I have used the InstallSheilds that came with VFP 9 to create a setup to distribute the app. I can probably update the setup with the new DLLs. The challenge is to "make" users uninstall old setup and run the new one.
>I use inno setup to distribute all my apps. I include the proper run times and then there is never a question. Inno setup is free and it really isn't that difficult to setup.
>
>>>>>>>>If you build an executable with VFP 9 SP2 (without using any specific new features of SP2) and try to run this .EXE on the PC where VFP 9 SP1 runtime is installed, will it bomb?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>don't think so
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Thank you. As you can probably guess from my question, I am trying to update the application to VFP 9 SP2 but many customers still have the VFP 9 SP1 on their desktops. And I want to be sure that it won't be a problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>I'd be inclined to get users to upgrade their runtime e.g. include a VERSION() check in your code, and if the runtime isn't the latest, issue a warning and point them to
http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/FoxPro/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=125 .
>>>>
>>>>My users are not very easy to "make" do anything. And if they have to do something they will not be happy. If you think that running VFP 9 SP2 app on VFP 9 SP1 run-time could pose problems, I will stay with SP1. I don't have to upgrade.
>>>>Thank you.
>>>
>>>I didn't say anything about forcing them to upgrade; just, pop up a message. Once they acknowledge that, the program works normally.
>>>
>>>Getting your users to use the SP2+hotfixes runtime means:
>>>
>>>- they get the best runtime with the most issues fixed
>>>- you don't have to maintain a separate SP1 environment and test against that whenever you make a change
>>>- you don't have to worry about avoiding SP2-specific features when you're coding, you can take full advantage of the product
>>>
>>>Running an SP2 app on SP1 runtime just strikes me as exactly the sort of thing that'll come back to bite you, sooner or later.
>>
>>Thank you. I will think of a way to do it without popping up a message. My prima donnas won't like it.
"The creative process is nothing but a series of crises." Isaac Bashevis Singer
"My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all." Oscar Wilde
"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too." W.Somerset Maugham