Preparation

Several items need to be addressed before and during the software development cycle that will ease installation and the post-installation period.

Images

Using several images can make an application look much more polished. We typically leave these for last (or near the end) because most of the effort of development should be directed toward solving the business problem. If you are bringing in a graphics artist to provide a professional touch you need to start the process much earlier. The most obvious images are the application icon (remember the 16x16 & 32x32 [16 and 256 color ] sources), splash screen, about window, and wizard images.

Many sources exist from which you can purchase images. We usually utilize Icons (ICO) and JPEGs (.JPG). We like the JPEGs over bitmaps for two reasons. The first is the size of the images: JPEGs are compressed and bitmaps are huge. We use GIF files when we need transparency. The other reason we like JPEGs and GIF files is they are web ready so the images are reusable for Web sites or a Web interface to the application data. The key to purchasing images is having the license or right to distribute them. There are plenty of image editors out there if you want to create your own. We occasionally still use IMGEDIT.EXE that came with VFP 3.0 to create icons. Last year we came across a free tool called Icon Studio (see Figure 7 and more information about this tool is available in ‚“Appendix E: Third Party Tools ‚½).

Figure 7. Icon Studio is an excellent tool to create icons.

The reason I like Icon Studio better than ImgEdit is it supports 32x32 at 256 colors, which is the quality of icons used in Windows XP. Another icon editor frequently recommended on the various FoxPro forums is Microangelo ( Figure 8 ) from Eclipsit ( www.microangelo.us/ ). The Microsoft Image Editor (which comes with several Microsoft packages including Visual Studio) works satisfactorily for JPEGs and GIFs, but we rarely create these images and mostly use it to convert images from one format to another and tweak an image we have the rights to or clean up a picture we take. The most recommended image editors ( Figure 9 ) are probably Paint Shop Pro from Jasc Software ( www.jasc.com ), Photoshop from Adobe ( www.adobe.com ), Microsoft Digital Image Pro ( www.microsoft.com ), and Corel Draw from Corel ( www.corel.com ).

Figure 8. Microangelo is highly recommended by fellow Visual FoxPro developers.

Figure 9. Image editors allow you to crop images, fix flaws, adjust contrast, change color, and add some special effects.

EXE version details

The release of Visual FoxPro 5.0 introduced internal EXE version information. The version information includes application version number, text for comments, the company name, a file description, legal copyrights and trademarks, a product name , and language ID. This information is entered through the EXE Version dialog ( Figure 10 ) or through the new Project Object Version properties (introduced in Visual FoxPro 6). The minimum properties we include in the executable are the version number, company, copyright, and product name.

Figure 10. The EXE Version Dialog.

This information is accessed via the AGETFILEVERSION() function in Visual FoxPro. If you are using VFP 5.0 you need to use the GetFileVersion() method included in FOXTOOLS.FLL.

You might be asking why we would worry about version numbers when preparing to deploy an application. We think it is important because we want to communicate to the customers the importance of version numbers in any bug reports , and that we announce all the features included in each version as well as bug fixes. Depending on the iterative cycle, we might make several build releases in a week during the testing phase.

Training materials for end users

Training materials may be required for broad released applications, vertical market applications, and even a small custom app used by a few people. The materials might include scripts for the trainers , workbooks for the trainees, slides for the sessions, sample data for the application, examples for the presentation, and lab examples.

Many customers we worked with in the past write and develop the training materials for their applications. We like this concept because it gives them ownership in the process. It saves our customers money and allows the development teams to concentrate on what they do best. We also find the customers can include the business knowledge to answer the ‚“why ‚½ questions typically asked during a training session.

We also see training as a revenue opportunity. Customers that need training and are willing to pay for the development are providing us with additional work. We can work out deals to provide training to the end users or train-the-trainer sessions.

One key to the planning is to make sure the training materials are delivered in a timely fashion. This is not something you want to wait until the last minute to start. Training materials can be started as soon as the requirements are completed for a feature. Screen shots will have to wait until the screens are developed. The reality is the training materials will be developed in ‚“just-in-time ‚½ mode, usually as the acceptance testing is started.

Training materials for support staff

Not every company has a staff dedicated to Technical Support, but all applications are supported in some shape or form either by the person who wrote the application, by other developers, by your support staff, or possibly by the corporate in-house information systems staff.

The easiest thing to keep track of is a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). This allows the developer(s) or technical support staff to quickly learn about the most common issues handled from the customer. This list of questions develops during beta testing and is added to after the application is in production. This list can be included in the user documentation, in the README.TXT file, or on the support Web site. Larger companies like Microsoft created a KnowledgeBase of whitepapers based on issues related to the different applications they wrote. Who is to say that even the one-person shop cannot leverage these concepts?

Duplication

Once the software is ready to ship you have to employ a mechanism to get it to the sites for deployment. Will you have the users download the setup routine from the company Web site? Will you burn a set of CD-ROMs and mail them through the postal service or though one of the many overnight carriers ?

The introduction and vast acceptance of the Internet has eliminated some of the need for duplication of media for software deployment. Skip this detail if you are going to distribute via a Web site.

Are the CD burners ready to roll? They are so cheap these days there is very little excuse not to have one. They save time if you are doing a mass installation. There are service providers that duplicate CDs if you do not have access to a CD burner or require a mass distribution (anything over 100 CDs may be worth the cost). Using a CD label makers can add last minute polish to the distribution. Make sure you have enough media on hand to cut the installations if you do not outsource the process. More details in distribution mechanisms are included in Chapter 3, ‚“Packaging the Setup. ‚½

User communications

Our experience has proven that the clients /customers we develop the application for are typically not the ones who are going to be using the product. It is important to keep information flowing to the actual user base to keep them updated of the upcoming release.

Communication allows them to get training scheduled, have the equipment installed, cut the check to pay for the package, and schedule the parade in your honor for making life easy in the business world. Seriously, there can be a lot of work preparing the marketing literature, changing office procedures, and updating Web sites. Make sure you are communicating with the user community, either directly or through your customer contacts. Make sure to track e- mail, phone calls, and coordinate possible visit(s) to their site(s) if needed.