Call Setup Builder from program...

[NewsArchive]

I've only used the SetupBuilder that comes with Clarion, so the full
development Setup Builder is new to me, and I have a couple of start up
questions.

1. I have a wizard program that is very application specific (inlcuding
things like audio instructions), and at a certain point, I need to call
setupbuilder to actually install the main program.

Is there a preferred way to call Setup builder? I assume a simple Run (from
Clarion app) is all that is required.

2. Is there a way for setupbuilder to work without being visible? In other
words, can I run SB without leaving the application wizard program? If so,
is there any way to communicate progress back to the application wizard?

Sorry for the rookie questions.
Mike Springer

[NewsArchive]

Mike,

> I've only used the SetupBuilder that comes with Clarion, so the full
> development Setup Builder is new to me, and I have a couple of start
> up questions.
>
> 1. I have a wizard program that is very application specific (inlcuding
> things like audio instructions), and at a certain point, I need to call
> setupbuilder to actually install the main program.
>
> Is there a preferred way to call Setup builder? I assume a simple Run
> (from Clarion app) is all that is required.

Yes, you can use a simple RUN operation from a Clarion app to launch a
SetupBuilder generated image.

> 2. Is there a way for setupbuilder to work without being visible? In
> other words, can I run SB without leaving the application wizard program?
> If so, is there any way to communicate progress back to the application
> wizard?

With Developer Edition, you can create "native" silent setups. You can even
read instructions from a configuration file or pass command line switches to
the installer to perform silent attended or unattended installations (no
wizard!).

The setup.exe is a standard Windows executable. It's not a trivial task to
handle "exe-to-exe" real-time communication. If you have an idea on how to
receive "progress events" in your executable from another executable then
perhaps I can help to support this method.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Thanks Friedrich!

What would you recommend as a relative newbie to the Developer Edition for
getting started most effectively? Are there tutorials, or specific examples
that you would recommend for getting started?
Mike Springer

[NewsArchive]

Hi Mike,

> What would you recommend as a relative newbie to the Developer Edition
> for getting started most effectively? Are there tutorials, or specific
> examples that you would recommend for getting started?

I would suggest to download "Learning SetupBuilder" and the Examples
Package.

http://www.lindersoft.com/products_setupbuilder_dev_download.htm

http://www.lindersoft.com/sb100_chm2.exe

http://www.lindersoft.com/sb10_Examples.exe

http://www.lindersoft.com/forums/

Video tutorials are still in the works.

And you can always ask questions here, or contact me.

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Thanks Fredrich. I would mention that Jane Fleming also contacted me and
gave me a link to a video she did a number of years ago. Oh man! You talk
about a jump start! Her tutorial video answered so many questions for me
that had me held up. It was the "big picture" walk thru that I was missing.

I must say that while the docs are extremely complete, they are also quite
overwhelming when you are getting started. You mentioned that you are
working on tutorial videos, and I assume you have seen the one Jane did.
Just from my experience, I would highly recommend either linking to her
video as a "starting point" or pressing to get a more current version of
what she did to be available on your website.

Honestly, I was lost even though I had used the Clarion version for years
(through Clarion 6.3), but after watching Jane's video, I put my first SB
developer setup.exe together. It gave me a great appreciation for how
fantastic SetupBuilder is. I just needed to have a simple "guided tour" to
get started, and the video was the perfect ingredient.

Thanks for building such a great tool.
Mike

[NewsArchive]

Can you share the link ?

Liam

[NewsArchive]

Hi, Liam,

The video Mike mentions was a high-level walk-through of SetupBuilder that I
created more than 6 years ago. It was intended to complement the "Learning
Setupbuilder Part I" help file that can be downloaded inside the SB IDE.

The questions Mike was asking led me to think that the video might help him
get past that "I have no idea where to start" threshold, so I sent him a
link to a copy I still have on my web server.

Friedrich didn't like the video well enough to release it, and it has his
logo on it. So I'm not comfortable publishing that link generally. I don't
mind sharing it privately with individual people, as long as Friedrich's
wishes are respected.

Jane

[NewsArchive]

Hi Jane,

> Friedrich didn't like the video well enough to release it, and it has
> his logo on it.

Hmmm, I seem to remember that I liked the video very much!!!

Friedrich