Appendix C: How To: InstaFox

Would you like to be able to quickly and easily create professional, customized installation (setup) processes? Would you like full control over the installation process? Would you like to deploy your VFP applications using an installation program written in VFP? If your answer is yes, InstaFox is the application setup tool for you.

About InstaFox

InstaFox is a very easy to use installer written in Visual FoxPro specifically for Visual FoxPro applications. However, it can be used to install anything from a spreadsheet to VB applications. It creates installation processes for Windows 95/98/NT/Me/2000/XP. It comes with two separate applications: the InstaFox Wizard and the InstaFox Installer. InstaFox also comes complete with source code, allowing full control of the installation process.

Following are some highlights of the product this appendix discusses in detail:

• Handles new installations as well as updates to existing installations.

• Retains file attributes (e.g. read only, hidden, system, etc.) of the installed files.

• Allows selected version control of application and system files.

• Correctly installs system files into Windows directory or Windows System directory.

• Retains folder name and file name case (mixed, upper, and lower case).

• Updates FoxPro table structures for existing installations while retaining current data, optionally merges new records into existing installed tables, and optionally overwrites selected existing tables.

• Allows the removal of existing files at install time.

• Includes registry update features ‚ selected component registration and additional registry entries (e.g. version info, company info , etc.).

• Creates shortcuts ‚ custom icon, user specified location(s) including desktop, start menu, and quick launch.

• License Agreement Enforcement ‚ optional display of license screen and uses rich text format (RTF) so license can contain different fonts, colors, etc.

• Allows optional installation of the VFP runtime files.

• Allows execution of a post-install program.

• Source code is included to allow for full customization!

Wow! That ‚ s a long list of features and all for only $349.95. This price includes full source code and a license for you to create customized derivative works for your own use.

The program was designed and written by Charlie Parker with assistance from Stacie Beaber and Kevin Lawson of Fowler Software Design (FSD) LLC. The product got its start in 1998 when an FSD client wanted a program that could be distributed on a CD ROM. Although there were other options like InstallShield (too expensive for them) and Windows Installer (too buggy at the time), nothing met their needs to update the VFP table structures on an existing application upgrade. FSD ‚ s application framework had some routines to automatically update table structures. So the original idea was to use code from the framework and make a simple program to install or upgrade the application. That simple program grew more sophisticated as FSD found more uses for it. About 2.5 years ago, FSD added a wizard to make the creation of the setup files easier. Over the years FSD continued to improve the product bit by bit until a little over two years ago they said to themselves , ‚“hey we have a tool that would be very useful to other VFP developers who needed to install an application (VFP or not) ‚½. So they made their application available to the public.

The materials and examples in this appendix are based on InstaFox version 2, which is the current release version as of this writing (October 2003). This release works with VFP 7.0 ‚“out of the box. ‚½ You can request VFP 6.0 and VFP 8.0 versions. The source code is exactly the same for all of the versions. The only difference is the programs are compiled in their respective version of VFP. You can make your own VFP 9.0 version when VFP 9.0 comes out just by recompiling the programs in VFP 9.0. InstaFox is version aware and won ‚ t use any features not available in the version it is compiled in.

Not too many changes have been made recently and they don ‚ t have any plans for new features. Mainly because it works well, there are no show stopping problems with it, and FSD hasn ‚ t received any customer requests for improvements or new features. However, they do have a wish list of things they would like to change, most are cosmetic. The biggest item on the wish list is an uninstall process. InstaFox does not currently have an uninstall process.

Note ‚  

You can purchase InstaFox from Fowler Software http://www.fowlersoftware.com .