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Install-Pro User's Guide and Reference Manual Copyright 1991-1993 DB/Soft Publishing. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Version 3.00, first printing Copyright This software is protected under United States Copyright Law and International Treaty provisions. DB/Soft Publishing reserves all rights to Install-Pro except for the following: A limited license is hereby granted allowing you use and evaluate Install-Pro for up to 30 days. You may also distribute unregis- tered copies of Install-Pro in its entirety to any parties interested provided no modification of the files in the Install- Pro archive occurs. The maximum transaction related to selling media containing unregistered copies of Install-Pro (eg Shareware vendors) may not exceed $10.00. Conversion to a more convenient archive format is allowed. All other uses of Install-Pro violate this license and are hereby expressly disallowed. Copyright 1991-1993, by DB/Soft Publishing, All Rights Reserved. 3200 Truxel Rd #199, Sacramento, CA 95833 USA Telephone: (916) 927-6951 BBS: (916) 927-2349 Limited Warranty DB/Soft Publishing grants no warranties, express or implied, by statute or otherwise, regarding this software and its related materials, their fitness for any purpose, their quality, or their merchantability. In no way shall DB/Soft Publishing be liable for any special, consequential, other damages for breach of warranty. This Statement shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the laws of the State of California. This warranty will be replaced by a limited 90-day warranty that covers the diskette, software and documentation upon registration of Install-Pro. Further, the limited license will be replaced with a license that allows royalty-free distribution of Install- Pro with your applications. Registering Install-Pro Install-Pro is an example of software marketed under the Share- ware concept. The premise is simple: you may evaluate Install- Pro for a reasonable period of time (30 days maximum) during which you decide if it is a program worth owning and using for installing your applications. If so, you must register Install- Pro, using order.doc for ordering information. If, after a reasonable evaluation period, you decide not to register Install- Pro, you then must discontinue its use. This provides me with a way to market software with very low advertising overhead, which results in a price savings passed directly on to you. And, it provides you with a chance to 'play' with my product and decide if it meets your needs. As an incentive to speed the registration process, a minor modification to Install-Pro processing occurs in the Shareware version. Prior to displaying your opening screen(s), an order information notice is displayed. Other than this single modifi- cation, all features that are included in the registered version of Install-Pro are available here. Getting Help_____________________________________________________ There are several ways of contacting the author, Jeff Dunlop, for technical assistance if you get stuck. From cheapest and slowest to most expensive and fastest: - Fidonet's SHAREWRE echo - ILink's Shareware conference - Fidonet netmail at 1:203/16 - Compuserve mail at 72147,3055 - Internet at 72147.3055@compuserve.com - The DB/Soft Online at (916) 927-2349 The best method of contacting the author depends on the type of assistance you need. If it's a rather complicated problem, you will probably be far better served if you prepare a message in advance and upload it with the script in question to the DB/Soft Online. We can then test it and offer suggestions. If it's just a question or suggestion about Install-Pro capabilities, the ILink or Fidonet conferences will work best. Fidonet netmail privileges can be difficult to get, but offer excellent timeli- ness at very low connect time. Check your local Fidonet BBS if interested. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .................................. 7 Features ........................................... 7 Requirements ....................................... 9 Getting Started .................................... 10 Install-Pro Scripts ................................ 10 Documentation Conventions .......................... 11 Chapter 2 Creating the screens .......................... 13 BANNER ............................................. 13 HELLO .............................................. 14 HELLOBREAK ......................................... 14 GOODBYE ............................................ 14 GOODBYEBREAK ....................................... 15 COLORS ............................................. 15 Chapter 3 Building the entry forms ...................... 17 USER ............................................... 17 DESCRIBE ........................................... 20 Chapter 4 Transferring files ............................ 21 SUBDIR ............................................. 21 FILE ............................................... 22 Splitting Files .................................... 24 UNZIP .............................................. 25 ATTRIBSAVE ......................................... 27 Chapter 5 Changing Disks and Terminating ................ 28 FIRSTDISK .......................................... 28 DISK ............................................... 28 END ................................................ 28 CHAIN .............................................. 29 Chapter 6 Verifying the target environment .............. 30 SPACE .............................................. 30 CPU ................................................ 30 FPU ................................................ 30 RAM ................................................ 30 EMS ................................................ 31 VCPI ............................................... 31 DPMI ............................................... 31 XMS ................................................ 31 VER ................................................ 32 CONFIGFILES ........................................ 32 5 PATH ............................................... 33 SET ................................................ 33 Chapter 7 Running external programs and viewing files ... 34 RUN ................................................ 34 PRERUN ............................................. 36 RUNERRNOTIFY ....................................... 37 VIEW ............................................... 37 Chapter 8 Customizing Install-Pro ....................... 38 ONERROR ............................................ 38 Linking external text .............................. 38 Chapter 9 Miscellaneous ................................. 40 System Variables ................................... 40 Command Line Switches .............................. 41 Error Messages ..................................... 40 Critical Errors .................................... 46 6 Chapter 1 Introduction_____________________________________________________ Install-Pro is the flexible and affordable solution to the common problem of transferring an application or information base from distribution media to its destination directories. Typically, the options have been to write a batch file, to write a custom program or to shell out hundreds of dollars for an anemic instal- lation utility. Until Install-Pro. Install-Pro is a script driven professional installation program that will automate the installation process while providing your customers with a crisp, easy-to-use interface. Unlike other script-driven installation utilities, Install-Pro is heavy on features, intelligent in its operation, and light on resource requirements. Any application can be ready to install to multi- ple directories from multiple disks in a matter of minutes. A brief list of features includes: - Professional look and feel for a better first impres- sion. - You customize multiple welcome screens and good-bye screens to your own needs. - Up to 999 installation disks and unlimited installation files. - Comprehensive environment detection, including minimum CPU, floating point processor, installed RAM, MS-Dos version, EMS, XMS, VCPI and DPMI. - Powerful system variables for CPU, math coprocessor and video adapter that allow your installation to behave differently depending on the target hardware. - Display your readme files at the end of the installa- tion in a nifty file viewer. - Intelligent FILES=, PATH and SET VAR= update for Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. - All Install-Pro text strings may be optionally rede- fined via an external file. - Files may be split into up to 9 pieces for huge files spanning multiple disks. 