Packing
Applications. Concise description. GDS.Packing
Applications. Concise description. GDS.
File location:
http://www.umich.edu/~proflame/guides/packsml.htm
(This document I wrote is a barebones installation guide. Use in conjunction with Tim Schweizer’s guide in http://www.umich.edu/~proflame/guides/packbig.htm) Some of the instructions here are specific to the FLAME environment, so you might want to start here, and supplement with Schweizer’s.
Packing Applications
Preparing the installation files
The process is the same for MTB30 and MTB40 (in Expert Mode)
PREPARING YOUR FILES.
If disk space permits, it is best if all the files being packed are in the same directory. For the present purposes let’s suppose I have created a folder called croatinst, where the installation files will be, and another one called setcroat where the following files will reside,
a set of tutorial files, croat1.tbk, croat2.tbk, croat3.tbk, a student notebook, croatnote.tbk, a dictionary croadict.tbk, and a system book croat_a.sbk. These are the basic authored files.
an INI file, croat.ini, that the tutorial and system files consult, telling them where things are in the directory structure of the hard drive where the files will be installed ultimately.
a readme.txt file giving the user instructions on whatever issues crop up.
any accessory programs, such as a JPG viewer or the Indeo drivers for AVI files.
any icon files you will want your programs associated with in the Program Manager
These (as well as others, as we will see later) are the files that setupmgr.exe will be compressing for installation on the user’s hard drive.
Additionally the Croatian Project used video clips, images and wav files in its tutorials. These will be running from the CD, so they are not included in the compressed file that MTB creates, but it is important at this stage to decide where they will reside in the CD, as this information will be included in the croat.ini file, which will be compressed. You may also want to have a read1st.txt file in the CD giving information on system requirements, how to begin the installation process, etc. The installation process also gives you the choice to display a graphic while things are being installed. This also could reside in your general folder setcroat
USING SETUPMGR.EXE
In every fully installed MTB30 and MTB40 there is a setup directory containing a setupmgr.exe file. Click on this file to launch the Setup Manager.
Basic Concepts:
Setup Manager is actually a front end that permits you to create an installation script for your application. This script is a text file that will tell the actual installation program where things should go on the hard drive being installed to.
Setup Manager is constructed as as series of folders with Tabs.
General:
Enter a title in the Dialog Box Title: Learning Croat Installation
Enter the Default Directory: croat (this is where your applications and accessories such as the notebook and dictionary will reside).
Enter the Common Directory: (accept the default given, which is $windows$\asym\runtime). The Common Directory will contain the Runtime files.
You can specify the following graphics which will display during the installation process: a Statup Bitmap(which you can dismiss after x seconds) and a Background which can consist of a gradient upon which another bitmap is displayed. You can specify all these options by clicking in the Options buttons.
Files
The files folder is where you specify where the files are in your hard drive and where you want the setup.exe program to install them in the user’s hard drive
A. Click on Add New.
Give a name to the component. This will be displayed during the installation process: Croatian Language Tutorials.
A File List window will appear. Click on Choose Files. Select the files double click each or highlight the ones wanted and then click Add). In our example they would be croat1.tbk, croat2.tbk, croat3.tbk, croatnote.tbk, croadict.tbk, croat_a.sbk.
Specify a Destination Directory. If you click on Insert Directory you will be given a choice of buttons. Select Install if these are the tutorial files and accessories, like in our example. What this does is to install them in the Default Directory (croat) if the user chooses to accept the default, and in the user specified directory if the user chooses not to.
I also added an set of icons used in the user’s machine after installation to this Component.
NOTE: make sure that all the files in a component have the same installation directory associated with them. If you select a group of files in the above step, the setup manager only indicates the install directory of the first one.
Repeat step A with each group of files you want to compress. In our example I added a component called INI containing a croat.ini file, specifying it be placed in the Windows directory of the user (by using the Insert Directory button and selecting Windows, I am insuring that it will go to the user’s Windows directory).
