>>There have been at least 267,924 threads on this in the past three weeks...
>
>Yes, but it seems that no one of the solutions is clear or adecuate, i have the same problem, and i asked about is several times, no one of the solutions worked ok. All they say: "Use the wizard, print the report and include those files in the installer you are using" i've done that, but the problem persist, and the eternal questions are:

Thart no one solution is right for all developers at all times is about the ,most concise statement that can be accurately made about installing a WinAPP.

OTOH, the advice you cie above has never been what I've said; I've recommended that you either generate and use a complete Setup Wizard installation disk set for the whole install process if it meets your needs, or that you create a Setup Wizard installation disk set containing the runtime libraries, and use that in conjunction with another installation product to install your application, which is what I do myself.

>
>WHAT ARE THE FILES THAT MUST BE INCLUDED TO HAVE A SUCCESFULL INSTALATION?

The files required by the VFP6 runtime are listed in the file VFP6R.DEP, along with their dependencies, located in the DISTRIB.SRC folder of VFP6. there is also a sjkeletal .REG file in REGEDIT4 format that outlines 4 registry keys that should be created when installing the runtime files. If you include the runtime library in the Setup Wizard generated installation, the VFP runtime files will be correctly installed and registered automatically by the Setup Wizard generated installation disk set. You should ensure that you've upgraded your VFP6 to Service Pack 3, which includes new runtime files and revised Setup Wizard files, for best results. The current build for VFP6 is Build
6.00.8492.00 to the best of my knowledge.

>HOW TO REGISTER THE OCX'S?

There are several approaches. The easiest is to include the OCX files in the distribution folder hierarchy you create to generate the Setup Wizard install, and mark them as ActiveX controls. Setup Wizard will attempt to register them using REGSVR32 during the Setup Wizard installation.

Alternatively, if you use a Setup Wizard install, you can subsume the responsibility for registration of the OCX files yourself, using a post-setup executable that you would have to write yourself without the aid of the Setup Wizard. This gives you better control of the order of registration, but places all responsibility for correct registration on your shoulders.

OCXs can be registered via .DLL entrypoint calls; Paul Tatavu has provided an excellent entry in the UT FAQ describing how to programmatically register .DLLs and .OCXs from a VFP app using the DECLARE...DLL command to expose and fire standard registration and deregistration code in self-installing files, if you don't want to use the ubiquitous REGSVR32 to handle it.

If you use a third-party installer, you have to follow the rules for inclusion and registration of components made by the product you choose. Caveat developer; if you don't understand the installation tool you're using, you're at better than even odds to get the installation process screwed up.

In any case, in addition to including the OCX files themselves, OCX files are often dependent on other .DLLs and shared components, that usually must be installed correctly in and of themselves before the .OCX. It is the responsibility of the ActiveX vendor to tell you what files are required, in what order they must be installed and registered before the OCX is registered, and what if any additional parameters are needed by REGSVR32 to register the OCX properly. Setup Wizard can't reliably figure this out for itself, and neither can other install products in many cases Microsoft provides a tool named DEPENDS.EXE as a part of Visual Studio that can analyse an OCX, DLL or executable and tell you what external libraries it relies on, but it can't necessarily determine if they must be in a specific location or must be registered themselves.

It's not magic, but it does require an understanding of the ActiveX and OLE Servers that you decide to use in an application, beyond how to drop them on a form. Caveat developer - badly documented controls should be used only at your own risk. Not understanding the controls you use make the prospects for screwing up an installtion even greater.

>WHICH ONE IS THE BEST INSTALLER FOR VFP?

From the perspective of putting the runtime in place, Setup Wizard does a reliable job, and fully understands the process. It can be incorporated into a more sophisticated installer to do just that task if Seyup Wizard's capabilities don't meet your needs.

I find that my needs for installation processes far exceed Setup Wizard's capabilities beyond installing the runtime, and the Microsoft-distributed ODBC driver sets. As a result, I use a much more powerful and expensive installation product, InstallShield Pro 5.1. There is considerable learning curve to the product, but it has a full-featured install script programming language, as well as several Wizards that can assist in constructing installation sets. It follows the format and language standards I know from programming in C, so it fits my needs well after several years of beating my head against the wall with it. If you aren't willing to invest nearly as much time becoming proficient in InstallShield Pro as you must to use VFP competently, it is not a good product to use to build one or two quick installation sets.

There is a streamlined and less expensive version of InstallShield Pro called InstallShield Express. It offers many of the advantages of the Pro product without the extensive scripting language. It can incorporate a Setup Wizard runtime install, and it understands registration better than Setup Wizard, by a lot. I think a great deal of the product, but then, I like InstallShield Pro and C++, too.

Another product used by some of my clients with VFP is Wise Installer. It's even more expensive than InstallShield Pro, but it has a better understanding of VFP's runtime, and stronger registration Wizards. If I didn't already know the InstallShield product well, I'd consider it a top contender for the job of professional installation package.

Other people like the automatic installers that claim to be able to analyse your producrt and automagically generate a complete, professional install that works on all platforms, for $99 plus shipping and handling. Many of them work better than Setup Wizard. None of them are as capable as high-end products like Wise or InstallShield Pro. Many of their users will swear on a stack of Bibles that they're manna from heaven, and they can install any VFP app that uses any ActiveX control more quickly, professionally and reliably than I can using InstallShield Pro. I make much of my living writing installation and maintenance packagess for other people's applications. < shrug >

I'm sure that my insight here is inadequate for your needs - it reflects much the same information I've put in my previous posts about installation and installers. Sorry for the repetitive nature of my posts.

And, please, don't use all caps in your messages; it's considered to be bad manners, equivalent to angry shouting. Take this with a grain of salt; I'm not tactful and polite a fair amount of the time when I'm annoyed, too.