7 Chapter 1, Introduction _________________________________________________________________ - Files in the .zip format may be extracted. All direc- tories stored in a .zip file are automatically created. There is an .arj version of Install-Pro available on the DB/Soft Online for registered users. - You define the directory prompts and default destina- tion directories that the user sees. - You optionally define the installation disk names (such as "Utilities Disk" or "Install Disk") - You optionally specify the disk space requirements associated with all portions of the installation, including optional portions. (The user is given the option to try to continue with installation if short on disk space.) - Up to 8 user-defined destination directories. - Unlimited programmer-defined directories child to user- defined directories. - Each destination directory may either be optionally locked or the user may be allowed to change it. - "Run" commands allow your installation to include custom auxiliary programs or batch files to complete special tasks. The installation diskette directory(s), any of the user-defined directories, and any other arguments you choose can be specified anywhere on the command line. - Portions of an installation may be specified as option- al, prompting the user whether the optional portion should be installed. - Multi-Module installations handled seamlessly. - Files may be automatically overwritten, prompted before overwriting a newer file, prompted before overwriting any file or protected completely from overwrite. - Supports VGA/EGA 50/43 line text modes if detected. 8 Chapter 1, Introduction _________________________________________________________________ - Robust error handling, including a custom critical error handler that won't scare the dickens out of your users, and including descriptive fatal error messages (no "error 14 at xxxx:yyyy" found in this program!) Requirements_____________________________________________________ Install-Pro runs under PC-DOS and MS-DOS versions 3.0 and above. A minimum of 220K of RAM is required. More memory is desirable if external programs are run from Install-Pro, or if large scripts are processed. There is virtually no limit to the size of script files. Script preparation will require a text editor that does not insert formatting codes into the text. 9 Chapter 1, Introduction _________________________________________________________________ Getting Started__________________________________________________ Before you can really build an installation script, you need an application that needs to be installed. Gather enough disks to hold your installation, format them if needed, and copy the application files over to the disks. Record what files are on which disks for later reference, and while you're at it, record the order that the disks are to be installed. Included on your Install-Pro disk are two files to aid you in recording this information. They are named MASTER.DOC and DISKWKS.DOC. For each installation you should print out one copy of MASTER.DOC, and a copy of DISKWKS.DOC for every disk in your installation. If you'll be installing your application from compressed files, then you want to compress your files before transferring them to diskettes. If you have huge files that will need to be split onto multiple disks, you may want to take a peek at the separate documentation for split.exe. All that you really need to know is that split will split filename.ext into filename.ex1, filename.ex2, etc., and that filename.ex1 must not be copied to a higher-numbered disk than filename.ex2. Once you have a good idea of what files need to be transferred, then you're ready to start planning your installation. Install-Pro Scripts______________________________________________ Install-Pro is script-driven. That is to say, it looks onto your distribution disks for instructions about how you want your installation to behave. The required instructions are found in script files, one to a disk. The script file on Disk One is named INSTALL.001; the script file on the next disk is named INSTALL.002, and so on. Install-Pro is also largely global in nature. That is, it reads the entire script on the current distribution diskette before doing any processing. Because of this, there are very few restrictions on the location of most commands. The major excep- tion is that USER commands must appear before any command that references a label defined in that USER command. However, Install-Pro's execution is very strictly defined and can be described as follows: Disk 1 ------ 10 Equipment checks are performed. The opening screen(s) are displayed. The optional segments form is displayed. The main user entry form is displayed. PRERUN commands. FILE commands. UNZIP commands. VIEW commands. RUN commands. Disk 2 through Disk n - 1 (n = number of disks in installation) --------------------------------------------------------------- PRERUN commands. FILE commands. UNZIP commands. VIEW commands. RUN commands. Last Disk --------- PRERUN commands. FILE commands. UNZIP commands. VIEW commands. RUN commands. The closing screen(s) are displayed. Install-Pro either chains to a new copy of Install-Pro or ends. Because of this strict order of operations, USER, HELLO, HELLOBREAK and Equipment commands are legal but meaningless on any disk other than the first disk. GOODBYEBREAK commands are legal on any disk, but not processed until the end of the instal- lation. Documentation conventions________________________________________ In general, command parameters appear in three forms. If a paremeter appears in square brackets ( [] ), that parameter is optional. If it appears in angle brackets ( <> ), it is re- quired. If it appears in quotes ( "" ), it is both required and must be surrounded by quotation marks. The text that appears in brackets may either be a sub-command or a variable parameter. The proper use of the parameter is determined by looking up the documentation for that particular parameter below the main heading for the command. Throughout the text, commands appear as all capital letters. This is to remove any ambiguity as to whether a particular word is the name of a command or is being used in some other context. 11 However, Install-Pro is not case sensitive. Commands, labels and directory paths can appear in any combination of upper and lower case. 12 Chapter 2 Creating the Opening and Closing screens_________________________ All commands that define the opening screen(s), BANNER, HELLO and HELLOBREAK, must appear in a file named INSTALL.001 on the first diskette of your installation set. These commands usually appear at the top of INSTALL.001. The format of the opening screen is similar to the following: ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│Welcome to the Install-Pro Installation Program │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐▒ ▒│ This program is going to transfer the Install-Pro files from │▒ ▒│ the installation diskette to the directory(s) that you enter │▒ ▒│ on the screen to follow. │▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒│ Press a key to continue. │▒ ▒└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ The top message that you see is created with the BANNER command. The bottom message is created with a series of HELLO commands. If multiple HELLO screens are defined, then each keypress will display the following screen until all have been shown. BANNER___________________________________________________________ Syntax: BANNER "Any text enclosed in quotes" The BANNER command identifies the line of text to be shown to the user as the program name on the opening screen. Up to 71 charac- ters are allowed, and a box surrounding the text auto-sizes for a neat appearance. If the particular text used creates unbalanced sides, insert an extra space on the errant side to even things out. If quotes are omitted, only the first word after BANNER will be detected. If no text is detected after BANNER, Install-Pro will abort with an error message. The BANNER command must be defined in install.001 to have any effect. 