6/21/93 RELEASE NOTES WinInstall(TM) 3.0 Software and Documentation (c) Copyright 1991-1993 by Aleph Takoma Systems, Inc. 7319 Willow Avenue Takoma Park, MD 20912 (301) 270-4458 FAX: (301) 270-6710 CompuServe 71371,635 All rights reserved. *********************** This is the June 21, 1993 version of WinInstall 3.0, an update from the original WinInstall 3.0, dated March 31, 1993. This update adds several features and fixes a few minor bugs. These late changes are not included in the WinInstall documentation, so please see the file README.TXT for complete details. *********************** WinInstall 3.0 is a system for automating the distribution of Windows application software on any network. Originally released in 1991 as Network Application Installer (N.A.I.), this system was later renamed WINSTALL. With the release of 3.0, in order to avoid confusion with a software developer's utility of that name, we have adopted the name WinInstall. Pricing of WinInstall 3.0 is $495 (U.S.) per file server, unlimited users. (Shipping, taxes, and import duties, if any, are additional). WinInstall 3.0 includes WinInstall /Auto, a module which was sold separately under earlier releases, plus AUTONAI.EXE, a fast autoloader for WinInstall /Auto. Upgrades from earlier versions are priced at $150 per file server, or $75 if the file server is licensed for an earlier version of WINSTALL /Auto as well as WINSTALL. The June 21, 1993 version of WinInstall Release 3.0 provides the following new features, above those documented for release 2.0: 1. Electronic mail distribution of application software WINSTADM.EXE can now create standalone .DAT files, which can be distributed to users by electronic mail. These special .DAT files (using the extension .NAI) can be directly executed by means of an association in the WIN.INI file. If you add the following line to your WIN.INI file under the [Extensions] heading, Windows will automatically start WinInstall /Auto (WINSTALA.EXE) when you double-click on a file with an extension of .NAI: NAI=f:\winstall\WINSTALA.EXE ^.NAI NOTE: In this example, you should substitute for f:\winstall the path where WINSTALA.EXE is located. Standalone .DAT files may be sent as electronic mail attachments to users, who can then install these applications by simply double-clicking on the attachment in the electronic mail message. If you are using an electronic mail program that is MAPI-compliant (such as Microsoft Mail or Windows for Workgroups) or VIM-compliant (such as Lotus Development Corporation's cc:Mail for Windows), you will find that WINSTADM.EXE is a mail-enabled application, allowing you to send standalone .DAT files directly from within WINSTADM.EXE itself by means of the SEND menu item. When you click the SEND menu item, you will see a new window containing a multi-select list of available applications and a Send Button. When you click the Send Button, WINSTADM.EXE will create a standalone .DAT file for each selected application, and then it will create a mail message with these files as attachments. All you'll have to do is address the message and click SEND. Recipients (provided they have in their WIN.INI files the association detailed above) can install these applications simply by double-clicking on the icons in the mail message. 2. Automatic Upgrades WinInstall now allows you to list upgrades in the application list. These special entries include two .DAT files: one with information on what to remove, and the other containing installation instructions. 3. .DAT File Verification (Access Control) WinInstall 3.0 now verifies the existence of each .DAT file in WINAPPS.LST before adding applications to the list of available applications. Thus, if your network permits the denial of READ access to individuals and groups (thus making such files invisible to these users), you can now use one directory and one WINAPPS.LST file to present different lists of applications to different users: each user sees in the list only those applications for which he has READ access to the .DAT file. 4. /NoRemove Option: To make the application removal process more reliable, WinInstall 3.0 includes a NoRemove option. You may now add to certain elements a /NoRemove flag at the end of the line, instructing WinInstall to leave these elements untouched during a Remove operation. This feature is especially helpful in cases where more than one application may share an element, such as font entries in WIN.INI or .DLL files, etc. The following elements may be followed by /NoRemove in order to protect them during an application removal process: * Headings or individual lines in WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI and the OTHER .INI files (see item 5, below). * Lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, or OTHER ASCII FILE Additions * Files to Copy (place /NoRemove after the Destination Directory specification) * Icons to Install (place /NoRemove after the Working Directory specification) * Lines in .REG Files (place /NoRemove at the end of any line you wish to remain in the Registration Database) 5. Available Disk Space Check WinInstall 3.0 now checks the available disk space before beginning an installation. To do this as accurately as possible, WinInstall first checks the sizes of all the files specified in the Files to Copy section of the application .DAT file; then, it computes the total amount of disk space required on each designated destination disk; finally, it compares the required space with the available space on each destination disk. If there is not enough space, WinInstall will inform the user of that fact and abort the installation before making any changes. During an upgrade, WinInstall will take into account the disk space freed up by any files specified for removal, but only if those files actually exist on the user's disk. 6. Modification of Unlimited .INI Files WinInstall 3.0 allows the modification of a virtually unlimited number of .INI files in addition to WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI. The filenames of these additional .INI files are specified during configuration, via the WINSTADM.EXE program. 7. Unlimited Other ASCII Files WinInstall now supports the modification of a virtually unlimited number of Other ASCII files as well. 8. WINSTADM.EXE Add/Modify Screen Status Indication The Add/Modify Screen in WINSTADM.EXE now immediately indicates which areas of a .DAT file have data in them. You will notice that those areas where you have entered data are marked in blue so you can tell at a glance which areas of a .DAT file contain data and which are empty. 