Search for Supported Clarion version

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich

I can't seem to work out how this search works. Here's what I did:

1) Compiled an EXE with 7.3 deliberately excluded as a test
2) When it came to select Clarion version only 7.0 to 7.2 showing as
expected.
3) Clicked on change and selected 7.3 folder
4) At this stage I expected SB would take the folder I had selected
(Clarion 7.3) but the next button was greyed out.

It seems like SB has made a decision to reject my choice at 3) above

regards

Mike
7.3.3195

[NewsArchive]

Hi Mike,

> I can't seem to work out how this search works. Here's what I did:
>
> 1) Compiled an EXE with 7.3 deliberately excluded as a test
> 2) When it came to select Clarion version only 7.0 to 7.2 showing as
> expected.
> 3) Clicked on change and selected 7.3 folder
> 4) At this stage I expected SB would take the folder I had selected
> (Clarion 7.3) but the next button was greyed out.
>
> It seems like SB has made a decision to reject my choice at 3) above

Yes, an this is expected. You have to enable support for Clarion 7.3.
Otherwise, C73 is not a supported Clarion version for your project!

For example, if a specific 3rd-party product is not compatible with C73,
then the 3rd-party vendor does not mark this "Clarion 7.3" checkbox to tell
the installer that C73 is NOT a supported Clarion version.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Ok - but so when does the Search option apply?

Could you make an option so that the user can choose the Clarion 7x folder
themselves. If the user gets it wrong that's up to them. They are software
developers after all :)

This would seem to avoid the need for me to recompile16 install EXEs every
time TS changes a minor version number.

Your auto detection stuff is great but I think an override "escape option"
would be handy.

Mike

[NewsArchive]

Mike,

> Ok - but so when does the Search option apply?
>
> Could you make an option so that the user can choose the Clarion 7x folder
> themselves. If the user gets it wrong that's up to them. They are
> software developers after all :)

For example, if a "software developer" installs Clarion 7.3 over an existing
Clarion 7.2 installation (but to different folders). If fact, Clarion 7.2
does not exist any longer after you installed Clarion 7.3 (or vice-versa).
The Search option lets you select 7.2 (or 7.3), even if it is not installed
correctly.

By design (deployment strategy), there can only be ONE Clarion 7.x product
installed.

Or if a registry cleaner removes the Clarion 7.x information from the
registry. In this case, the Search option can also help.

But it can NOT help if you try to support (auto-detect) a Clarion version
that was not available when you compiled your install (e.g. Clarion 8.0)

> This would seem to avoid the need for me to recompile16 install EXEs every
> time TS changes a minor version number.

No <g>. Because you never know what the next version is and what is
required in order to detect that next version. There are tons of threads
with regard to this in the Clarion7 and private 3P newsgroups (over the last
three years).

> Your auto detection stuff is great but I think an override "escape option"
> would be handy.

But what is such an "escape option"? Allow the user to install Clarion 7.1
specific .libs even in Clarion 8 <g>. This will definitely result in a
support nightmare.

Please note that there are quite a few installs out there that support
different Clarion versions from the very same setup.exe. As an example, our
own LSZip install supportes all Clarion versions from Clarion 5 up to 7.3.
But not Clarion 8 yet. Because it was not possible to test it with Clarion
8 and so we can't make an install for it available today :)

Or Clarion 7.3 specific 3rd party products. Why should it be allowed to
install such a 7.3 product in C7.1?

For example, this code:

If Clarion 7.1 Exists Then
Install this file
End

Should this file be installed if a user selects c:\clarion7, but there is a
Clarion 7.4 (not a typo <g>) in that folder?

To sum it up, "Search" lets the user select a SUPPORTED Clarion version in
case something happened to the Clarion installation.

Friedrich