HOWTO: Using the Setup Wizard in Visual FoxPro 6.0

This article describes the use of the Visual FoxPro 6.0 Setup Wizard. The Setup Wizard creates distributions from the files in your distribution tree, along with necessary system files.

Starting the Setup Wizard

To start the Setup Wizard from the Tools menu, choose Wizards and then click Setup. If this is the first time the Setup Wizard has run since your Visual FoxPro 6.0 installation, it prompts you for a Distribution directory location. Please select the "Create directory" button when this prompt displays.

Step 1 - Locate Files

This step requires that you select a directory for your distribution tree. Consider this as the source of the files you wish to distribute. The distribution directory tree should already exist before you run the Setup Wizard. All files and subdirectories of this directory are created when the application installs on the user's computer. Be sure to include all files the user requires, but do not include any files the user does not require, or files that you do not wish the user to install.

Please refer to the section "Preparing to Make Distribution Disks" in Chapter 25: "Building an Application for Distribution" in the Visual FoxPro Programmers Guide for details.

The Setup Wizard records the options you set for each distribution tree and uses them as default values the next time you create a setup routine from the same distribution tree. This information is stored in the Wzsetup.ini file in the distribution directory. There is also a Wzsetup.ini file in the Visual FoxPro home directory, which enables the Setup Wizard to default to the distribution directory from the previous run.

NOTE: Do not attempt to use the DISTRIB directory that the Wizard creates in the step "Starting the Setup Wizard" as the directory for your distribution tree. In addition, it is a good idea to place your source tree outside the Visual FoxPro directory.

Step 2 - Specify Components

Select the system features your application uses. The Setup Wizard creates a setup routine that includes all necessary system files for the system features you specify.

The following table lists the sizes of files that you can include with your setup routine. The sizes listed in the preceding table represent the approximate bytes used after the files install on the user's hard disk.

Add COM Components Dialog Box

1. To add a COM Component, choose the Add button.
2. In the Open dialog box, select the .exe or .dll file for the server, and then click the OK button. The component's accompanying .tlb and .vbr (.exe only) files must be available in the same location as the file you select. The component file and accompanying files can exist either inside or outside the distribution source directory.
3. If your COM component is an .exe file, you must register it as local or remote. Please see the "Adding COM Components" section of the Help topic "Setup Wizard: Step 2 - Specify Components" for details.

Add ActiveX Controls Dialog Box

This provides a list of the ActiveX controls registered on your computer. You need to select any ActiveX controls that you want to include with your application.

In previous versions of Visual FoxPro, to distribute an ActiveX control you had to copy the .ocx file to your distribution directory, and select the ActiveX check box next to the .ocx file name in the Grid of Step 6. This is no longer required, although you can still use this method if you wish. Here are the differences in the two approaches.

• You must register controls included through the Add ActiveX Controls dialog box in order for them to appear in the list, but you do not need to copy them to the distribution directory. If you install new ActiveX controls, you must click the Refresh button in the Add ActiveX Controls dialog box to include the new controls in the list.
• You do not need to register controls included through the grid in Step 6, but you must place them in the distribution directory.

We recommend the first approach because it does not require that you copy your .ocx files into each distribution directory. This can be difficult if you have multiple applications and want to upgrade a control to a newer version. Do not include the same ActiveX controls using both approaches. Use the approach you prefer, but only that one approach.

Step 3 - Create Disk Image Directory

The Setup Wizard creates a disk image directory tree containing images for each type you specify. If you select the Websetup option, the Setup Wizard creates a single directory to hold all the files in compressed form. If you select the Netsetup option, the Setup Wizard creates a single directory to hold all the files in uncompressed form. You can create the disk image directory before you run the Setup Wizard. If you want the Setup Wizard to create the directory for you, type a directory name in the text box.

Step 4 - Setup Options

The Setup Wizard creates installation dialog boxes with the title you specify in the Dialog Caption box. It also places the copyright statement in the About Setup dialog box that the user can access from the About command on the Setup application's control menu. Entries are required in the Dialog Caption and Setup Copyright boxes. The Post-Setup Executable entry is optional. If the Post-Setup executable is a Visual FoxPro executable, it functions correctly but may cause the setup program to hang when installed under Windows NT.

NOTE: To advance to Step 5, you must enter text in both the "Setup dialog box caption" and "Copyright information" text boxes. If you do not want to copyright your application, enter None for Copyright information.

Step 5 - Specify Default Destination

The setup routine places your application in the directory you specify in the Default directory text box. The directory and file structure tree created in the default directory by the setup program mimic the directory tree in the distribution directory from Step 1. You should enter the default Start menu program group in the Program group text box. The option buttons determine whether the user can change both the destination directory and the program group, or only the destination directory at install.

Step 6 - Change File Settings

NOTE: To create a Start menu program group and icon for your application, you must select the PM Item option, providing the information described in the following table.

The Setup Wizard lists your files in a grid. You can change the settings for the listed files by clicking the item you want to change. Only the files contained in your distribution directory structure are listed here. System files added through Step 2 do not display in the list. The following table describes the settings displayed in each column:

Step 7 - Finish

There are two check boxes at this point.

The "Generate a Web executable file" check box enables only if you select the Websetup check box in Step 3.

If you select "Generate a Web executable file", the Setup Wizard creates a single executable file from your distribution files, called Webapp.exe. This file is located in the directory specified in Step 3. Use this option with the Websetup option of Step 3 to maximize compression for fast Web download of your application. This option can be time-consuming if you have specified many setup options. The actual creation of the Web executable is done through a command prompt application, and displays a MS- DOS or Command Prompt box that shows the status.

The "Create a dependency (.DEP) file" specifies that the Setup Wizard create dependency files (an .ini-style file with a .dep extension). This file contains not only dependency files needed by a component, but also any necessary registration and localization information. This file is also located in the directory specified in Step 3.

When you choose Finish, the Setup Wizard records the configuration for use the next time you create distribution disks from the same distribution tree. It then starts creating the application disk or Net/Websetup images.

A progress dialog box displays as the wizard moves through its required functions.

After the Setup Wizard has completes, the Setup Wizard Disk Statistics dialog box displays. Here you find a list of files and their sizes, disk location if applicable, and so forth. Select Done to close the dialog box and complete the wizard.

Now that you have created the images you specified, you may use them for installation. If you chose the 1.44 MB 3.5 option to make disk images, copy the images to diskettes. Note that you must copy the contents of the Disk<n> directory to each disk, not the directory itself. This means that the files themselves from each Disk<n> are in the root directory of the diskette, rather than having the Disk<n> directory in the root directory of each diskette. Then copy and combine the disks with the rest of your distribution package.

The Websetup and Netsetup directories contain Setup.exe, some other files required by setup, and a file named Setup1.cab. Setup1.cab contains your application files. The only difference between the two is that the files in Setup1.cab are in a compressed form for the Websetup.

To distribute a Netsetup or Websetup, place the contents of the Netsetup or Websetup directories in a network share and allow users to connect and run Setup.exe from there.

To distribute a Web executable, allow users to download the Webapp.exe and run it to install. You can rename this file to a more descriptive name if you wish, but be sure to retain the .exe extension.

Visual FoxPro 6.0 Programmers Guide

Visual FoxPro Programmers Guide in the Microsoft Developer Network CD; Chapter 13: "Compiling an Application"; Chapter 25: "Building an Application for Distribution"; Chapter 26: "Creating Distribution Disks".

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1998. All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Jim Saunders, Microsoft Corporation