9. Icon Arrangement: The icon installation and removal routines have been completely rewritten. You will now notice Program Manager minimize and disappear for a few seconds during icon installation and removal. Program Manager now automatically arranges the icons following an icon installation or removal. 10. Improved Icon Removal: The REMOVE option in WinInstall 3.0 will now automatically delete icons from Program Manager icon groups when run under Windows 3.1. After removing icons, WinInstall will check to see if the icon group has any other icons in it. If not, the group is automatically removed. Under Windows 3.0, icons must still be removed manually, unless they were installed in a separate icon group. 11. Icon Index Support: WinInstall release 3.0 now provides a means for you to specify which icon you want an application to use within the specified icon file. This feature makes it easy to use the file MORICONS.DLL (supplied with Windows 3.1) and other multiple-icon files. The Icons to Add Screen now includes a data entry field for Icon Index for each icon. Icons are indexed within a file beginning with 0. Thus, to use the third icon in a file, specify an icon index of 2. The default is 0. 12. Case Sensitive Icon Command Line In version 3.0, WINSTADM.EXE will preserve the case of the Icon Command Line as it is entered. Previously, this field was automatically converted to upper case, which could prove problematic with command line switches for certain applications. 13. Security Options: WinInstall 3.0 adds a Security Options Button to the WINSTADM.EXE Add/Modify Screen, enabling you to specify certain access control parameters specific to the application being configured. You may now instruct WinInstall to do the following things: * Disable installation or removal of an application. (If an application is disabled for installation or removal, the corresponding button on the WinInstall main screen will be grayed when that application is selected). * Limit installation or removal of an application to users with a particular environment variable set to a particular value (or to any of a series of values). * Require a the entry of a password for the installation or removal of an application. * Specify a text file containing the message to display if WinInstall denies access to installation or removal of the application due to these security options settings. 14. WinInstall /Auto Improvement: WinInstall /Auto is now called by the auto-loader program, AUTONAI.EXE. This program greatly improves the speed and efficiency of using WinInstall /Auto at Windows startup. AUTONAI.EXE will call WinInstall /Auto only if there are installations to perform. Because AUTONAI.EXE is very fast, this procedure insures that Windows startup is delayed only when WinInstall /Auto has applications to install. WinInstall /Auto now remains completely invisible to the user until it determines that an installation or removal is required. If WinInstall /Auto finds no work to do, it never appears to the user. When WinInstall /Auto completes an installation or series of installations, it will automatically terminate after 30 seconds if the user does not click the OK button before then. 15. Empty Directory Creation WinInstall 3.0 is able to create empty directories as desired. To have WinInstall create an empty directory, use the Files to Copy function and specify \NUL as the source file (the preceding "\" is required). 16. Improved SYSTEM.INI Handling WinInstall 3.0 now properly handles additions to the SYSTEM.INI file, including the formerly troublesome device= lines in the [386Enh] section. 17. Re-install Improvements In earlier versions, re-installing an application could add duplicate lines to AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, and the other ASCII file. This problem has been corrected in release 3.0. 18. Calling of External Programs WinInstall 3.0 now permits the calling of an external program before and/or after an installation or removal process. The programs to call can be of any type, Windows, DOS, even batch files; they are specified on the Pre/Post Options screen (click the Pre/Post Button on the Application Add/Modify screen in WINSTADM.EXE). The routine which calls external programs has also been completely rewritten: WinInstall now waits for the external program to complete before proceeding. 19. Constant Values A new addition to the Global Variables screen is the ability to specify up to three constant values. These are direct substitutions of literal values for special codes ($CONST1$, $CONST2$, and $CONST3$) embedded within application .DAT files. During the execution of an installation or removal, WinInstall will replace these codes with the values you enter here. This feature might prove useful if you are running WinInstall on multiple servers, each of which has certain differences in configuration; in this case, you could use identical .DAT files on each server, with the configuration differences specified individually on each server by means of constant values. 20. REG.DAT Improvements WinInstall 3.0 now fully supports the updating of the Windows 3.1 Registration Database, as well as the removal of these updates during a WinInstall remove process. You may use all the different types of WinInstall variables within the .REG file specify for any application installation. 21. Interactive Help WinInstall 3.0 now includes full interactive help for both the end user program (WINSTALL.EXE) and the administration program (WINSTADM.EXE). 22. Restart Windows Option WinInstall 3.0 now provides you with the ability to offer your users the option of re-starting Windows when the changes made during an installation will not take effect until Windows has been restarted. 23. Other Miscellaneous Improvements Release 3.0 includes a number of other small improvements, such as better filename validation in WINSTADM.EXE, improved error checking throughout the programs, support for lines beginning with @ in the initialization files, enhanced user interface, etc. WinInstall 3.0 is available direct from Aleph Takoma Systems, Inc. 7319 Willow Avenue Takoma Park, MD 20912 (301) 270-4458 FAX: (301) 270-6710 CompuServe 71371,635 Purchase orders are welcome. Resellers and distributors are encouraged to contact us for more information. Please inquire about quantity discounts for purchases of more than 10 copies.