HISTORY FILE FOR CHIEF'S INSTALLER PRO -------------------------------------- Version 1.50a (January 1995) --------------------------- Small bug in icon creation function fixed. Version 1.50 (January 1995) --------------------------- 1. The Uninstaller can now take a parameter - the home directory of the program to be uninstalled. This means that you can now pass your program's directory ("$DEST") as a parameter to UNINSTAL.EXE when you are creating your program's icons with the $ICON command. e.g. $ICON=$DEST\UNINSTAL.EXE $DEST;Uninstall my Program! 2. $CLEANUP can now accept wildcard characters. However, it will NOT accept "*.*" - don't even try it, because all you will get is an error message (hard coded in English), and the files will NOT be deleted. e.g., $CLEANUP=$TEMPDIR\WINSTAL*.* $CLEANUP=$DEST\*.DSK 3. Install now uses CTL3DV2.DLL but will use CTL3D.DLL if CTL3DV2.DLL is not found. 4. Uninstall will now delete INI files (but only those which are in the home directory of the program being uninstalled). 5. $USER-OPTION lines can now take an extra parameter - the word "UNCHECKED". This should be put last, separated from the size of the option's files by a semi-colon. If it is used, the checkbox for the option is not checked when the installer starts. The user can check it afterwards. e.g. $USER-OPTION1=Sample Files;16200;unchecked 6. $GROUP can now take an extra parameter - the word "AUTO" or the word "DISABLE". If used, this parameter should appear after the group name and should be separated from the group name by a semi-colon :- "AUTO" - means create a group automatically - do not allow the user to uncheck the "Create Program Manager Group" checkbox "DISABLE" - means do NOT create any group at all - and do not allow the user to specify that a group should be created. If either of these parameters is used, then the checkbox will not be presented. In none of them is used, then the checkbox will be presented and the user will have a choice. Both of these options deny the user a choice in the matter (i.e., either the group will be created automatically or it will not be created at all, regardless of what the user may want). e.g., $GROUP=Chief's Installer - this will present the user with a checkbox which allows him/her to specify whether or not to create a Program Manager group/icons. $GROUP=Chief's Installer;AUTO - group/icons will be created automatically - no checkbox $GROUP=Chief's Installer;DISABLE or $GROUP=DISABLE - no group will be created - no checkbox 7. A small bug in the text buffering for the INF file has been fixed. 8. New support for restarting Windows if any active shared file was overwritten. A dialog asking for confirmation appears automatically if any active shared file was overwritten during the installation. The text on this dialog can be changed by the $RESTARTWIN-MESSAGE reserved word. 9. If the TEMP directory is on a different drive from the target directory, $SWAP-SPACE will now be used to check for free space on the drive which contains the TEMP directory only. 10. Files on $SYSDIR lines will now be installed into the Windows directory if the installation is being carried out on a local area network. 11. New reserved words $SYSDIR-SPACE and $WINDIR-SPACE. This is to allow support for checks for sufficient disk space on the drive(s) that hold(s) the Windows directory and/or the Windows SYSTEM directory. These are only useful if; [a] you are going to use the $WINDIR and/or $SYSDIR commands [b] the user is installing to a drive which is different from the drive on which Windows is installed. These lines are for safety checks only. $WINDIR-SPACE should contain a figure (in bytes) big enough to hold all the files that you wish to install into the Windows directory, and $SYSDIR-SPACE should contain a figure big enough to hold all the files that you wish to install into the Windows SYSTEM directory. 12. New reserved word $BANNER-SHADOW-COLOR. This is used to give the banner text a "shadow". The color value here is in the same format as $BANNER-TEXT-COLOR and $BANNER-TEXT-BACKGROUND. The shadow is disabled by default (by giving the shadow color a default value less than 0). If the value is 0 or higher, then the shadow becomes enabled, and the $BANNER-TEXT-BACKGROUND line becomes disabled. 