (as a regular installed application does).
Applications usually write their configurations to "$HOME/.config", you can look there for a file or folder with the application name. You can also ask the application author or check the documentation.
I want to clone a github repo that uses two different files/folders:
\packages\ - Folder
\Packages - File
However, due to windows not using Case Sensitive File/Directory Names, this isnt working, it gives me the error that the folder cant be renamed because a file already has the same name.
The program that uses this project REQUIRES that there be a no-extension binary text file Packages (Its like a giant file full of control files (If you recognize linux debian youll understand)
But it also requires a folder named \packages\ to hold the json files containing the config data for each control file within Packages
This question is an updated form of this previous question, which is outdated, and doesnt have an answer that solves the problem: Working in git with directories with the same name but different case in Windows
From Windows 10's update in April of 2018, they added a feature to "enable" case-sensitivity on specific directories.
I simply used the command on my github storage directory and now my project works fine.
To use the feature: Open a command prompt window (I dont believe this requires Administrator, it didnt for me)
Copy the full directory path to the folder you want to enable the flag on, type in the console:
fsutil.exe file SetCaseSensitiveInfo #:\Path\To\Directory\Here enable
Paste your C:/D:/E: or whatever Drive path into the location above. Then hit enter.
You DO NOT need to restart your computer, the flag seems to take effect immediately
Info sourced from: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-enable-ntfs-treat-folders-case-sensitive-windows-10#enable_case_sensitivity_ntfs_windows10
I created some custom modules and Visual Studio drops the build files directly into the Kofax Bin directory. It is important to note that I'm using the modules as Winforms applications and Windows services (at the same time). The generated files are
MyModule.exe
MyModule.exe.config
MyModule.InstallLog
MyModule.InstallState
MyModule.pdb
I think that I only need the .exe file here. Of course I also add the .aex file to the directory to install the module. I also created two batch files to register the module on the local machine
RegAscEx.exe MyModule.aex
pause
and to install the module as a Windows service
"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\installutil.exe" "%~dp0MyModule.exe"
pause
after running them as administrator I can delete them from the directory of course. I would like to know if it should be always fine to provide the .exe file, .aex file and the two batch files (which will be deleted later) only?
Basically correct. Some thoughts:
Build your application using the Release configuration (vs Debug). See discussion here.
PDB files usually are not needed in production. Still, you may want to generate and keep them if you plan on debugging in production.
The app.config file should be kept. Maybe you want to use application settings later on, and the supportedRuntime element is useful if someone wants to run your CM on a machine without that version of .NET framework being present (Windows will show a nice error message)
Keep the AEX file. This is required if someone wants to register your CM on another machine (e.g. deploying from DEV > TEST > PROD).
Include a single batch file that allows registering your CM on a new machine as well as adding it to Kofax Capture. Here's an example:
rem "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\RegAsm.exe" SmartCAP.CM.Sample.dll /codebase /tlb:SmartCAP.CM.Sample.tlb
rem RegAscSc.exe /f Register.inf
Another thing I usually include is the ability to install my CM in a similar fashion to native KC modules, for example: SmartCAP.CM.Sample.exe -install and SmartCAP.CM.Sample.exe -uninstall. Take a look at the AssemblyInstaller class for details.
I have developed an application in Visual Basic.net. When I install this application to a ProgramFiles/[Appname] folder, and I create a file that is saved in the same folder (a settings file, created from in the application), the file is not visible, yet the application can still read it.
Where is this file saved?
On Windows Vista and higher, writing to the Program Files directory requires administrative privileges. Your file is probably being affected by virtualization (a redirection of the write operation) to the virtual store. You can find it (in Windows 7) in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore.
The obvious solution is not to try to save the settings in the wrong location in the first place. Your app should create a folder under %APPDATA%, and write it's settings there instead. This answer to a related question can provide some links that might help.