How to Control File's Date Stamp When Installing FoxPro .EXE

ID: Q130082

2.60 2.60a WINDOWS

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.6 and 2.6a

SUMMARY

When distributing a FoxPro application, you can give all the files the application copies to the hard drive a specific date. This article explains how to use the SETUP.INF file to specify a date to stamp on all files. This date stamp can help you determine the application's version.

You cannot use the Setup Wizard that ships with FoxPro for Windows for this purpose because it does not allow the developer to select a date to be used. All files that the application copies to the hard drive are given the current system date.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: This function is undocumented and therefore may be changed or omitted without notice from future releases of FoxPro. The reliability of this function is not guaranteed.

When you run the SETUP.APP wizard to create the disk images, the wizard creates a SETUP.INF file, located in the disk1 directory, with a Default File Settings section that looks like this:

   [Default File Settings]
   "STF_BACKUP"     = ""
   "STF_COPY"       = "YES"
   "STF_DECOMPRESS" = "YES"
   "STF_OVERWRITE"  = "ALWAYS"
   "STF_READONLY"   = ""
   "STF_ROOT"       = ""
   "STF_SETTIME"    = ""
   "STF_TIME"       = "0"
   "STF_VITAL"      = "YES"

Step-by-Step Example

To have a uniform file date stamp regardless of when the user installed the application, follow these steps:

1. Add the following line to the [Default File Settings] section of the

   SETUP.INF file:

   "STF_DATE"       = "YYYY-MM-DD"

   NOTE: Replace the YYYY, MM, and DD with whatever year, month, and day
   you want to use on the files.

      "STF_SETTIME"    = ""

   by inserting a YES inside the quotation marks to make it look like this:

      "STF_SETTIME"    = "YES".

Keywords          : kbsetup FxtoolDk 
Version           : 2.60 2.60a
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: May 22, 1998