INFO: Contents of the FoxPro for Macintosh DK Readme File
ID: Q112516
|
2.50b
MACINTOSH
kbreadme
The information in this article applies to:
-
Microsoft FoxPro for Macintosh, version 2.5b
SUMMARY
Following is the complete FoxPro for Macintosh "DK Readme" file found in the main FoxPro folder (usually FoxPro) and on the disk labeled "Disk 1 -
Setup" of the Distribution Kit.
MORE INFORMATION
**********************************************************
Release Notes for
Microsoft(R) FoxPro(R) for Apple(R) Macintosh(R) Distribution Kit
(C)1994 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
This file provides information not contained in the Distribution Kit
documentation, and provides corrections to the documentation.
**********************************************************
For the most up-to-date information about Microsoft FoxPro for
Macintosh and other Microsoft products, see the Microsoft Knowledge
Base. The Microsoft Knowledge Base contains more than 40,000 detailed
articles with technical information about Microsoft products, bug
lists, fix lists, documentation errors, and answers to commonly asked
technical questions--all available through the Internet.
==================================================================
Contents
Part 1: SetupWizard Additional Information
Part 2: Other Additional Information
Part 3: Changes to Documentation Since Printing
Part 4: Internet Access Instructions
==================================================================
Part 1: SetupWizard Additional Information
Contents
- Distributing the .ESL File
- File Compression Progress
- SetupWizard Prerequisites
- Memory and Disk Space Requirements
- Changing SetupWizard Options
- Title and Copyright Maximum Length
------------------------------------------------------------------
Distributing the .ESL File
Just before SetupWizard starts compressing your files, you may see a
prompt asking you whether you want to distribute an additional .ESL
file with your application. If your application is a stand-alone
executable, distributing this file is not necessary, or recommended.
This file is an optional 2.5 MB runtime library, which has extended
support for users to run FoxPro applications, even if they don't have
FoxPro. You can choose to distribute the .ESL file if your users don't
have their own copies of FoxPro, but it will occupy two extra disks,
and take extra time to compress.
------------------------------------------------------------------
File Compression Progress
As files are compressed, a thermometer displays the percent-done
progress. This information updates only after each file is compressed.
Since compression of large files can take 15 minutes or more per
megabyte, there will be no apparent progress displayed for quite some
time, but this is normal.
------------------------------------------------------------------
SetupWizard Prerequisites
To use the SetupWizard application, you must have the Apple Shared
Library Manager (ASLM) files installed. If you did not install ASLM
when you installed FoxPro for Macintosh, use the FoxPro disk labeled
"Apple Shared Library Manager" to install ASLM before running
SetupWizard.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory and Disk Space Requirements
Before running SetupWizard, make sure you have at least 600K available
memory, and free disk space totaling at least twice the size of your
application folder. Unexpected errors can occur if these conditions
are not met.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Changing SetupWizard Options
SetupWizard options must be changed by running SetupWizard itself. Do
not hand-edit any files that SetupWizard writes to; unexpected results
may occur.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Title and Copyright Maximum Length
The limits for the Title and Copyright strings are 37 and 72
characters, respectively. To avoid truncation during installation,
restrict your string lengths to these limits.
==================================================================
Part 2: Other Additional Information
Contents
- Installing the Distribution Kit
- Additional Distribution Kit Files
- Customizing the Apple About Menu
- Names of Application Folders and Files
- Building a Stand-alone Executable File
- Distributing Shared Library Files
- Distributable Files
- Labeling Distribution Disks
- Customizing Installer PICT Files
- Using Installation Billboards
- Using the Distribution Kit with FoxPro
- Distributed Applications on a Network
- Creator Type Conflicts
------------------------------------------------------------------
Installing the Distribution Kit on a Network
If you install the Distribution Kit, using Network Install #2, to a
network location that contains FoxPro, you will be prompted to replace
some files. These files are common to both FoxPro and the Distribution
Kit, and differ only in their timestamps. Since the files are
otherwise identical, you can choose to replace the files, or continue
to use your existing copies.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Distribution Kit Files
The Distribution Kit includes an additional file, FOXMAC.LIB, that is
not listed in the documentation. It is required to create executable
files, but does not need to be redistributed. Make sure this file is
located in your main FoxPro folder.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Customizing the Apple About Menu
In your distributed application, you can include your own text on the
Apple About... menu, and display your own About screen when that menu
item is chosen.
To customize the Apple About... menu text:
- Include the command SET APLABOUT PROMPT <expC> in your application code.
To customize the About screen:
- Include the command ON APLABOUT <command> in your application code.
See the Help file for more information on these commands.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Names of Application Folders and Files
The names for your application folder and files must have:
- No more than 27 characters
- No special characters such as commas (,) or ellipsis ( )
In addition, application folder names must have no spaces.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Building a Stand-alone Executable File
If you use the BUILD EXE command to create a stand-alone executable
file, you must include the keyword STANDALONE. Omitting this keyword,
or using the COMPACT or EXTENDED keywords, results in the "Feature not
available" error message. For complete instructions on creating stand-
alone executable files, see Chapter 4, "Building an Application for
Distribution," in the User's Guide for the Distribution Kit.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Distributing Shared Library Files
If your application includes shared library files (files with the
extension .MLB), the Installer provided with the SetupWizard
automatically installs the .MLB files into the System file, and
prompts the user to install Apple Shared Library Manager (ASLM), after
installation of your application is complete.
