>>>My client wishes to distribute the app on CD. They will probably ask me what the options are. If they just want to install from the CD as if it was a stack of diskettes, I will have to get the stuff from the setup wizard onto the CD. If they want to actually run the app from the CD, I would have to make it install the .DLLs and runtime module, tell it where to put FOXUSER.DBF and .FPT, and tell my .app where they were put. Could someone please give me an idea of what is involved?
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My primary application at this time is distributed on CD-ROM.
Your first problem is generating a disk image for cutting onto a CD-ROM. In theory, the Setup Wizard will generate all of the required files and put them in a single directory that you can then cut onto the CD-ROM by using the NetSetup option. However, there are two catches, one minor and one major. The minor one is that because all the files are in one directory, fishing through the mess to find setup.exe in Explorer is not pretty - I've had several users complain about that.
The major problem arises from one of Microsoft's planning errors. Many of the compressed files that Setup Wizard generates includ a "$" in the file name. For diskette and network distribution, this is not a problem. However, if you are cutting a CD-ROM, this may present a problem for some of your users. This is because there are several different file naming conventions used in CD-ROM distribution. The most stringent is ISO 9660 Standard, which only allows 8.3 names, with only letters, numbers, and underscores in the name, but not "$". The advantage of ISO 9660 is that most every drive we've tested with it can read the disk. The next choice is "Juliet", which allows for long file names and other characters (including the "$"), however, we have found that a fairly high percentage of drives are unable to read a disk in this format.
If you wish to use Setup Wizard, you must either go with a less stringent format, such as Juliet, or modify the filenames and one of the scripts generated by Setup Wizard (setup.int, I believe). This does work - I've done it.
If you want to make a Run From CD-ROM option, you can. The .dll files must still be installed and registered properly and the Windows Registry modified correctly, but the read-only elements of your application can be left on the CD-ROM. You could stash information about the location of read-write files in the Registry, too.
As for foxuser.dbf, if you're not modifying it, why not mark it as an included file in your project? That way, you have the information in it available, but don't have to worry about physically distributing it.
Incidentally, this is all much easier if you ditch the Setup Wizard and use a third-party installer. Indeed, that's the only way to get the Run From CD option to work.
