installbase-devel

[Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Georgios P. <pe...@ii...>]

=D3=F4=E9=F2 =D0=E5=EC 17 =CF=EA=F4 2002 12:07, =E3=F1=DC=F8=E1=F4=E5:
> > Just a small problem: when you delete the file
> > in the user's home directory that installase keeps
> > its preferences, an error is shown up when
> > you try to load an install. The solution is
> > to open the preferences dialog and activate/deactivate
> > the options (probably some variables get defined :-)).
> > The error was "expected integer but got """...
>
> Thanks again,
>
>     It was a simple fix.  Since I moved preferences into a procedure,
> it was a simple matter of returning a 0 if the preference doesn't exist
> yet.  I was just using a return, which is bad juju. 0-]
>
>     You should really join the ins...@li... mailing
> list sometime.  Currently, it's only me and one other guy, but it's
> helpful to have a place to try out new ideas on people who are actively
> using InstallBase.

Already done :-)
>
>     Any new features / enhancements you can think of?  I'm running out =
of
> ideas.  I may have to actually go beta sometime soon. *shudder*  That m=
eans
> I have to enforce a feature freeze on myself, and I'm terrible at that.=
 0-]

Me also :-) However, regarding enchancements I have a few ideas.
First of all, it would be great if in the custom setup pane the user coul=
d=20
select with more detail what to install. For example, in my application I=
 have
some categories like help files, tools, modules. But there is no way to
select and install some of the tools and modules and not all of them. It=20
would be great if there was at least one more level there...

Also, I still miss an easy way to update the setup. My app is huge, and
re-creating the setup is out of the question. Every time a new release is=
=20
build, I manually examine all directories to locate any new/deleted files
and then I make the changes in the install. It would be great if installb=
ase=20
could monitor the directories and ask the user if he wants to automatical=
ly
add in the install any new files. Also an exclusion list would be great, =
so=20
not to keep asking about files that don't belong in the distribution.

Also, I have noticed a small problem: when I use the linux installs, the=20
desktop icons are not always added. An icon is added every second (!)
install, which is not logical. Also, the icons are added when I install
the app over an existing installation. The same happens with the uninstal=
ler,
which shows up only when the desktop icons show up. But installing
everything for the first time does not install the icons/uninstaller. Doi=
ng
a second install without erasing the first one solves the problem :-)

Best regards,

George

Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Damon C. <da...@yo...>]

> Me also :-) However, regarding enchancements I have a few ideas.
> First of all, it would be great if in the custom setup pane the user could 
> select with more detail what to install. For example, in my application I have
> some categories like help files, tools, modules. But there is no way to
> select and install some of the tools and modules and not all of them. It 
> would be great if there was at least one more level there...

    I had this on my list for a long time and decided not to do it.  Mostly
because you can just create other components and use those instead.  If
you really think you need it, I'd be happy to add it though.  It's not a
really tough change.  My original idea was to have the Custom screen show
a tree of components with their respective file groups.  Then, the user
could choose a whole component or just the file groups in each component
they wanted to install.

> Also, I still miss an easy way to update the setup. My app is huge, and
> re-creating the setup is out of the question. Every time a new release is 
> build, I manually examine all directories to locate any new/deleted files
> and then I make the changes in the install. It would be great if installbase 
> could monitor the directories and ask the user if he wants to automatically
> add in the install any new files. Also an exclusion list would be great, so 
> not to keep asking about files that don't belong in the distribution.

    This is definitely something I've thought about doing.  Until today,
I couldn't come up with a decent idea for how to do it, but I think I
have it now.  Expect to see it soon, I think.

> Also, I have noticed a small problem: when I use the linux installs, the 
> desktop icons are not always added. An icon is added every second (!)
> install, which is not logical. Also, the icons are added when I install
> the app over an existing installation. The same happens with the uninstaller,
> which shows up only when the desktop icons show up. But installing
> everything for the first time does not install the icons/uninstaller. Doing
> a second install without erasing the first one solves the problem :-)

    Linux Desktop icons have always been a little screwy.  I haven't had a
Linux box to test on for some time now, so I haven't been able to test
stuff like this before release.  I just recently built a Redhat 8.0 box
though, so we'll see how it looks.  I'll definitely look into it.