13 Chapter 2, Creating the screens _________________________________________________________________ HELLO____________________________________________________________ Syntax: HELLO "Any text enclosed in quotes" The HELLO command identifies a line of text to be shown to the user on the welcome screen. Each line may have a maximum length of 71 characters. Characters in excess of 71 are ignored (trun- cated.) All of the HELLO text lines are displayed in the order detected in a single window, which automatically sizes itself to the length and height of the combined HELLO display. If you want empty lines included, indicate this with a set of empty quotes (""). Up to 13 HELLO lines will fit on a single screen. If more than 13 HELLO lines are defined without any intervening HELLOBREAK commands (described below), the subsequent lines will be dis- played on the next screen. Any number of HELLO screens (each autosizing, with a capacity of up to 13 lines) can be defined within the confines of available memory. HELLOBREAK_______________________________________________________ Syntax: HELLOBREAK This command signifies that the following HELLO command is to be displayed on a new screen. Use this if you have special format- ting needs that require fewer than 13 lines to a screen. The format of the closing screen is similar to the following: ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐▒ ▒│ The installation has completed normally. │▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒│ Press a key to exit... │▒ ▒└────────────────────────────────────────────┘▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ This message that you see here is created with a series of GOODBYE commands. If multiple-screen messages are necessary, they can be separated if needed with GOODBYEBREAK commands. GOODBYE__________________________________________________________ Syntax: GOODBYE "So-long text goes here" 14 Chapter 2, Creating the screens _________________________________________________________________ This command is used to build an end-of-install message to display to your users after successful completion of installa- tion. It can be up to 71 characters long, and like the HELLO lines, the GOODBYE text is displayed in an auto-sizing window. If you want to specify an empty line, use GOODBYE "". Somewhere near the bottom of the GOODBYE text, you should include something to the effect that a keypress will exit the program. Any number of GOODBYE lines can be defined, anywhere in the script file(s). After 14 GOODBYE lines have been encountered without an intervening GOODBYEBREAK command (described below), a page break is automatically inserted by Install-Pro. When an install.??? file is processed that is terminated with an END command, after all transfers have taken place, the GOODBYE messages are displayed, after which the program terminates. There are two events that can occur that will cause the closing screen to not be displayed. One is if you choose to terminate with a CHAIN command, which would load a new installation. In this instance, the closing screen defined with the last installa- tion processed would be the one displayed. The other is if an unrecoverable error occurs. In this instance the error is described to the extent possible, and Install-Pro terminates (see Chapters 8 and 9 for details). GOODBYEBREAK_____________________________________________________ Syntax: GOODBYEBREAK This command tells Install-Pro that the next GOODBYE line defined in the script is to appear at the top of a new page. New with version 3.00 COLORS___________________________________________________________ Syntax: COLORS <Reg Fore> <Reg Back> <Err Fore> <Err Back> <Ent Fore> <Ent Back> <Bottom Fore> <Bottom Back> <Shadow Fore> <Shadow Back> The colors command requires exactly eight hexadecimal digits, from 0 to F, where 0 through F represent the following colors: BLACK 0 BLUE 1 GREEN 2 CYAN 3 15 RED 4 MAGENTA 5 BROWN 6 LIGHTGREY 7 DARKGREY 8 LIGHTBLUE 9 LIGHTGREEN A LIGHTCYAN B LIGHTRED C LIGHTMAGENTA D YELLOW E WHITE F The default COLORS setting for Install-Pro is COLORS 7 1 7 4 0 7 9 7 8 0 and is interpreted as: Regular Windows, Light Grey on Blue Error Windows, Light Grey on Red Entry Fields, Black on Light Grey Bottom Line, Light Blue on Light Grey Shadows, Dark Grey on Black Each background color (that is, each second number in the COLORS command) must be in the range of 0 through 7. This is a limita- tion in IBM PC video architecture. 16 Chapter 3 Building the Entry Forms_________________________________________ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐▒ ▒│ Optional Installation Selection │▒ ▒└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐▒ ▒│Please press your spacebar to check any of these optional │▒ ▒│installation segments that you wish to include. │▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒│ ( ) Sample Files │▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒┌───────────────────────────────────────┐▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Destination Directory Entry │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒└───────────────────────────────────────┘▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒│Program Files C:\INSTPRO\ │▒ ▒│Document Files C:\INSTPRO\ │▒ ▒│Sample Files C:\INSTPRO\SAMPLE\ │▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ The USER command, which is used to build the Destination Directo- ry Entry form (and its accompanying Optional Selection form) must appear in Install.001 on the first diskette of your instal- lation set. USER_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: [OPTION or ATTACH] USER <label> "prompt" [default direc- tory] [NOMOD] 17 Chapter 3, Building the Entry Forms _________________________________________________________________ This command is the workhorse of Install-Pro. It is used to assign a prompt and a default destination to a label that is specified by you, as well as specify if the files associated with it are to overwrite existing targets. When the user inputs his destination directory it will be associated with this label name. This command also creates the workspace inside Install-Pro needed for FILE, RUN and SUBDIR commands to function. A discussion of each component of the USER command follows: [OPTION] Before he is shown the destination directory Entry Screen, all OPTION USER (and ATTACH USER) lines will be resolved by a form similar to the top form shown above. This form allows the user to toggle on or off any or all of the optional portions of your installation. To give the user the chance to not install an unneeded part of your application (tutorials, etc.) you only need to prefix a USER command with OPTION. [ATTACH] Warning: The ATTACH USER command is best classified as an advanced topic. Neophyte Install-Pro script-writers might best steer clear until the other aspects of Install-Pro are well understood. When using an ATTACH USER command, the syntax is slightly differ- ent: Syntax: ATTACH USER <label> "prompt" <parent label> [NOMOD] Before he is shown the destination directory Entry Screen, all ATTACH USER (and OPTION USER) lines will be resolved by a form similar to the top form shown above. This form allows the user to toggle on or off any or all of the optional portions of your installation. The way that ATTACH differs from OPTION is that instead of displaying a data entry line on the destination directory screen, the label instead gets its path from the path associated with the parent label. The best way to understand this is through an example: Assume that you want your main program files to go into C:\PROGSYS. Further, assume you want optional sample files to go 18 Chapter 3, Building the Entry Forms _________________________________________________________________ into C:\PROGSYS\SAMPLE. But, you want no chance that the sample files might end up in some other directory, unaccessible to your application. To do that: USER prog_files "Program Files" C:\PROGSYS ATTACH USER sample_files "Sample Files" prog_files SUBDIR sample_files \SAMPLE FILE prog_files filename FILE sample_files samplefilename In a line-by-line synopsis, and assuming the defaults were accepted by the user, the user is first shown a radio-button screen asking if he wants to install the sample files. If yes, then all actions with the label sample_files will occur. If no, none of those actions occur. Now, the user is shown an entry screen WITH ONLY ONE ENTRY LINE, for prog_files. Whatever the user types in for that path will be stored into both prog_files AND sample_files. Next, the SUBDIR command creates a SAMPLE subdirectory and finally, the FILE commands transfer filename and samplefilename over to their respective directories. In a nutshell, ATTACH USER commands allow optional events to occur in non-optional directories. In comparison, OPTION USER commands, if accepted, create an additional directory in which events are to occur. It is illegal to attempt to specify an OPTION USER command as the parent label to an ATTACH USER command. The reason is fairly obvious: if the OPTION USER is declined but the ATTACH USER isn't, there is no way to determine a path to store in the ATTACH USER label. <label>: The label portion of the USER command is nothing more than a tagname to assign to the information stored by this command. In some of the other commands you will want to refer to the destina- tion directory that this command creates, but you won't know if that