THE FINISHING TOUCH Professional Software Installer Version 3.0 March 21, 1995 The Finishing Touch is updated several times per year. To get the latest shareware copy of the Finishing Touch, call our BBS: (505) 275-9696. Our BBS has a credit card registration feature which will allow you to download the registered version IMMEDIATELY after you order. Registered users may call our BBS as often as they like to download FREE updates to version 2.X. This is a fully working shareware copy of THE FINISH TOUCH. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: The ONLY difference between this shareware copy and the registered version is that the shareware copy does a CRC check on the files ORDER.TXT and INSTALL.TXT. This causes up to a TEN SECOND TIME DELAY at the beginning of this program. The registered version does NOT have this restriction. To print the documentation use the command: COPY INSTALL.TXT LPT1: COPY README.TXT LPT1: To print the order form use the command: COPY ORDER.TXT LPT1: The Finishing Touch Software Installer consists of the minimum six files: PACKER.EXE file compression utility INSTALL.EXE installation utility INSTALL.FIL sample installation script file INSTALL.TXT documentation for all of the above ORDER.TXT order form README.TXT this file If these files are missing or altered, the software WILL NOT run! A seventh file, SAMPLE.PAK should be included with this software to so people can see first hand how the software installer works with a "real" application. ALL SEVEN files must be on the floppy disk to see the demo run or you will get a "Files Missing" message. Several other, optional files are included so you can see a "real" scripts: Tax Sheltered Annuity Software: 1.FIL, 2C.FIL, 2B.FIL, and 4.FIL MOVIES TO GO! Software: MOVIES1.FIL, MOVIES2.FIL and MOVIES.BAT THE COLOR WIZARD: WIZARD.FIL and WIZARD.BIN To use the program as an upate: UPDATE.FIL Modifying INSTALL.FIL and these files is the "fast start" way to learn how to use THE FINISHING TOUCH. You have a fully working shareware evaluation copy of THE FINISHING TOUCH, and hope you the smallest, most powerful, easiest to use product with the best file compression available anywhere. Michael J. Prestwich, President, ImagiSOFT, Inc. June 10, 1992 Today we added a new feature: A customer needed a SET.BUFFERS command similar SET.FILES so we added it. It works exactly the same way as SET.FILES command does; see the documentation for details. June 15, 1992 Today we added several new commands: PROMPT On/Off turns windows on or off for the COPY, DELETE, DISK, and UNPACK commands. This is easier than "hiding" windows by making them the same color as the background as explained in the documentation. PAUSE t Pause for t hundredths of a second. Nice if you want to "animate" windows. WINMOVE x y Moves the current window the new x y position. If you use the command WINMOVE +1 +1 it will move the current window relative to its current position one row down and one row across. BORDER t t = type 0 = none 1 = single line (default) 2 = double line WINUPDATE x y c x position on the screen y position on the screen c color value Use WINUPDATE to display a string inside the current open window. For example: WINUPDATE +2 +1 79 "This line is displayed in the current" "window with white letters on a red" "background. It is relative to the" "upper left corner by 2 characters across" "and 1 row down." Relative Cursor / Window Positions WINOPEN now supports relative cursor positions. For example, WINOPEN +0 +5 17 will open a new window 5 rows down from the last window open. Relative positioning also works in the UNPACK, PATH, DRIVE, ASK, COPY, DELETE, WINMOVE, and WINUPDATE commands. Relative cursor positioning is especially useful when you are printing the selected DRIVE and PATH on the screen with the variables ~1 and ~2. For example: WINOPEN 0 0 79 ' red centered window "The directory ~1~2 already exists and contains files!" "Are you SURE you want to install your software in" "this directory Y / N?" ASK +26 +3 ' position cursor on ' the N character ' no matter how the ' window is centered August 12, 1992 Version 2.2 We added a new command: INPUT s l x y c This command allows the user to input text strings which you can assign to the variables ~A through ~Z. Your script can substitute these codes similar to the ~0, ~1, ~2, and ~3 variables as explained in the documentation. s = String ID ("A" through "Z", your choice). l = String length, from 1 to 40. x, y = Input position on the screen. It is best to use the + and - here, because the entire input field must be contained within the current open window. c = Input color (see the color chart in the documentation). Example: WINOPEN 0 0 31 ' open a window centered on the screen ' in color 31 (bright white on blue) "" "Please enter the following information: " "" "Name:" "Address:" "City, State, Zip:" "" "License Number:" "" ' input 30 characters in color 15 (bright white on black) INPUT N 30 +20 +4 15 ' (Name) assign to variable "N" INPUT A 30 +20 +5 15 ' (Address) assign to variable "A" INPUT C 30 +20 +6 15 ' (City, State, Zip) assign to variable "C" ' NOTE: the license number is only 15 characters long INPUT L 15 +20 +8 15 ' (License Number) assign to variable "L" WINCLOSE ' close the window ' write the results into an ' ASCII file called USER.FIL FILE ~1~2\USER.FIL "Name: ~N" ' The text that the user input "Address: ~A" ' will be substituted for the "City, State, Zip ~C" ' appropriate variables ~N, ~A, "" ' ~C, and ~L. "License Number ~L" February 9, 1993 Version 2.3 This version fixes a bug in the SET.PATH statement. In previous versions SET.PATH adds the directory to the PATH whether or not the directory already exists in the PATH. This was especially frustrating if the user had to install the software several times. Now SET.PATH looks to see if the directory already exists in the PATH, and if it does, the SET.PATH statement isn't executed. We also added the CALL command: CALL l l = Name of the label to call. The last line of this label must end with RETURN or an error will result. For example: CALL TMP_DEL . . . ' -------------------------------- ' * * * shared routines * * * ' -------------------------------- ' -------------------------- ' delete temporary file ' (don't inform user) ' -------------------------- :TMP_DEL PROMPT OFF DELETE ~A.TMP 0 0 0 PROMPT ON BEEP RETURN March 3, 1993 We have forced the ~3 variable to reference the root directory of the drive given in the COMSPEC variable found in the environment. Several of our users have noted that the COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM entry placed in the environment by DOS is often changed for various reasons to read COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM or something similar. Since, in this example, the ~3 variable would be set to C:\DOS, the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files could not be correctly modified. This change discards the \DOS portion, and forces ~3 to reference the root directory of C:. This should resolve any problems that you have experienced with the SET.FILES, SET.BUFFERS, and SET.PATH commands. March 12, 1993 Version 2.4 The BEEP command has been expanded to allow the following variations: BEEP ON BEEP OFF If the BEEP ON command is issued, all internal error messages that open a window will beep the speaker. The option can be disabled using the BEEP OFF command, which is the start-up default. This feature was added at the request of developers who write software for visually impaired users. March 31, 1993 Some of our users have expressed a need for the PATH command to permit installation to the root directory for cases involving substituted or network drives. Currently, the root directory is only allowed if the user is installing to a floppy disk, otherwise, a directory name must be given. Today we have added a "back door" to bypass this error trap. Simply terminate the pre-stuffed default path (the first parameter in the PATH command) with a semi-colon, and The Finishing Touch will allow the user to access the root directory. Without the semi-colon, the PATH command will function as before. However, if the terminator is given, it is stripped from the string prior to input, and the error trap will be bypassed. For example: PATH \WORDPRO; 10 10 31 15 20 12 79 ^ This semi-colon terminator instructs the PATH command to permit installation to the root directory of a hard drive. April 16, 1993 A new command has been added to test free disk space: FREE X Where X is the minimum amount of free disk space required on the target drive. The value is given in K bytes (i.e. 1024 = 1,048,576 bytes or 1Mb). The internal YES or NO flag is set to YES if the free disk space is available, and set to NO if it is not. This function differs from the SPACE command in that FREE can be issued at any time in the script file. The SPACE command must be issued before the DRIVE command, and is not tested until the drive letter is entered. September 20, 1993 The DRIVE and PATH commands can now be set to a specific location without prompting the user by entering the command without any location or color variables. For example, set the DRIVE and PATH to C:\WINDOWS DRIVE C: PATH \WINDOWS For an example of how this can be used, see the script file EASY.FIL in SAMPLES.ZIP. We use this new feature to install our product, EASY TO LEARN COMPUTING in the Windows environment. September 27, 1993 Version 2.5 The LANGUAGE command was extended today to include LANGUAGE DANISH So that those in Denmark can read the error messages in their own language. For languages other than English, French, Spanish, German, and now, Danish, use the command PROMPT OFF and enter your own error messages, PATH Prompt, Unpacking message, etc. November 11, 1993 Version 2.6 The LANGUAGE command was extended today to include LANGUAGE DUTCH So that those in Holland can read the error messages in their own language. For languages other than English, French, Spanish, German, Danish, and now, Dutch, use the command PROMPT OFF and enter your own error messages, PATH Prompt, Unpacking message, etc. April 18, 1994 Version 2.7 The BACKGROUND command was extended today to display a binary screen file. It still supports the numeric backgrounds as explained in the documentation (for example, BACKGROUND 48 displays a cyan background), but if a filename of a binary screen is passed, it will now display that screen. For example: BACKGROUND ~0\WIZARD.BIN Binary screens can be created with THE LAUGHING DOG screen editor and THE DRAW which are both in the shareware area of our BBS. If you try these programs and create a binary screen