Update: Register Clarion templates for multiple versions

[NewsArchive]

Clarion 3rd party developers:

We have enhanced the Clarion template support in the latest internal
SetupBuilder runtimes.

The next SetupBuilder 6 maintenance release and the next SetupBuilder 7 beta
update lets you register Clarion templates for multiple Clarion versions
from the same installer instance.

For example, the attached source code snippet screenshot registers templates
for Clarion 6 and Clarion 7 from the same setup instance. No need to run
the installer twice to register the templates for different Clarion
versions.

It's also possible to terminate the Clarion IDE from the installer now to
make sure that the DDE connection belongs to the correct IDE instance.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

SetupBuilder "point. click. ship"
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[NewsArchive]

> No need to run the installer twice to register the templates for different Clarion
> versions.

Cool - well done Friedrich!

:-)

Charles


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[NewsArchive]

Very nice!

I need just one more feature to make this perfect:

My installation has a prerequisite installation. I would like to
display in Clarion Environment Detection only those versions for which
the prerequisite is installed. The problem is, there appears to be no
install-time support for setting which Clarion versions can be
supported. I must specify the list for CED at compile time. (Unlike,
for instance, the radio buttons dialog, and the checkboxes dialog which
allow the choices to be specified at install time)

As it is now implemented, to have a prerequisite installation that
supports 6 clarion versions (5.5, all 4 Clarion 6, plus Clarion 7) one
needs to define 2 to the 6th power, equals 64 different dialogs and
choose which one of these dialogs is appropriate to display at install
time. My only other option is equally unappetizing, which is to offer
to support all of the versions but then issue error messages for those
that don't meet the prerequisite.

Would it be possible to implement a "position" variable with a position
for each possible Clarion version, which would allow setting
CED-eligible versions by position at install time?

--
Phil Carroll
http://www.enablingsimplicity.com

[NewsArchive]

Hi Phil,

I'm not exactly sure if I can follow you. Why are 64 different dialogs
required with the current implementation to support the 6 Clarion versions?

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Some more information. The "Clarion Environment Detection" dialog is NOT
used when doing such multiple-version installations. "Clarion Environment
Detection" allows only to select ONE version from a list of detected Clarion
versions.

In a multiple-version Clarion installation, you detect the Clarion versions
programmatically and then do with the detected version(s) whatever you want.

See attached source code snippet screenshot. This code detects and
configures the installation for C6.3 and C7.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

SetupBuilder "point. click. ship"
Create Windows Vista ready installations in minutes

-- Official Comodo Code Signing and SSL Certificate Partner

[NewsArchive]

I have slightly enhanced the multiple-versions source code demo project (I
will make it available soon). See attached screenshots.

The SetupScript source code in the installer detects all available (and
supported) Clarion versions and displays it in a Checkbox dialog. You can
then do whatever you want with this.

Remember: it's all based on SetupScript source code that you can modify.
The "Clarion Environment Detection" function is some kind of "black box",
but this new approach is fully customizable.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

> Some more information. The "Clarion Environment Detection" dialog is NOT
> used when doing such multiple-version installations.

This part wasn't clear in the first message in the thread. It is a
relief to hear that isn't necessary.

However, I already have a script that successfully installs code into
multiple Clarion versions. The script resembles very closely your
snippet code. I don't understand exactly what is new about the code in
the script snippet.

More importantly, the snippet shows me nothing about the details of
template registration into multiple versions, which is the main issue.

First is the problem of the template queue:

Each version has its own set of template files in different locations.
For N versions, there must be (in effect) N template queues. Are we
going to now use a different queue for each version, or somehow clear,
fill, and reuse the same template queue multiple times? (Or, each entry
in the queue be tagged to a specific version)

Second, as Arnor pointed out in a previous thread, in all Clarion
versions that use DDE for registration, the same server name is used.
Therefore, if I must register templates in both Clarion 5.5 and Clarion
6, after registering the 5.5 templates, the 5.5 IDE must be closed
before the Clarion 6 IDE can be launched.

In short, I accept that you have solved these problems, but your example
gives me no clue how the new capability is actually used.

--
Phil Carroll
http://www.enablingsimplicity.com

[NewsArchive]

Phil,

> Second, as Arnor pointed out in a previous thread, in all Clarion
> versions that use DDE for registration, the same server name is used.
> Therefore, if I must register templates in both Clarion 5.5 and Clarion
> 6, after registering the 5.5 templates, the 5.5 IDE must be closed
> before the Clarion 6 IDE can be launched.

Friedrich posted this in the initial message, wouldn't that provide
the bit necessary to close one instance and begin another?

>> It's also possible to terminate the Clarion IDE from the installer now to
>> make sure that the DDE connection belongs to the correct IDE instance.

--
Lee White

Enroll Today at http://CWaddons.com

[NewsArchive]

> Friedrich posted this in the initial message, wouldn't that provide
> the bit necessary to close one instance and begin another?

You are correct. My error.

--
Phil Carroll
http://www.enablingsimplicity.com

[NewsArchive]

Hi Phil,

>> Some more information. The "Clarion Environment Detection" dialog is
>> NOT used when doing such multiple-version installations.
>
> This part wasn't clear in the first message in the thread. It is a relief
> to hear that isn't necessary.

Yes, I agree. I also noticed this and that's why I posted some more
information.

> However, I already have a script that successfully installs code into
> multiple Clarion versions. The script resembles very closely your snippet
> code. I don't understand exactly what is new about the code in the script
> snippet.

What Lee said. We have added functionality to detect active Clarion
instances and to close the IDE after the template registration process.

For example, I can run the setup.exe now and let it install and register
templates for Clarion 5.5, 6.3, and Clarion 7 from the same installer
instance.

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

SetupBuilder "point. click. ship"
Create Windows Vista ready installations in minutes

-- Official Comodo Code Signing and SSL Certificate Partner

[NewsArchive]

I have finished the source code demo project to automatically install and
register templates in Clarion 5.5, Clarion 6.3 and Clarion 7.0 at the same
time (from the same installer instance). Of course, the installer allows
you to do the same for C2, C4, C5, C55, C6.x and C7 at the same time.

The .sb6 demo project needs the latest SetupBuilder runtime updates, so
we'll make it available when we have released the new SetupBuilder 6
maintenance build next week.

We'll also make a new SetupBuilder 7 beta build available next week. Of
course, SB7 also support the new Clarion multiple-registration capability.

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

SetupBuilder "point. click. ship"
Create Windows Vista ready installations in minutes

-- Official Comodo Code Signing and SSL Certificate Partner

[NewsArchive]

The new experimental "Multiple Version Clarion Install.sb6" project in the
updated "Examples Package" demonstrates the multiple-version install for
Clarion.

--
Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

SetupBuilder "point. click. ship"
Create Windows Vista ready installations in minutes

-- Official Comodo Code Signing and SSL Certificate Partner