directory will have been changed by the user. So, we refer to it with a label instead. Common labels might be prog_files, help_files, etc. "prompt" In the above form, "Program Files", "Sample Files" and "Document Files" were the prompt portions of the USER commands that created 19 Chapter 3, Building the Entry Forms _________________________________________________________________ the form. Each line of the Destination Directory Entry form consists of a prompt and its corresponding entry field. [default directory] If you want the user to be presented with a default directory when the Destination Directory Entry form is displayed, then you can do so. It must be in the form of a legal DOS path. In the above form, the default directories were C:\INSTPRO (twice) and C:\INSTPRO\SAMPLE. A default directory is optional unless you want to specify a NOMOD directory (described next). [NOMOD] Sometimes, you are going to want a specific directory path not to be changed by the user during installation. For instance, you may want a \SYS directory to exist on the installation hard drive. NOMOD makes this possible. If you tack NOMOD on the end of a USER command, the entry form displays "The directory portion of this field cannot be changed" whenever the user is editing this USER entry. Since it is not possible to know ahead of time what drive letters a target computer will have available, it is not allowed to freeze the destination drive, only the destination directory. New with version 3.00 DESCRIBE_________________________________________________________ Syntax: DESCRIBE <label_name> "Description for this label" The DESCRIBE command allows you to dedicate a line of text to describe what class of files the specified label will transfer. As a typical example: USER prog_files "Program Files" c:\progsys DESCRIBE prog_files "These are the main program files" In both the OPTION USER pre-entry form and main entry form, the DESCRIBE text is popped up in a one-line window at the bottom of the screen whenever the user is accessing that particular line of the form. In most cases you will either want to describe all of the lines of your forms or none of them, but consistency is not required. 20 Chapter 4 Transferring and Decompressing Files SUBDIR___________________________________________________________ Syntax: SUBDIR <label_name> <dirname> When you define an entry form with USER commands, the directories that the user enters during the installation will automatically be created by Install-Pro. However, if you have directories that you want created child to the user-defined directories, you build them with SUBDIR commands. The components of the SUBDIR command are now discussed: <label_name>: The label name specified here MUST have been previously defined with a USER command. The subdirectory will be created as a child to the directory entered by the user on the line of the form associated with this label. <dirname>: This is the name of the child subdirectory. It does not matter how long it is (as long as the total directory length is below the DOS maximum of 65 characters) or how many directories are in the chain. That is, \SUB1\SUB2\SUB3 is a legal directory name if you wanted a long chain created child to a main subdirectory. There is no requirement that the directory(s) begin or end with a backslash. SUBDIR lines may exist anywhere in any install.??? file, but must precede the first use of its created directory or Install-Pro will be unable to continue. Example 1: USER label_1 "Data Files" C:\MYAPP\DATA SUBDIR label_1 \MOREDATA If the user accepted the default, the C:\MYAPP\DATA directory would be created. Also, as a result of the SUBDIR line, the C:\MYAPP\DATA\MOREDATA directory would be created. Example 2: USER label_1 "Data Files" C:\MYAPP\DATA SUBDIR label_1 \DATA1\DATA2\DATA3 21 Chapter 4, Transferring Files _________________________________________________________________ If the user accepted the default above, C:\MYAPP\DATA would be first created, and then the -entire- chain of DATA1\DATA2\DATA3 would be created as a child. The resultant chain would thus be C:\MYAPP\DATA\DATA1\DATA2\DATA3 CAUTION: The DOS limit for subdirectory length is 65 characters, including drive and colon. Keep in mind the maximum user-entered directory is up to 40 characters, leaving you up to 24 characters with any margin of safety. If the total exceeds 65 characters, DOS returns a directory creation error. FILE_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: FILE <label_name> <filename> [UPGRADE, VERIFY or PROTECT] This command transfers a file from the current installation diskette to the directory associated with labelname. Since the file must be on the current diskette, this command must appear in the script on the same diskette. Thus, if you want a file on diskette #2 to be transferred, the FILE command must appear in install.002 on that diskette. The components of FILE are: <label_name>: The label name specified here MUST already have been created with a USER command. This determines the destination directory. <filename>: The filespec can take one of two forms. First, it can be a regular dos filename, in which case it will be transferred to the directory associated with the specified label. Alternatively, it can include an optional directory chain child to the directory associated with the specified label, in which case it will be transferred to that child directory. For that child directory to exist, it must first be created a SUBDIR command, described previously. [UPGRADE]: This modifier indicates that any files newer than the file being transferred are to be overwritten only with permission from the 22 Chapter 4, Transferring Files _________________________________________________________________ user. Therefore the user's machine must have a functional (and accurate) clock. [VERIFY]: This modifier directs Install-Pro to verify all file overwrites, even if the file being overwritten is older than the installation file. New with version 3.00 [PROTECT]: This modifier prevents an existing file from being overwritten by Install-Pro. If the file exists, the copy does not occur. Example: USER label_1 "Data Files" C:\DATA FILE label_1 main.exe FILE label_1 main2.exe This partial script would transfer main.exe and main2.exe from the root directory of the current installation diskette to the directory that the user entered when prompted with "Data Files", perhaps the default directory presented to him, "C:\DATA". Now, consider this more advanced example: USER label_1 "Data Files" C:\DATA SUBDIR label_1 \HELP FILE label_1 main.exe FILE label_1 main2.exe FILE label_1 help\help.dat Assuming that the user accepts the default C:\DATA, this script will transfer main.exe and main2.exe from the root directory of the current installation diskette to C:\DATA, just as in the previous example. Also, as child to the user-entered directory will be created a help directory, to which will be transferred help.dat. The final structure if all defaults are accepted by the user is: C:\DATA\MAIN.EXE C:\DATA\MAIN2.EXE C:\DATA\HELP\HELP.DAT 23 Chapter 4, Transferring Files _________________________________________________________________ If the destination file already exists, its attribute is changed to read/write before the transfer is attempted. After the transfer has completed, if ATTRIBSAVE has been specified, the attribute of the destination file is changed to match the attrib- ute of the source file. Splitting Files__________________________________________________ If you have files that just cannot fit onto a distribution diskette, Install-Pro has the ability to handle split files. First an example of how to tell Install-Pro what you want: FILE label_1 main.ex1e FILE label_1 main.ex2e These two FILE commands lines would cause Install-Pro to create a file called main.exe in the label_1 directory, from TWO files main.ex1 and main.ex2. What Install-Pro does is looks to see if an extra character has been added to a filename. If there is an extra character: 1. The source (distribution disk) filename is assigned an exten- sion of the first three characters of the filename's extension. This file should exist on the current distribution diskette. 2. The destination filename has the third character replaced with the fourth, and the fourth character is removed. Please note that: 1. main.ex1e and main.ex2f would not cause an append to occur. The filenames (with the exception of the third character of a four-character extension) MUST match. In this case, main.exe would be created from main.ex1, but main.exf would NOT be creat- ed. 2. The files MUST have the same label name assigned to each of them. If main.ex1e and main.ex2e were assigned different labels, \directory1\main.exe would be created, but \directory2\main.exe would NOT. The append/create decision is resolved as follows: 1. If third character of the extension is a '1' and the fourth character exists, the file is CREATED. 