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- EUDORA 4.3.2 INSTALLER CUSTOMIZATION GUIDE
- 05/24/00
-
-
- The Eudora installer uses an initialization file (Instopt.ini) for
- customization purposes. Instopt.ini contains four sections, each of
- which is explained below. This file must be located in the same
- directory as the rest of the setup files. If this file is not
- included with the rest of the Eudora setup files, strange and
- undesirable behavior of the installer is guaranteed.
-
-
- The [General] Section
- ---------------------
- This section has two keys:
- APP_NAME ----- This is the name of the application. This value is
- used throughout the installer to give titles to some
- windows and such.
- APP_VERSION -- This is the version number of the application.
-
- None of the keys or values in this section should be changed.
-
-
- The [User_Info] Section
- -----------------------
- This section contains information about custom files the user may want
- to add (and how those files are to be handled by the installer), a
- setting for creating/naming an icon on the desktop during install, a
- setting for prompting for an alternate mail box location (with an
- option to set that dialog's text message), and settings that allow one
- to alter the Eudora.ini file during install.
-
- To add a custom file to the installer, simply put it in the directory
- where the rest of the installer files live and edit the appropriate
- USER_FILE line(s). A line with no value is ignored.
-
- USER_FILE_MODE determines how the custom files are copied to the
- installation directory:
- AlwaysOverwrite - USER_FILE will always be copied to install directory
- NeverOverwrite -- USER_FILE will not be copied to the install
- directory if same named file is found
- OverwriteNewer -- USER_FILE will only be copied if newer than same
- named file in install directory
-
- All three user files have the same mode. The values for these options
- are case sensitive. Note that Ph.ini, Finger.ini and LDAPinit.ini are
- already included in the setup as uncompressed files, and need not be
- specified here.
-
- TIP: You can put default Eudora settings in a user file called
- DEudora.ini (for example, USER_FILE1=DEudora.ini). When a setting
- isn't found in Eudora.ini, Eudora will look in the DEudora.ini file
- located in the same directory as Eudora.exe. The Eudora installer
- won't replace an existing Eudora.ini, which means users won't lose
- changes they've made to their settings. The Eudora installer will
- install the new DEudora.ini (assuming you set USER_FILE_MODE to
- AlwaysOverwrite), which ensures that the right defaults will be used
- for settings the user hasn't changed.
-
- If you elect to use DEudora.ini, you should still put your desired
- settings in Eudora.ini as well. It will always be copied on a fresh
- install.
-
- Deudora.ini is a special file that is used in conjunction with
- Eudora.ini. Eudora runs as if each section of Deudora.ini is added
- to the corresponding section of Eudora.ini. If there is a
- conflicting setting, then Eudora.ini takes precedence.
-
- The SUPPRESS_REGISTRY_WARNINGS key, when set to 1, will suppress the
- displaying of most of the warnings resulting from not being able to
- write to the registry due to lack of administrator privileges on
- Windows NT. These messages will be displayed as appropriate if this
- key is set to 0.
-
- The CREATE_SHORTCUT key has two possible values, 0 and 1. When set to
- 0, the installation routine does not ask about placing a shortcut on
- the desktop. When set to 1, this dialog is presented during
- installation.
-
- The shortcut is titled using the ICON_SHORTCUT_NAME value. Note that
- if this value is different from the name of a previous shortcut, an
- additional shortcut is created. If this value is the same as the
- original shortcut name, the target for that shortcut is overwritten.
- If no value is given, "Eudora" is used.
-
- The MAIL_DIRECTORY_PATH key is an optional directory path that gets
- appended to the Eudora shortcuts (Start menu and desktop, if chosen)
- made by the installer. This extra path info is passed as a command
- line argument to Eudora, and the user's mailboxes will be stored,
- created, etc. in that location. This option might be used, for
- example, when you wish to keep a user's mailboxes on a network drive
- or a separate folder on a local drive.
-
- If you want to keep a user's mail folder in a different location,
- enter that path here and the user will either be forced to accept that
- path, or will be prompted to browse for another folder with that
- folder as the default (see MAIL_DIRECTORY_PROMPT below). Paths should
- be of the form:
- <drive letter>:\<path> (Example: h:\mailboxes\jsmith)
- Do not use a trailing slash on pathnames. If the path cannot be
- found, the default Eudora mail directory is used.
-
- Leave this value blank if you don't wish to use alternate mailbox
- folders.
