Windows 8

[NewsArchive]

Windows 8 no longer has the Start - Programs menu structure. So my installer
now just creates a shortcut to launch my application. Any other features I
did have on the menu have now had to be gathered into a utilities area which
is accessible manually if required.

But what about an uninstaller? Does that now have to be done through Control
Panel only?

Of course I am assume we have to design for the Metro tiles and place any
shortcuts on the Metro desktop as I am having to assume that is how users
will access their applications and not go into the Desktop area.

Just curious how everyone else is planning for this restriction as I see it.
Of course I could create the old menu in the form of tiles but do not feel
that is a great idea.

Thanks

John Fligg

[NewsArchive]

Hi John,

> Windows 8 no longer has the Start - Programs menu structure. So my
> installer now just creates a shortcut to launch my application. Any
> other features I did have on the menu have now had to be gathered
> into a utilities area which is accessible manually if required.
>
> But what about an uninstaller? Does that now have to be done through
> Control Panel only?

In fact, adding an uninstaller link is against the Microsoft's guidelines
for Vista+. You should add only program shortcuts on the Start menu. You
should not put shortcuts to the Program uninstall on the Start menu.

I don't follow this development guideline in Vista/Win7 (because it is very
handy to have such an uninstall shortcut available), but plan to do for the
Win8 environment (but continue to add the uninstall shortcut in Vista/Win7).

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

Helping You Build Better Installations
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[NewsArchive]

How does one uninstall a program then?

--

Russ Eggen
RADFusion International, LLC

[NewsArchive]

Hi Russ,

>
> How does one uninstall a program then?
>

Only via the "Programs" Program Panel.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Is this Win 8 then? Do we need to do anything with our current
uninstall feature? I made a small change to the shipping default - it
directs you to a unique page asking for the reason for the uninstall. I
don't get many hits from it <g>

But I consider a missing uninstall a bug in a program. And it must
remove everything it added to a system at a minimum.

--

Russ Eggen
RADFusion International, LLC

[NewsArchive]

Hi Russ,

> Is this Win 8 then? Do we need to do anything with our current uninstall
> feature? I made a small change to the shipping default - it directs you
> to a unique page asking for the reason for the uninstall.
> I don't get many hits from it <g>
>
> But I consider a missing uninstall a bug in a program. And it must remove
> everything it added to a system at a minimum.

If you have enabled the uninstall feature then SetupBuilder will do the
required entries for you automatically. Your users can uninstall via the
"Programs" Program Panel. But if you let the installer add a shortcut to
the uninstall application (Shortcuts Visualizer), then you should disable
this for Win8 in the future.

The problem in Windows 8 is that you should only provide one shortcut for
your program. In the past, you had all kinds of shortcuts in a sub-folder.
For example, one shortcut to launch your application. Then shortcuts for
the documentation, for your web update check, and a shortcut for the
uninstall. In Windows 8 you should only have one shortcut that launches
your app.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

A strange concept, but noted. And I'm pleased that SB7 will handle the
uninstall entries for me (expected it <g>).

So its not that there is no uninstall, it that you should stop the
practice of adding more than one link/shortcut to whatever the Start
menu migrated to? Keep in mind, I'm only asking from a desktop
viewpoint, not a mobile app (not yet at least <g>).

How does a user open the docs or look at examples or instructional
videos? I do have these things available within my apps, but my
experience is the users don't go looking for these things inside an app,
they need a desktop shortcut or a start menu item. And even then.. <g>

So I reckon I'm trying to figure out if these standards are helping or
creating a new problem (and I know I'm exposing what I don't understand <g>)

--

Russ Eggen
RADFusion International, LLC

[NewsArchive]

Russ,

> So I reckon I'm trying to figure out if these standards are helping or
> creating a new problem

It's from Microsoft so it's gotta be perfection, dontcha know?!<g>

> (and I know I'm exposing what I don't understand <g>)

That's illegal in Tennessee... shame on ya, shame I say!!!

--
Lee White

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[NewsArchive]

Might be why I live in FL. We are less formal down here <g>

--

Russ Eggen
RADFusion International, LLC

[NewsArchive]

Russ

Why not add a link on the last page to a video or chm file or something? We
used to launch a Quick Start Guide when the install finished and are now
converting to videos on our website.

So for example you could add a "Run training video" checkbox on your last
page and if the user checks that then you can check in the last loop in SB
and launch the video or whatever. We've been doing that for ages, a checkbox
on the last dialog box.

HTH

John

[NewsArchive]

I like that idea. Have you noticed any differences since you started
doing that?

--

Russ Eggen
RADFusion International, LLC

[NewsArchive]

Well on the demo download we launch the QuickStartGuide every time so they
MUST see it. Up to them if they choose not to read it <g>

On an update (we use the same installer) they see a What's New document
instead. So we display either checkbox depending on the install type.

As for the videos we have only recently added those but people are reviewing
them according to our web stats. In fact we are starting to roll out more
and more videos over the next few months as I think people prefer them to
help files. They will be for complex topics and just leave the help file for
really simple stuff.

And being as the videos will be accessible from our website I will be using
Hyperlink (Capesoft) to give the user a link to a tutorial. So for example
on an Invoice screen we will have a link to the video How to create an
Invoice.

John

[NewsArchive]

We are scripting videos now.

--

Russ Eggen
RADFusion International, LLC

[NewsArchive]

My one program could be called in three modes: management console,
control panel, or broadcast viewer. It does this with different
command lines, but of course this is now disallowed in Windows 8. I've
gotten around that by creating little program stubs that call my apps
in different modes. For example, Tourney.exe is the management
console. TourneyDirector.exe is the control panel, and
TourneyViewer.exe is the broadcasted "clock" viewer. Both those two
special stub EXEs call the same Tourney.exe with different parameters.

Mike Hanson
www.boxsoft.net

[NewsArchive]

The key issue is that we have 5 different product modules, and with
all of their different modes, we need at least 11 different icons
(soon 2-3 more). Fortunately a single machine often needs only a few
of those (as it's focused on a particular aspect of operations). I
haven't tweaked my installer to ask them which subset of shortcuts to
add, though.

Mike Hanson
www.boxsoft.net

[NewsArchive]

Good idea! Thanks for sharing.

Friedrich