24 Chapter 4, Transferring Files _________________________________________________________________ 2. If the third character is greater than a '1', then Install-Pro checks to make sure that the preceding portion of the file was copied before proceeding. If so, the file is APPENDED. 3. If the third character is a number, but no fourth character exists, no split-file decision occurs - the file will be created. This type of file transfer can be especially touchy if the order of files transferred and then appended is incorrect. If you split files, I strongly recommend that you debug your script carefully and compare the created file with the original (using the DOS program 'COMP') to be sure that they are identical before releasing your application. There is an accompanying utility called split.exe which will split your large files for you if needed. It comes with its own documentation. UNZIP____________________________________________________________ Syntax: UNZIP <labelname> <zipfile> [VERIFY, UPGRADE or PROTECT] This command specifies a zip file that needs to be decompressed. The following assumptions are made with this command: 1. If the zip file is in a destination directory it is to be deleted after decompression. (Under no circumstances is it possible to delete a zip file on the distribution disk.) 2. The base destination for the extracted files is to be the directory associated with labelname. That is, subdirectory information stored in the zip file is to be used relative to the current zip file directory. 3. The filename's default extension is 'zip'. 4. The file was compressed with a supported version of PKWare's PKZip or 100% compatible. Currently, all compression methods through 2.04c are supported. See the read.me file for updates on more recent releases. 5. The file was NOT encrypted with a password. 6. The file is not part of a multiple-volume archive. The components of the UNZIP command should be interpreted as follows: 25 Chapter 4, Transferring Files _________________________________________________________________ <labelname>: The labelname, which must be previously defined with a USER command, defines the base directory for the decompression. <zipfile>: The zipfile may be transferred first with a FILE command, or it may be decompressed from the installation diskette. In perfor- mance, both methods are identical. However, if you decompress from the diskette, extra care must be taken to ensure that the UNZIP command occurs in the script on the current diskette. If you transfer with a file command and decompress from the instal- lation directory, then the UNZIP command can come anytime after- wards, even on the last diskette. [UPGRADE]: This modifier indicates that any files newer than the file being transferred are to be overwritten only with permission from the user. This modifier is reliant on the user's machine having a functional clock, and that the files on the user's machine reflect actual dates. [VERIFY]: This modifier directs Install-Pro to verify all file overwrites. Any directory information packed in an zip file is automatically created as needed during the unzip process. Under no circumstanc- es will a file stored in a zip file with subdirectory information be unpacked into the current directory. New with version 3.00 [PROTECT]: This modifier prevents any file in the destination directory from being overwritten by a file in the .zip file. Example: UNZIP label1 zipfile 26 Chapter 4, Transferring Files _________________________________________________________________ would unzip zipfile.zip in the directory associated with label1. If UNZIP refers to an OPTIONal label, the UNZIP will only occur if the user chose to include that part of the installation. Since an error extracting a zip file must be considered as dangerous as an error copying an installation file, crc or other unzip errors must be treated as fatal errors, with program abort, so double-check the integrity of your .zip files before distribu- tion. If the destination file already exists, its attribute is changed to read/write before the transfer is attempted. After the transfer has completed, if ATTRIBSAVE has been specified, the attribute of the destination file is changed to match the attrib- ute of the source file. ATTRIBSAVE_______________________________________________________ Syntax: ATTRIBSAVE This command states that you want attributes assigned to files on your distribution disks and attributes of files within your compressed archives to be preserved after they have been in- stalled in the destination directories. Even if you install read-only files, however, Install-Pro will be able to overwrite them during subsequent installs. 27 Chapter 5 Changing Disks and Terminating___________________________________ FIRSTDISK________________________________________________________ Syntax: FIRSTDISK [disk name] This command allows you to name the first disk of the installa- tion something besides the default "Disk 1" (for example, "In- stall Disk"). Other than slightly changing screen appearance and prompts, this command does not affect the physical operation of Install-Pro in any way. If no argument follows the FIRSTDISK command, the default of "Disk 1" will be used. FIRSTDISK MUST appear in install.001 to have any affect. DISK_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: DISK [disk name] This command specifies that when processing for the current disk has finished, the user is to be prompted to insert the next numbered disk (as opposed to terminating the installation). The extension of the script file increments with each successive disk. For example, if the disk being processed is disk 1 with i- nstall.001, specifying DISK would cause the user to be prompted to insert disk #2. If the user presses enter and the disk in the drive in which install.exe exists does not have install.002 in the current directory, the user will be instructed to try again. This loop repeats until the user inserts the correct disk or until the user presses Escape, which would terminate the program. The optional [disk name] argument allows you to name the follow- ing disk something besides "Disk n". Common uses are "Utilities Disk","Fonts Disk" or what-have-you. If you adopt this or another naming convention, be sure to look up the FIRSTDISK command for instructions on naming the FIRST disk (since the DISK command always names the FOLLOWING disk.) END______________________________________________________________ Syntax: END This command indicates that the end of the last installation script has been reached. Just like DISK, END forces all informa- tion stored in all labels to be processed. However, unlike DISK, when this processing has been completed, the program displays the GOODBYE messages and exits. 28 Chapter 5, Changing Disks & Terminating _________________________________________________________________ This command is mutually exclusive of the DISK command. Whichev- er is encountered first on any given diskette will dictate the processing that will occur, and the other will be ignored. CHAIN____________________________________________________________ Syntax: CHAIN This command indicates that the end of the last installation script has been reached, just like END. When this command is reached, all work accumulated is processed. Unlike END, however, CHAIN is a conditional installation terminator. The user is presented with "Do you wish to install another module (Yes/No)". If the user selects NO, then the GOODBYE screen is displayed and Install-Pro terminates. If the user selects YES, then he is prompted to insert the Install Disk of the next module and Install-Pro transfers control to another copy of itself on the new diskette, and the old copy of Install-Pro in memory is discarded. Any GOODBYE screen will be handled by the new copy of Install-Pro. The actual filename that is looked for with CHAIN is the identi- cal path and filename of the currently executing process. So, if you have renamed one copy of Install-Pro to INSTALL.EXE, they all must be renamed that way. The traditional use for this type of termination is in the case of integrated accounting software, where it is unknown at runtime how many modules (General Ledger, System Manager, Accounts R- eceivable,etc.) have been purchased. 