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lmodern1878
10-04-2020, 03:48 PM
Hello SetupBuilder Community!

I'm back with a bit of a challenge for myself with my latest SetupBuilder project and here we go...:

1. I have reverse engineered some legacy software after the company went out of business several years ago, this means their activation servers went poof. For those still relying on the software, they've been out of luck until now. thus my reverse engineered copies do not need activation over the internet. I have also taken on the role of supporting these applications with documentation. My setups also are no where near faithful to the original setups using InstallShield MSI.
2. To make customer's lives easier I've added several "convenience features" that the original installers never had such as:
2.1 instructions on how to register the products in a ReadMe
2.2 a "license agreement" which explains the whole thing and that customers should read the ReadMe and making them affirm they've read everything (the ReadMe and the license agreement)
2.3 minimal, typical, and custom options
2.4 components for things like PDF manuals and sample files.
2.5 a choose installation path
2.6 a choice whether or not to have desktop shortcut, start menu shortcuts, or associate the program to specific file extensions.
2.7 a choice to launch the program after installation finished
2.8 several cosmetic changes

3. for the uninstallers I made the following convenience features:
3.1 ask if the user wants to clear out any remaining files not put in place by the installer
3.2 ask if the user wants to clear out the program registration information from the registry

4. I'm planning on making the final versions of my installers and their project files (SetupBuilder scripts, program files, icons, graphics, ReadMe and License RTFs, etc.) available for download to the community so they can learn from my work.

Here's the challenge; I want feedback and suggestions on my implementation and if anyone in the community wants to put up a sample project to show off their work and for other's to learn from this is the thread for that kind of thing.

I'm looking for a grade (from 1.0 to 10.0) in the following categories:
* Use of SetupBuilder features
* cosmetics (look-and-feel)
* ease-of-use (from and end-user perspective, how easy are my setup and uninstall routines to use)
* and an overall satisfaction score

use the scale 1.0 to 10.0 where 1.0 is the absolute worst and 10.0 is the absolute best using any fractional number like 6.5.

I'm hoping to turn this into not only feedback for myself but also a way for other SetupBuilder developers to get feedback from others.

I'll post a mega link to download the files as a zip file as soon as I'm ready to do so.

tell me what you think in the comments below

lmodern1878
10-04-2020, 07:10 PM
Quick Update:

Find below the link to download the zip file that contains everything you'll need to work with my demos.

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://mega.nz/file/QJcgFTIK#4CeEfGuS3XC6NvHITwPDn5MB_yLnaRHa745eR5qul Sk

This 29.7 MB zip file contains the following items of note:
* final builds (compiled installation .exe) of the included SetupBuilder scripts so you can see how it runs as an end-user (the folder called "Final Setup Builder Output" each install is in a folder with the same name is the spb it is linked with)
* SetupBuilder scripts (*.sbp) and SetupBuilder Include Scripts for the uninstaller (*.sbi) (the folder called "SetupScripts") the sbi files are in the folder "SetupScripts\Include Scripts for Uninstalls"
* the two graphics used for top and side bitmaps (in the folder SetupScripts\Setup Graphics)
* the license agreement and ReadMe as rtf files (in the folder SetupScripts\Setup Texts)
* All files that the finished installers install (the folder called "Source Files to Install")
* The original InstallShield final output to compare my versions to the original (in the folder "Original InstallShield MSIs" each program has its own separate folder)
* and a ton of setup side and top graphics for you to play with that I picked up from I forget where in the folder called "More Setup Graphics"

the total uncompressed size of the files in this ZIP package is a little under 50 MB (48.2 MB on disk)
hope these examples help the community in some way.