-
- If the MAIL_DIRECTORY_PATH key is set, the MAIL_DIRECTORY_PROMPT key
- determines whether or not the user is prompted. If this is set to 1,
- then the user will be prompted to either accept the path specified in
- MAIL_DIRECTORY_PATH or browse for another folder. If this is set to 0,
- then the user will be forced to accept the alternate location (and
- will not be prompted). This might be handy when you know that every
- user's mail should always reside in one location (such as a shared
- network drive) and you do not wish the user to be able to change it.
- Note that if this value is set to 0 and the specified
- MAIL_DIRECTORY_PATH does not exist and cannot be created (for whatever
- reason), Eudora will revert to the original, default mailbox folder,
- and no alternate mailbox folder will be used.
-
- If MAIL_DIRECTORY_PROMPT is set to 1, the MAIL_DIRECTORY_DIALOG_TEXT
- key is the dialog text that appears when a user is prompted for an
- alternate mailbox directory location. This text should be at most
- 256 characters, not containing any words over 50 characters long, and
- should be all on one line (it will be sized automatically by the
- installer). If left blank, a generic message is used.
-
- Set UPDATE_EUDORA_INI to 1 to add, modify or remove Eudora.ini file
- settings at install time. The user's old Eudora.ini file is renamed
- to Eudora_ini.old before any changes are made.
-
- You must specify a section name using the UPDATE_SECTION key. The
- default value for this is "Settings", as this is where most of
- Eudora's customization should be placed. DO NOT use brackets ([])
- when specifying a section name, or settings will not be written to the
- ini file. If an UPDATE_SECTION value has not been specified, no
- name/value information will be written to Eudora.ini.
-
- Specify a series of key name and value pairs using KEY_XXX_NAME/
- KEY_XXX_VALUE. If a key name is specified, a key value must also be
- specified. If UPDATE_EUDORA_INI is set to zero and name/value pairs
- have been specified here, they will not be written to the Eudora.ini
- file.
-
- Note that you should make these same name/value additions to the
- default Eudora.ini that comes with the installer (it's uncompressed
- and with the rest of the installer files). This file is used during
- an install when no Eudora.ini can be found. When this file is used
- during an install, none of these settings will be written.
-
-
- The [Included] Section
- ----------------------
- This section contains all the third-party software that normally
- comes with Eudora. The keys here allow one to suppress or display
- installation information about these applications (which is useful if
- these installer(s) are not going to be included with the Eudora
- installer).
-
- When the installation is complete, a final window is displayed. To
- edit the text at the top of the window, set THIRD_PARTY_DIALOG_HEADER
- to the desired message. If left blank, a generic message is displayed.
- To edit the text at the bottom of the window, set
- THIRD_PARTY_DIALOG_FOOTER to the desired message. If left blank, it
- will similarly display a generic message. Each of these messages
- should be kept under 256 characters, should not use any words over 50
- characters long, and should all be on one line (they will be sized
- automatically by the installer).
-
- If DEFAULT_URL is set to 1, the window will give the user an option to
- go to Eudora's software download page, which will automatically detect
- which third party software the user is missing. If, however, you would
- prefer to use your own custom URL, set DEFAULT_URL to 0, and set
- CUSTOM_URL to the full URL name. If it is local, include the prefix
- "file://", otherwise include "http://". If no page is to be opened,
- set DEFAULT_URL to 0 and do net set the values of CUSTOM_URL.
-
- If you would rather open a folder containing icons of the applications
- to be optionally installed, set CUSTOM_FOLDER to the full path name of
- the directory which contains these files. This will only be opened if
- no web page is opened, and will be ignored if not set.
-
- Note that if none of the above options are set (ie. DEFAULT_URL=0, and
- CUSTOM_URL and CUSTOM_FOLDER are not set, then the checkbox on the
- window to install software disappears.
-
- Set INSTALL_PUREVOICE to 1 if you would like include an option that
- allows PureVoice to be installed directly from this installer. Set to
- 0 to disable this option.
-
-
- The [Type] Section
- ------------------
- These are the types of installations possible with a "regular" Eudora
- installer:
-
- ELECTRONIC=1
- CD_INSTALL=0
- FULL_UPGRADE=0
- BETA=0
- DEMO=0
-
- The only option that should be set for these purposes is ELECTRONIC.
- The other options depend on files and routines that may not be
- present. If more than one option is set to 1, the first option read
- from the ini file will be used. If none of the options is set,
- undesirable results are likely.
-
- If you wish to distribute this installer on a CD, yet you wish to
- distribute MSIE or QuickTime, leave ELECTRONIC set to 1. Simply
- specify a path name (in the [Included] section) for the directory
- that contains these installers, then include them with the rest of
- the Eudora setup files on the disc.
-
- Note that there is currently no way to specify a subdirectory of the
- Eudora install directory for these installers. Because of
- InstallShield limitations, this will likely never be implemented.