29 Chapter 6 Verifying the target environment_________________________________ SPACE____________________________________________________________ Syntax: SPACE <label_name> <nnnnn> If you would like the destination drive checked for available disk space before proceeding (often a good idea) you define your space requirements with this command. It is not foolproof, since it is possible that the installation will go on top of an old one, but it provides you with an opportunity to warn the user if his disk is almost full. Each SPACE command must reference a defined label (via the USER command.) After the user chooses his destination drive and directories in the entry screen, all labels that access each drive are added together to determine if enough free disk space exists. The disk check(s) occur directly after the user has finished with the destination directory entry screen. Any OPTIONal installa- tion segments that are declined by the user are not counted when determining adequate disk space. CPU______________________________________________________________ 486 new with version 3.00 Syntax: CPU <86, 286, 386 or 486> This command can be used to warn the user that his machine has a processor that will not run your application. This is treated as a warning, and the user is allowed to try to continue. Please note that this detection is not 100% reliable due to the huge number of computers available. FPU______________________________________________________________ Syntax: FPU This command will warn the user that your application needs a math co-processor installed to function. This is treated as a warning, and the user is allowed to try to continue. RAM______________________________________________________________ 30 Verifying the Target Environment _________________________________________________________________ Syntax: RAM <nnn> Changed starting with version 3.00 This command will warn the user if the installation machine has less ram (in kilobytes) available than would be required by your application. This is handled by Install-Pro calculating its program size and adding the amount of free ram available to Install-Pro. It is fairly safe to assume that this calculation will be accurate if your application had been loaded instead of Install-Pro. EMS______________________________________________________________ Syntax: EMS <nnnn> New with version 3.00 This command will warn the user if less available EMS (LIM 3.0- compatible expanded memory, in kilobytes) is detected than is required by your application. VCPI_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: VCPI New with version 3.00 This command will warn the user if there is not a VCPI server installed. DPMI_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: DPMI <nnn> New with version 3.00 This command will warn the user if there is not a DPMI server installed greater than or equal to the version specified. If your application requires DPMI 0.90 or newer, you would indicate this with DPMI 090 (or just 90). That is, two decimal points are implied in the version specified. XMS______________________________________________________________ 31 Verifying the Target Environment _________________________________________________________________ Syntax: XMS <nnnn> New with version 3.00 This command will warn the user if less available XMS (extended memory, in kilobytes) is detected than is required by your application. VER______________________________________________________________ Syntax: VER <n.nn> This command will warn the user if the version of MS-Dos on the installation machine is less than required by your application. This is treated as a warning, and the user is allowed to try to continue. CONFIGFILES______________________________________________________ Syntax: CONFIGFILES <nn> This command follows the following logic: 1. Attempt to determine the boot disk. 2. If the boot disk is found, try to find Config.sys. 3. If Config.sys has been found, read the FILES= statement. 4. If Config.sys cannot be found, or if Config.sys has been found but with FILES= too low, ask the user for permission to update Config.sys. If permission is granted, ask the user for the path to Config.sys if Config.sys hasn't been found. 5. Modify Config.sys if given permission. Please note that the goal here is to: 1. Only disturb the user if unable to determine that FILES= is okay. 2. Never modify Config.sys without permission. 3. Don't access a Bios-reported floppy diskette unless the user inputs it as the boot disk. 32 Verifying the Target Environment _________________________________________________________________ A message is displayed notifying the user whether the update occurred, or whether it wasn't needed after all. PATH_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: PATH <labelname> This command allows a path associated with a label to be inserted into the path statement in Autoexec.bat. If the particular path entry is found in the PATH statement in Autoexec.bat, no attempt is made to add it again. Like with Config.Sys, the user is only disturbed if Install-Pro is unable to determine that the PATH setting is okay. SET______________________________________________________________ Syntax: SET <ENVVAR>=<value> New with version 3.00 This command allows you to place any value you wish into the user's Autoexec.bat. <ENVVAR> is your environmental variable. <value> is the value you wish to place in the environment. All instances of a label name prepended with an exclamation point (eg !label_name) are directly replaced with the path that the user types in for the USER command associated with that label name. Trailing backslashes on that path are always stripped before passed to the SET command. If <ENVVAR> is already in Autoexec.bat, it is replaced with the new value. 33 Chapter 7 Running External Programs________________________________________ RUN______________________________________________________________ Syntax: RUN "any command line in quotes" [log-to directory] This command defines a command line to be built to execute any special programs or batch files that are needed to customize an installation. One use for this might be to run a config.exe program that will bring the user straight into configuring the application he is installing. Another use might be to create application menu definition files that couldn't be built at install-time otherwise. New with version 3.00 [Optional Directory] If an optional directory is specified, then Install-Pro will log onto that directory (it can even be on a different drive) before executing the command. If you want to log onto one of the directories entered by the user on the entry form, indicate it with an exclamation point followed by the label name (eg !prog_files). If you want an absolute directory logged onto, just specify the directory verbatim (eg c:\progsys). Specifying an absolute directory is risky, as there is no guarantee that it exists! "any command line in quotes" Run works by one of two methods. If the command specified on the command line has the extension ".EXE" or ".COM", the program is executed directly by Install-Pro. If no .EXE or .COM extension is specified, your command is run by invoking a command processor shell and passing it the command line that you specify. There must be enough memory to load both your program or command shell in addition to that used by Install-Pro. Run command lines of longer than one word MUST be enclosed in quotes. Further, the directory(s) that the user enters at runtime are available on the RUN command lines. Simply specify any label with a preceding exclamation point (!) and the user-entered directory will be directly substituted for that portion of the text. The directory is inserted without any leading or trailing 34 Chapter 7, Running External Programs _________________________________________________________________ spaces, but the spaces on the RUN command line are UNTOUCHED. Some examples follow: RUN "dir !label_1" RUN "!label_1\myprog.exe" !label_1 This example would first change to the directory entered by the user for label_1 before executing myprog.exe. RUN "copy !label_1\this.fil !label_2" RUN "anydir\anyprog.exe" c:\progsys This example would log into c:\progsys before attempting to run c:\progsys\anydir\anyprog.exe. Finally, a special sequence, !home, signifies that you wish to specify the installation directory of the installation disk. For obvious reasons, don't create any labels called 'home' with the USER command, or the !home sequence will no longer point at the home directory, but rather at the directory entered by the user for this labelname. RUN "!home\myprog.exe" would execute myprog from the installation directory of the installation disk. When a RUN command is executed, the screen is saved and cleared first. After it has completed, the screen is restored. If the command shell attempt fails, the user will be notified of the reason (usually memory) but the INSTALLATION WILL NOT ABORT. If there is a critical part of your installation occurring with a RUN command, be sure to document it in your manual installation instructions for the user. A few points to keep in mind: 1. The error trapping is much more solid if Install-Pro direct- ly executes your program. This is due to the fact that if the command shell is used instead, success constitutes the shell having successfully loaded. Whether enough ram exist- ed for your program or your program was found is not detect- able by Install-Pro. What's worse, in the case of older versions of the alternative command processor 4Dos, the command shell load process occurs in two parts. The first 35 Chapter 7, Running External Programs _________________________________________________________________ part of 4dos can load successfully but fail to load the rest of itself and still return success to Install-Pro. 2. Memory requirements for command shell RUN commands can be significantly higher, especially if COMMAND.COM is the target of COMSPEC (about 27k). 