In our example I also created a component called Accessory files containing compressed files of the Indeo video drivers and a Quicktime JPG viewer, using as a source already compressed files of each (available in l:/drivers/indeov32 and l:/drivers/qtw respectively) and instructing the Installation Program to place them in c:\windows\temp. In the readme.txt file I inform the user of this and give him instructions on how to go about installing these.
When you are done selecting the different components, click on the Add Runtime button. Of the choices of dlls, etc. Select the ones your environment will use. (for Croatian Tutorials I selected all except the Paradox Engine and Full Text Search)
PM Icons
This will create a Group in Program Manager (in Windows 3.1) of an Application Group in the Start System (In Windows 96). You must enter each file separately by doing the following:
1. Double click on the highlighted line of the Program Icon Box
2. Specify Installed with Component (what group of files does this file belong with in the File part of the setup propgram) (see above) In our example it was with Croatian Language Tutorials.
3. Specify name of Program Group (title of the bar of the Program Group in the user’s desktop: Croatian Language Tutorials)
4. Specify Icon Description (title that appears underneath the icon in the user’s desktop): Croatian Tutorial 1
4. Write a command line. This is what will get executed when the user clicks on the icon. Insert Directory Install to ensure that if the user has changed the Default Directory the command line will still point to where the files are located. In out example the command line will look like this: $Install$\croat1.tbk
Specify icon associated with this executable by clicking in the Change Icon button. The icon must have already been included in the same Component as the files you are specifying. If it is not, go back to the File folder and make the necessary modifications. If succesful the icon will apear on the dialog box.
Repeat steps 1-5 for each file you want the user to be able to launch from the desktop. In our example I included croat1.tbk, croat1.tbk, croat1.tbk, croatnote.tbk, and croadict.tbk all in the same Program Group called Croatian Language Tutorials.
Configuration
By default this folder contains the file associations created when you chose Add Runtime in the Files folder. Accept them.
Launch EXE
This is used to do launch any file you may want: a) readme.txt files for the user’s information, b) an actual application which has just been installed, etc. I have noticed that it really slows down the final steps of the installation and instead I prefer to notify the user with a message, which you can compose by selecting the radio button Display Message Box After Installation, selecting Always Install, and typing the mesage in the box. In our example it would read: Croatian Language Tutotials Installation completed. Please read the file c:\croat\readme.txt (or if you have specified a different directory, the one you have chosen).
Create Disks
In this folder you will specify where the installation file will be created and to a certain extent in what media it will be distributed.
In our example the distribution media is a CD, so I specify that the Drive and directory of my compressed files as c:\croatinst (the files contained in this directory will be later put in the root of the machine creating the CD, about which more later). Because the distribution Media is a CD, I also specify that the Compressed Installation File Size is Space Available. If the distribution media were to be DD HD 3.4 floppies, I would select 1.44 Mb, etc.
Save your work (File/Save). I saved mine as croatmain.inf (MTB 40 uses the extension ASU instead)
Click on Create Compressed Installation Files
Pressing the CD
General Concept: the files to be pressed on the CD should reside in the hard drive using the same directory structure you want them to have on the CD.
Copy to the root:
1. graphics: the graphics displayed during the installation process.
readme files
the compressed file (it will have the same name as the Info file you created but will have an extension such as .001)
the setup.exe program which the Setup Manager copied to the directory containing the installation files.
the video files
any folders with media used by your environment: gifs/wavs, etc.
Preparing to Press
Defragment the hard drive (Start/Applications/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter, choose the drive with your files. Select Advanced, select Full Defragmentation, and OK.
Pressing the CD
1.Start/Programs/HP (something or other)/CD 95 (more or less)
2. From either the File or the Edit Menu, select Launch Explorer.
3. Select the files in the Explorer and drag them to the CD 95 folder. They list of files will appear there. Double check at this point that everything is there and where it should be.
Press the little red button or select Write CD from the Edit or File menu.
You are done.