Patch Info

The Patch Info window is used to set the attributes of a Patch script item. This window is opened when a new Patch item is created from Script:New Item:Patch. It is also opened when a Patch script item is selected and Script:Edit Item... is chosen.

The Patch Info window contains the following items:

Apply patch

This field displays the name of the selected patch file. Patch files are created with the freeware patch utility ResCompare. They contain the resources needed to update a file from one version to another. Since a patch stores only the differences between two files, it is usually very small. Additionally, patches are not useful to a user unless they have the original program. See the ResCompare section for more information on building patches.

To the file

This field holds the name of the file to apply the patch to. This name does not have to be the same name as the patch file. However, a file with this name must exist in the current install folder in order for the patch to be applied. If the file does not exist, the patch item is skipped.

Patch source

This setting allows you to specify whether a patch file should be installed from within the installer archive or from outside the archive. The advantage to installing a patch file from inside the archive is that less disk space is used because the file is compressed. The advantage to keeping a patch file outside of the archive is that it is accessible to the user without needing to run the installer. If you set a patch file's source to "Outside Archive", the file will not be compressed into the installer application. You must make sure that you include this file on the installer disk at the location specified by the Source Path. If you do not do this, you will get a "file or folder is missing" error when running the installer.

Source Path

This entry field specifies the full or partial path for a patch file that is to be installed from outside the archive. This field is not available if the Patch source is set to "Inside Archive".

A full pathname must begin with a disk name and end with a file name. In between are the folders that lead to the file. For example, the full pathname Data:MyProduct:DataFiles:MyData specifies a file named "MyData" on a disk named "Data" within a folder named "DataFiles" inside the "MyProduct" folder.

A partial pathname is similar to a full pathname except that a disk name is not required. The partial path is considered to be relative to the location of the installer application. Using the example above, if the installer application were running from within the "My Product" folder on "Data", the partial path to the file would be :DataFiles:MyData. Note that a partial path must begin with a colon.

Attributes

This tab area allows you to set various attributes for the current item. These attributes include the following:

• System Rules ("System" tab)
• Gestalt Tests ("Gestalt" tab)
• Result Tests ("Result" tab)
• Before XRays ("Before" tab)
• After XRays ("After" tab)

For further details on these attribute categories, see the Attributes section of this guide.

Change

This button closes the window, saving any changes. When an item is first created, this button is named Create.

Cancel

This button closes the window, canceling any changes.

Delete

This button deletes the current item from the script. When an item is first created, this button is not available.

[Contents | Contact Information]