3. A single RUN command in .EXE mode is allowed up to 9 argu- ments. Additional arguments are ignored. In command shell mode, there is no limit to the number of arguments allowed. 4. A single RUN command in .EXE mode is allowed a length of up to 256 characters. The length of any single argument is re- stricted to 128 characters. If argument zero (the direc- tory, path and filename of the executing program) is longer than 128 characters, DOS will return an error message back to Install-Pro. If any other argument is longer than 128 characters, the argument will be truncated. 5. A single RUN command in command shell mode is allowed a total length of up to 256 characters, but keep in mind that the widely-used command interpreter COMMAND.COM will only allow 128 characters total. 4dos, among others, allows up to 256 characters. 6. RUN commands MAY access OPTIONal directories. However, if any of the optional directories listed in a RUN command line were not accepted by the user (even if the directory already exists), the command will be ignored. This allows RUN commands to be conditional on whether an OPTION has been accepted. If an OPTION is declined, you can be sure that the associated RUN commands will not be executed. PRERUN___________________________________________________________ Syntax: PRERUN "any command-line in quotes" [log-to directory] New with version 3.00 This command is identical to the RUN command, except that it is processed BEFORE any FILE, UNZIP or VIEW commands have been executed. If you have a task that needs to be completed before any work has been actually started on the current disk, use PRERUN. For example, if you would like to back some files before installing an upgrade, you could do so with this command. RUNERRNOTIFY affects PRERUN just as it does RUN. 36 RUNERRNOTIFY_____________________________________________________ Syntax: RUNERRNOTIFY New with version 3.00 Ordinarily, Install-Pro only notices whether or not a program executed with a RUN command successfully loaded, ignoring the return value. Including RUNERRNOTIFY notifies Install-Pro that you want any non-zero errorlevel exits of your RUN commands to be flagged as an error. Thus, you can force non-zero exits to have the same warning message displayed that is shown on program load errors. Just like regular RUN error processing, the installation still attempts to continue. VIEW_____________________________________________________________ Syntax: VIEW [filename] New with version 3.00 This command allows a very nice scrollable window to be popped up with your read.me files. Just like with the RUN command, labels can be used in the path. For example, to view read.me on the distribution diskette: VIEW !HOME\READ.ME Just as a side note: the functionality of the VIEW command is generally available to C programmers through DB/Soft's ViewLib, which is a library that brings flexible report viewing to C object-compatible programs. An evaluation version of ViewLib can be downloaded from the DB/Soft Online. 37 Chapter 8 Customizing Install-Pro__________________________________________ ONERROR__________________________________________________________ Syntax: ONERROR "Any text in quotes" If an error occurs, you may have a specific suggestion that you'd like to present your customer, for example a number to call. If ONERROR is defined in install.001, the unrecoverable message text "Please refer to your manual installation instructions if the problem cannot be corrected." is directly replaced with whatever text you specify. The text in quotes may be up to 200 charac- ters. Linking external text____________________________________________ Distributed with Install-Pro comes a file called EXTERNAL.LNG. This optional file, if found in the Install-Pro directory, is used to replace the internally defined text strings. This feature allows total prompt redefinition for specialized needs such as foreign language translations. The linkage occurs before ONERROR text is read into memory, so ONERROR takes precedence over its counterpart in the redefinition file. If EXTERNAL.LNG is found, Install-Pro inserts the text found directly into the program space, and will behave as if it had been developed with that text. The file is read on a one-to-one correspondence to internal string space. That is, each line replaces a specific string of text. In the case of some of the longer strings, you may specify a line continuation with the '\' (backslash) character. Thus, "String definition 1 " \ "String definition continued" would be treated as the following single definition: "String definition 1 String definition continued" Don't forget that you probably want a space character after the last word of continued string definitions. The quotations marks are mandatory. Please be aware that there is a slight perfor- mance penalty involved in reading the definition file. If you do not want redefinition to take place, remove external.lng from your Install-Pro directory. 38 Chapter 8, Customizing Install-Pro _________________________________________________________________ Lines beginning with a semicolon or empty lines are ignored. Liberal use of semicolon-preceded comments will greatly aid the redefinition process, especially when translating between lan- guages. Some of the string definitions are included with %s or %d format specifiers. If you are not familiar with the programming lan- guage C, these are used to insert variable text into the string. When you redefine a string, you must remember to include the format specifiers in a similar position in the new string. If you include more format specifiers in the string than originally defined, garbage will display in your string at runtime. If you display fewer format specifiers, important information will not be displayed to your users. Some of the text strings are menu items (they are labeled as such in external.lng.) They must be preceded with a space character (e.g. " Yes " for the menu hotkeys to work correctly. The order of the string definitions is significant. You must redefine all of the text if you redefine any of it. When redefining text, I strongly suggest that the original text definitions provided in the sample be commented out and left in the file for reference. Generally, the new definitions need to be approximately the same length as the originals. Where possi- ble (e.g. some of the longer messages) I have allowed some extra leeway by implementing word-wrap in the message box and by leaving extra space. Generally, if a text redefinition is too long, the part that is too long will either be truncated or run into menu selection bars. If you cannot satisfactorily redefine a line, please contact us. 39 Chapter 9 Miscellaneous____________________________________________________ System Variables_________________________________________________ For all of Install-Pro's flexibility, there are still some decisions that cannot be made ahead of time. The following system variables are defined at runtime, and can be used to modify the installation depending on the destination hardware. The system variables available are: IS86 - True if the processor is a 8088 or 8086. IS286 - True if the processor is a 80286. IS386 - True if the processor is a 80386 or higher. IS486 - True if the processor is a 80486 or higher. ISFPU - True if a math coprocessor is installed. ISMONO - True if the video adapter is monochrome. ISVGA - True if the video adapter is EGA, VGA or higher. ISCGA - True if not ISMONO and not ISVGA. The four processor variables are mutually exclusive. That is, it will never be the case that more than one is true. Similarly, it is never the case that more than one of the three video adapter system variables will be true. Using system variables is easy: just precede ANY command with the appropriate system variable, and that command will only be executed if