Since the user needs to have the ASLM extension installed to use your
application's shared libraries, you might want to provide ASLM with
your application. You can obtain a distribution license for ASLM from
Apple Corporation.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Distributable Files
If your application includes a graphical Help file, you can also
distribute the Microsoft Help engine. Add the following files to your
application folder:
Microsoft Help
FoxPro Help
Note that you can distribute only the Help engine files, not the
FoxPro Help files.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Labeling Distribution Disks
The distribution disks must have the following names:
Disk - 1 Setup
Disk - 2
Disk - 3
and so on. If the disks do not have these names, the application will
not be able to install.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Customizing Installer PICT Files
The Installer displays a default logo on its initial screen. To change
the logo used by the Installer, replace the Installer PICT files with
your own files.
To replace the Installer PICT files:
- Using a resource editor such as ResEdit(TM), edit the Installer.
- Open the PICT resource.
- Copy your PICT file over the default logo resources, which have ID
numbers of 256 and 257. 256 is the monochrome version of the graphic, and 257 is the color version.
When you restart the Installer, the new PICT resources are displayed.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Using Installation Billboards
The Installer does not include any billboards, but you might want to
include one or more billboards describing the features and highlights
of your product. Billboards are displayed while your application
installs.
Creating Billboards
Billboards are PICT files. For each billboard you want to display,
create two PICT files: one in black and white, and one in color. These
files should match exactly except for color.
When deciding how many billboards to include, consider the size of
your application. The installer uses the total size of your
application as a measure for displaying billboards. For example, if
your application files take up 5 MB, and you include five billboards,
each billboard will display for one-fifth of the installation, or the
time it takes to install 1 MB.
Displaying Billboards
To display the billboards you create, add billboard resources to the
Installer:
- Using a resource editor such as ResEdit, edit the Installer.
- Add two new resources called BBC and BBBW. BBC will contain the
color billboards, and BBBW will contain the monochrome billboards.
- Add items to these resources for each of the billboards. The ID
numbers for the items must begin at 128 and be numbered sequentially.
- For each billboard, copy a binary version of the PICT file and
paste it into the resource item.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Using the Distribution Kit with FoxPro
If the Distribution Kit libraries, FOXMAC25.ESL and FOXMAC.LIB, or any
applications created with the Distribution Kit, are accessible on any
mounted drive, double-clicking a FoxPro file to open it will use the
Distribution Kit libraries or launch the Distribution Kit application
instead. This is due to the later timestamp on the Distribution Kit
libraries. To use FoxPro and the Distribution Kit together, you must
do one of the following:
- Launch FoxPro directly, then use Open from the File menu to open FoxPro files.
- Unmount the drive that contains the Distribution Kit, while working
with FoxPro.
- Modify the FoxPro timestamp to be later than the Distribution Kit
file timestamp.
- Modify the timestamp on the DK libraries or application to be
earlier than FoxPro's timestamp.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Distributed Applications on a Network
When two computers try to run the same distributed application over a
network, the second machine receives a message, "Application in use."
To prevent this message, you must do one of the following:
- Lock the distributed application.
- Checked the Shared bit on the application.
- Place the application on a read-only share.
Any of these choices ensures that your executable or application can
be accessed over a network.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Creator Type Conflicts
The Macintosh operating system expects that each application and its
associated files have a unique creator and file type. However,
executable files created with FoxPro share the same creator and file
type as FoxPro itself. If you run your FoxPro executable file, then
try to launch a FoxPro file, the executable will run instead.
As an application developer, you can choose one of the following:
- Don't keep executable versions of your applications after you've made disks.
- Keep only compressed versions of your executable files.
- Alter the creator type of your application executable files.
When users have more than one FoxPro executable file, they will
encounter similar problems. To work around this situation, they must
launch the executable file first.
==================================================================
Part 3: Changes to Documentation Since Printing
Page 4
Change "FOXM250B" to "FOXMAC25".
Page 26
Change "FOXM250B" to "FOXMAC25".
Add the following section to "Creating an Application Folder":
The names for your application folder and files must have:
- No more than 27 characters
- No special characters such as commas (,) or ellipsis ( )
In addition, application folder names must have no spaces.
Page 29
The SetupWizard Results dialog box does not appear in Step 8 of the
SetupWizard, as the manual describes.
==================================================================
Part 4: Internet Access Instructions
To access the Knowledge Base through the Internet, use anonymous
logon. The name of the server is ftp.microsoft.com, and the IP address
is 207.46.133.140. Connect through the FTP server on your network, and,
at the FTP prompt, type:
open ftp.microsoft.com
At the user prompt, type:
anonymous
At the password prompt, type your full Internet name.
To access the Fox portion of the Knowledge Base, type the following
commands:
cd deskapps
cd fox
cd kb
and read the README.TXT file.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft and FoxPro are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks, and ResEdit is a
trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Additional query words:
dk setup wizard
Keywords :
Version : MACINTOSH:2.5b
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbinfo
Last Reviewed: February 18, 1999