Damon

Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Georgios P. <pe...@ii...>]

> > Me also :-) However, regarding enchancements I have a few ideas.
> > First of all, it would be great if in the custom setup pane the user
could
> > select with more detail what to install. For example, in my application
I have
> > some categories like help files, tools, modules. But there is no way to
> > select and install some of the tools and modules and not all of them. It
> > would be great if there was at least one more level there...
>
>     I had this on my list for a long time and decided not to do it.
Mostly
> because you can just create other components and use those instead.  If
> you really think you need it, I'd be happy to add it though.  It's not a
> really tough change.  My original idea was to have the Custom screen show
> a tree of components with their respective file groups.  Then, the user
> could choose a whole component or just the file groups in each component
> they wanted to install.


Well, having a tree of unlimited depth will be the best solution. However,
I think that it would be quite complex to implement and I real situations
nobody
will need more that two levels. But I think that adding at least one level
is necessary. For example in my setup I have 5 groups. From them, modules
and tools contain about 10 items each. It wouldn't be nice
to present the user 25 checkbuttons to select, where most users
will install all tools and modules and only those who have modified them
wouldn't install them, as to preserve their work. Of course such
an addition is not top priority :-)

>
> > Also, I still miss an easy way to update the setup. My app is huge, and
> > re-creating the setup is out of the question. Every time a new release
is
> > build, I manually examine all directories to locate any new/deleted
files
> > and then I make the changes in the install. It would be great if
installbase
> > could monitor the directories and ask the user if he wants to
automatically
> > add in the install any new files. Also an exclusion list would be great,
so
> > not to keep asking about files that don't belong in the distribution.
>
>     This is definitely something I've thought about doing.  Until today,
> I couldn't come up with a decent idea for how to do it, but I think I
> have it now.  Expect to see it soon, I think.

That would be great. I can help if you want, either on how we should do it
or by writting code that does specific things (i.e. writting a proc that
accepts a file list & an exclusion list and returns a list of added files &
deleted ones).

>
> > Also, I have noticed a small problem: when I use the linux installs, the
> > desktop icons are not always added. An icon is added every second (!)
> > install, which is not logical. Also, the icons are added when I install
> > the app over an existing installation. The same happens with the
uninstaller,
> > which shows up only when the desktop icons show up. But installing
> > everything for the first time does not install the icons/uninstaller.
Doing
> > a second install without erasing the first one solves the problem :-)
>
>     Linux Desktop icons have always been a little screwy.  I haven't had a
> Linux box to test on for some time now, so I haven't been able to test
> stuff like this before release.  I just recently built a Redhat 8.0 box
> though, so we'll see how it looks.  I'll definitely look into it.
>

Best regards,

George

Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Damon C. <da...@yo...>]

> Well, having a tree of unlimited depth will be the best solution. However,
> I think that it would be quite complex to implement and I real situations
> nobody
> will need more that two levels. But I think that adding at least one level
> is necessary. For example in my setup I have 5 groups. From them, modules
> and tools contain about 10 items each. It wouldn't be nice
> to present the user 25 checkbuttons to select, where most users
> will install all tools and modules and only those who have modified them
> wouldn't install them, as to preserve their work. Of course such
> an addition is not top priority :-)

    Well, I'm working on it.  The biggest problem I have is with BWidget's
Tree.  If you don't show the lines in the tree (IE, there's no depth), it
still places the items pretty far to the right.  It just doesn't look very
good. 0-]  I'm still toying with it though.

> That would be great. I can help if you want, either on how we should do it
> or by writting code that does specific things (i.e. writting a proc that
> accepts a file list & an exclusion list and returns a list of added files &
> deleted ones).