the system variable is TRUE. Assume as an example: IS386 FILE prog_files progfile.zip IS386 UNZIP prog_files progfile If this were run on a 80386 computer, both of these commands would be executed. On any other computer, neither of them would be. Further, the complement of each of these system variables can be achieved with the keyword NOT. For instance, if you wanted to transfer a file to the destination directory only if the video hardware is not monochrome, you would use a command like this: NOT ISMONO FILE prog_files colorset.dat Note that a NOT <sysvar> <command> in conjunction with an accom- panying <sysvar> <command> provides 100% coverage of the hardware in question -- video, processor or math coprocessor. Also note that it is not usually necessary and often dangerous to precede a USER command with a [NOT] <sysvar> prefix. The reason is that the USER command disappears if the prefix is false. If 40 Miscellaneous _________________________________________________________________ the USER command disappears, then ANY command that accesses that USER command's label is illegal unless the command has the identical prefix that the USER command has. It is legal to stack multiple system variables on a single command, for instance: IS286 NOT ISVGA <command> would be exceuted on a computer with a 80286 processor and no VGA adapter installed. If you have candidates for other system variables that you would like considered, please notify us. Command Line Switches____________________________________________ The following command line switches are supported: -m - use black and white colors. Install-Pro should display correctly on all video adapter/monitor combinations. It has been tested with a wide combination of adapters, including CGA lcd laptops and VGA mono workstations, and the display has always proved to be crisp and readable (even if by chance Install-Pro thinks it's using a color monitor). But, if a customer reports to you that he is unable to read the text, this switch will throw Install-Pro into black and white regardless of the adapter it is writing to. This switch should be mentioned in the installation literature that accompanies your application whenever possible. Selecting -m disables any COLORS command in your script, which is just as well as it was your COLORS command that made the screen unreadable in the first place. The -m switch does NOT affect the ISMONO system variable. -a=root - use alternate script file name. The syntax supported has a certain degree of flexibility. /A=root, /a=root, /a:root and -a:root will all work. Use which- ever style you are most comfortable with. You cannot specify the extension of your scriptfiles (they always start with .001 and continue), but you can specify the root (base) name of the file. Some examples might be NETINST or UPGRADE. This gives you the flexibility of containing multiple installation procedures on the same distribution diskettes. For instance, you might include instructions for current users of your application to type A:UPGRADE instead of A:INSTALL, and in a batch file named 41 Miscellaneous _________________________________________________________________ UPGRADE.BAT on your distribution disk you yourself could handle the syntax INSTPRO -a=upgrade. Error Messages___________________________________________________ The following are the standard error messages built into Install- Pro. The nature of these errors is such that Install-Pro cannot continue, so these error messages can probably be classified as Fatal Errors. The message the user sees is similar to the one that follows: ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ▒│ The following unrecoverable error has occurred: │ ▒│ │ ▒│ Error opening install.001 │ ▒│ │ ▒│ │ ▒│ Please refer to your documentation for manual │ ▒│ installation instructions if the problem cannot │ ▒│ corrected │ ▒│ │ ▒│ Press a key to terminate... │ ▒└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ As previously mentioned, the instructions can be modified with an ONERROR command. DOS version 3.0 or higher required A DOS version prior to 3.0 was detected. Install-Pro requires MS-DOS 3.0 or later. Error opening install.001 INSTALL.001 was not found in the same directory as Install-Pro, or there were no file handles available. Token was expected but not found: line nn A token was expected but not found on the indicated line. This usually means that one or more words is missing on this line. 42 Miscellaneous _________________________________________________________________ Memory allocation error A request for more memory was denied. This is extremely unlikely to occur, as Install-Pro requires under 200k of free RAM. Error copying xxxxxxx DOS returned an error while trying to transfer the indicated file. Cannot copy a file onto itself The user specified the installation diskette as the destination. Error creating directory: zzzzzzz DOS returned an error while trying to create the indicated directory. The most likely cause is if the user tries to install the application to a directory that is the same name as an existing file. Authorization Error Install-Pro detected an authorization code that did not match the accompanying script file (install.001). Run Install-Pro again with your key to authorize your script. Executable integrity error - bad executable Install-Pro detected internal errors in its executable file. This usually means that the file has become corrupted. Restore an original from your backup and retry. Label not found: xxxxx, line nn The token in the <label name> position on the specified line does not correspond to a previously defined label name created with a USER command. Invalid Disk Space Number 43 Miscellaneous _________________________________________________________________ Either no token, or an invalid token, was detected after the SPACE command. Unexpected EOF - AUTHORIZATION, END, CHAIN or DISK expected If Install-Pro parses to the end of a script without finding some indication of how to terminate, it returns this error. Zip output file creation error An error was detected while trying to create a file imbedded in a zip file. The usual causes are out of disk space, network rights insufficient, or an existing directory of the same name. Zip file open error The zip file was not found, or no file handles were available. Invalid zip file header An inconsistency was detected in the zip file. Zip file corrupted An extracted file's crc did not match its reported crc. Zip file encrypted Encrypted zip files (and the inherent password needed to build the decryption key) are not supported. Error chaining to new program An error was encountered while trying to load a new copy of Install-Pro. Possible causes are insufficient memory or file not found. System Error - current directory not available Install-Pro requested from DOS the name of the current directory, but DOS returned an error. 44 Miscellaneous _________________________________________________________________ System Error - change directory failed An attempt by Install-Pro to change to another directory (to unzip a file) failed. Unexpected end of file The end of an zip file was encountered unexpectedly. This usually means the file is damaged. Disk Write Error - target disk full? The majority of disk write errors are a full disk, but they could also be caused by hard disk failure or logical errors in the FAT table. Directories must be 65 characters or less The path entered by the user plus the SUBDIR attached to it exceeded DOS' maximum. Don't define SUBDIRs longer than 20 characters to be safe. Unsupported ZIP version A ZIP version of higher than 2.04 was detected in a zip file. Since no release version of ZIP greater than 2.04 currently exists, this error may likely indicate zip file corruption. Invalid command The first token encountered on the indicated line in the script was not a valid command. 45 Miscellaneous _________________________________________________________________ Critical Errors__________________________________________________ Should a disk door be left open (or any other critical error trapped by DOS, for that matter) a Critical Error handler built into Install-Pro will take control and provide the user with a menu similar to this one: ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒┌──────────[DOS Critical Error]──────────┐▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒│ [Abort] [Retry] [Ignore] [Fail] │▒ ▒│ │▒ ▒└────────────────────────────────────────┘▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ If the user accepts retry, he will be in most cases safe. Of course, if his computer picked the exact moment that he's in- stalling your application to crash its hard drive, no Critical Error handler is going to recover very gracefully. 46