that you eventually use with THE FINISHING TOUCH, please remember to register them with their respective authors. An example of how we implemented this new command can be found in SAMPLES.ZIP on our BBS in the files WIZARD.FIL (which you should rename to INSTALL.FIL) and WIZARD.BIN. A shareware version of THE COLOR WIZARD is available in the file CLRWIZ10.ZIP. May 10, 1994 We made a minor change to THE FINISHING TOUCH which allows the DRIVE command to accept either the drive letter by itself, or the drive letter plus a colon (C or C: now both work). We did this for a user who wanted UNPACK files from the hard disk to speed up disk I/O. This involves a complicated set of commands to reset the ~0 variable to ~1~2. See HD.FIL in SAMPLES.ZIP for details. June 15, 1994 Version 2.8 The LANGUAGE command was extended today to include LANGUAGE NORWEGIAN so Norwegian users can read the error messages in their own language. Registered users who want to help us add other languages should download LANGUAGE.ZIP from our BBS: (505) 275-9696. December 15, 1994 Version 2.9 Today we added the /N switch to PACKER because several people have reported frustration with large, highly compressed files. If you are distributing files which are already compressed such as .GIF graphics files, use a command similar to PACKER A:GIFS.PAK *.GIF /N to disable PACKER's compression algorithm. This will greatly reduce the time it takes to make master disks if you have large compressed files. March 21, 1995 Version 3.0 We have had several people report that even though PACKER gives tight compression, it is quite slow. We purchased this, the default file compression routine from a third party. Several people have reported "mysterious" intermittent problems with this third party compression routine: 1) A software developer in Australia discovered that creating master disks with DOS version 6.2 causes two of his in house computers which use DOS 6.0 to freeze while installing the software. 2) A software developer in Atlanta, who has been using THE FINISHING TOUCH flawlessly for two years on dozens of computers, suddenly discovered that their new Pentium 90 computer freezes. 3) A company in Minneapolis encountered a "freezing" problem with one of their customer's computers. When sending a new set of disks didn't fix the problem, they had the customer hit the floppy several times against their desk. The "freezing" problem disappeared! We at ImagiSOFT have NEVER been able to duplicate any of the above problems. We use THE FINISHING TOUCH for our entertainment products and the products we develop for life insurance companies. We distribute several hundred disks each month, and EACH time we have encountered "freezing" while the computer is UNPACKing a file it has been for one of the following reasons: 1) One of our distribution floppies was bad. 2) There wasn't enough room on the user's hard disk. 3) The user's hard disk had bad sectors or corrupted files. The install worked beautifully after the customer ran SCANDISK. Three years ago we developed a compression routine written entirely in assembly language which compresses files MUCH faster than the third party compression routine, but it packs files only about 75% as well. This version of THE FINISHING TOUCH now includes this routine. If you have any apprehension about using the third party compression routine, or if you have some room on your last distribution disk, use the "quick" compression method by adding the /Q option to PACKER: PACKER A:TEXT.PAK *.TXT /Q The UNPACK command in INSTALL.EXE remains unchanged. It will determine for itself whether you used the third party compression method (default), no compression (/N), or ImagiSOFT's own, "quick" routine (/Q). OS/2 Bug Reported ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A user in Germany noticed that several commands in THE FINISHING TOUCH do not work if the computer is running OS/2 WARP AND FLOPPY DISK HAS A VOLUME LABEL. If the floppy has no volume label, the software seems to work just fine. Weird. We have not been able to reproduce this error since we are not using OS/2 WARP. You may want to avoid using VOLUME LABELS on your disk in case your customer is using OS/2. ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Question: I want to leave the user at the DOS prompt in the directory where the software was installed. What is the easiest way to do this? Answer: The RUN command will run .EXE files, .COM files, and DOS commands. The command RUN ~1~2\CLS will exit INSTALL.EXE, change to the directory where you installed the software, clear the screen, and leave the computer at the DOS prompt. Question: How do you tell whether or not a DIRECTORY exists on the user's hard drive? Answer: The EXIST command works exactly the way the DIR command does from DOS. For example, DIR \MIKE will list all the files in the \MIKE directory. The problem most people have is detecting a directory which has no files in it. For example: EXIST \MIKE\*.* JUMP.NO CREATE_DIRECTORY fails if no files are in the \MIKE directory. Use this command instead: EXIST \MIKE*. JUMP.NO CREATE_DIRECTORY This command will work whether or not there are files in the \MIKE directory. The only possible way to this will return the wrong answer is if there is a file named "MIKE" with no extension in the root directory.