    I appreciate the offer, but I'm almost there. 0-]  Tell me if you like
this idea.  There's an option under "creating new file groups" that says
to automatically add newly-created file groups to the auto-update list.
So, when you drag-and-drop a directory structure the first time, it will
create all of the file groups and add them to the list of directories to
watch.

    There's also an option that says to check all directories when the
project is loaded.  Otherwise, there's a button in the auto-update window
that will scan the directories.

    Finally, you can add directories by hand from the window.  Basically,
you have to define a directory and the file group files should be modified
from.  This is easy if you just let InstallBase do it with auto file groups.

    Can you think of any suggestions on how else or what else I might
implement this?

Thanks,

Damon

Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Damon C. <da...@yo...>]

> Well, having a tree of unlimited depth will be the best solution. However,
> I think that it would be quite complex to implement and I real situations
> nobody
> will need more that two levels. But I think that adding at least one level
> is necessary. For example in my setup I have 5 groups. From them, modules
> and tools contain about 10 items each. It wouldn't be nice
> to present the user 25 checkbuttons to select, where most users
> will install all tools and modules and only those who have modified them
> wouldn't install them, as to preserve their work. Of course such
> an addition is not top priority :-)

    This is now done and committed.  If you wanna' check it out, you'll
have to restore the original theme to get the changes.  I basically added
a check option to the Custom Setup pane to allow displaying file groups
under components in a tree.

D

Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Georgios P. <pe...@ii...>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Damon Courtney" <da...@yo...>
To: <ins...@li...>
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...


> > Well, having a tree of unlimited depth will be the best solution.
However,
> > I think that it would be quite complex to implement and I real
situations
> > nobody
> > will need more that two levels. But I think that adding at least one
level
> > is necessary. For example in my setup I have 5 groups. From them,
modules
> > and tools contain about 10 items each. It wouldn't be nice
> > to present the user 25 checkbuttons to select, where most users
> > will install all tools and modules and only those who have modified them
> > wouldn't install them, as to preserve their work. Of course such
> > an addition is not top priority :-)
>
>     This is now done and committed.  If you wanna' check it out, you'll
> have to restore the original theme to get the changes.  I basically added
> a check option to the Custom Setup pane to allow displaying file groups
> under components in a tree.
>

I downloaded it, but I wasn't able to test it.
I have updated the original theme (by coping the tcl
files in the lib directory) but now the install does not build at all.
It just gets stack when building the archieve, without getting
any cpu though. I can see that the *-main.zip is build, but the
final install is not.

I have tried to create a new install to test the new features,
which is built fine. However, it doesn't work, as a command
is missing from the freewrap executable (exactly the
same command you used to not include the blank.zip,
as stated in the changelog. I can't recall the actuall
name of the command though :-))

All these happen under linux (RH 8.0). But as you are going
to install linux also, I will wait untill you test it there :-)
It seems that a more recent freewrap binary is required
for linux. Regarding the build that is never completed I really
don't know what is wrong, as I get no error...

Thanks,

George

Re: [Installbase-devel] Re: Small installbase problem...

[Damon C. <da...@yo...>]

> I downloaded it, but I wasn't able to test it.
> I have updated the original theme (by coping the tcl
> files in the lib directory) but now the install does not build at all.
> It just gets stack when building the archieve, without getting
> any cpu though. I can see that the *-main.zip is build, but the
> final install is not.
> 
> I have tried to create a new install to test the new features,
> which is built fine. However, it doesn't work, as a command
> is missing from the freewrap executable (exactly the
> same command you used to not include the blank.zip,
> as stated in the changelog. I can't recall the actuall
> name of the command though :-))
> 
> All these happen under linux (RH 8.0). But as you are going
> to install linux also, I will wait untill you test it there :-)
> It seems that a more recent freewrap binary is required
> for linux. Regarding the build that is never completed I really
> don't know what is wrong, as I get no error...

    Yeah.  I haven't updated the freeWrap binaries since making some
pretty severe changes to them, so only Windows is currently working
(since that's where I tested the changes).  I will commit new binaries
for Linux tonight, so you can test with 'em.  Sorry about that. 0-]

D