13. New support for displaying a README file to the user before the installation begins. The readme file should be a plain ASCII file, should not be larger than 16kb, and should be called WINSTALL.TXT. You can cause the contents of the file to be displayed automatically by setting $AUTO-CLICK-BUTTON to 4 (otherwise the user will have to click on the "readme" button to display the text. You can change the text on the readme button with the new $README-BUTTON-TEXT command. If the file WINSTALL.TXT is not found, then the "readme" button will be removed at run time. 14. New reserved word $README-BUTTON-TEXT. This can be used to change the text on the "readme" button. The default caption for the button is "&View Read Me". The text used here must not be longer than 20 characters. 15. New reserved word $README-FONT. The only parameters which this can take are either "FIXED" or "MONO". They both mean the same thing - to use a monospaced font (Courier 8 point) for the text in the "Readme" dialog. The default is to use a proportional font (MS Sans Serif, 9 point). 16. New reserved word $SOURCEDIR. This points to the directory from which the program was installed. It can only be used in $INI, $EXEC, and $PRE-EXEC lines. 17. New utility - AUTOCALC.EXE. This program undertakes the calculation of the disk space needed by your application. The results are written to a LOG file which can then be imported into your INF file, and/or are copied to the Windows clipboard for pasting into your INF file. 18. New (limited) support for the Registration Database, with a new reserved word $REG-DATA. You can have up to 20 $REG-DATA lines. The lines should only contain the keys/sub-keys that you want to create. The installer will prepend "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\" to each of your entries, so you should NOT use that keyword at all. e.g., $REG-DATA=ChiefPro = Chief's Installer Pro $REG-DATA=.inf = ChiefPro $REG-DATA=.chf = ChiefPro $REG-DATA=ChiefPro\shell\open\command = $DEST\install.exe %1 $REG-DATA=ChiefPro\shell\print\command = $DEST\install.exe /p %1 $REG-DATA=ChiefPro\protocol\StdFileEditing\verb\0 = Edit $REG-DATA=ChiefPro\protocol\StdFileEditing\server = $DEST\install.exe Note: this feature depends on the presence of REGEDIT.EXE on the user's system. 19. $BITMAP can now take an extra optional parameter "NORMAL". If used, this should appear AFTER the name of the bitmap file, separated by a semi-colon e.g., $BITMAP=winstall.bmp;normal This disables the stretching of the bitmap, and the bitmap will be displayed in its normal size, centered on the screen. In such cases also, the main dialog will be hidden once the "Start Install" button is clicked - so that more of the bitmap will be visible. 20. $MAKE-UNINSTALL-LOG can now take an optional parameter - the name of the file to use as the LOG file for UNINSTAL.EXE. The parameter should be separated with a semi-colon, and should contain a filename only (no path). If no filename is provided, the default name UNINSTAL.LOG will be used. If a filename is used here, it MUST be supplied as a SECOND parameter to UNINSTAL.EXE 21. UNINSTAL.EXE can now take an optional SECOND parameter - the name of the LOG file for the uninstall. If this parameter is not supplied, then UNINSTAL.EXE will look for UNINSTAL.LOG. 22. $TARGET can now take optional extra parameters - details of an INI file in the Windows directory from which entries from a previous installation of your program can be obtained. The entry here should point to the directory into which the user installed any previous version. If such an entry is found, that will be used to replace the default one in your $TARGET line. If no entry is found, the default will be used. If the extra parameters are used, then the $TARGET line MUST contain 4 entries, in the following format; $TARGET=Default;INI file;ApplicationName;KeyName The INI file should not contain any path (just the filename only). e.g., $TARGET=C:\CHIEPRO;CHIEFPRO.INI;ChiefPro;ChiefDir Note that you will need to create the requisite entry with the $INI reserved word. e.g., $INI=$WINDIR\CHIEFPRO.INI;ChiefPro;ChiefDir;$DEST 23. Foreign language support introduced for UNINSTAL.EXE and SETUP.EXE. With UNINSTAL.EXE this is by using string tables in an optional DLL (which must be called UNINST.DLL). With SETUP.EXE this is by using a small ASCII file (also optional, which must be called SETUPINF.INF). Samples are provided of both files. 24. New DOS command line utility (SHOWLOG.EXE) to show the contents of the UNINSTAL.LOG file, and new reserved word $DEBUG-LOG, to accompany it - see SHOWLOG.TXT for details. Version 1.10 (December 1994) ---------------------------- 1. new reserved word $NO-CTL3D.DLL 2. new support for splitting "$DISK=" lines over up to 10 lines for each disk in the installation set 3. SETUP.EXE now copies CTL3D.DLL to the Windows SYSTEM directory (if there is no existing copy) instead of the TEMP directory. Version 1.00 (December 1994) ---------------------------- First public release of the "Pro" version