How To Distribute a Network Version of a Visual FoxPro App

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SUMMARY

This article explains how to set up an application created in Visual FoxPro for Windows to be run from a network server.

MORE INFORMATION

In previous versions of FoxPro for Windows, you could set up an application to run on a network server by copying the application .EXE and all the required support files to a directory on the network server. Once the files were copied to the server, you could set up an icon on each workstation to point to the .EXE file on the network server. However, these steps are not sufficient when setting up a Visual FoxPro application executable to run under Windows version 3.x or Windows for Workgroups version 3.x because these operating systems require that Win32s be installed. Once Win32s is installed in the 16-bit Windows environment, you can set up a Visual FoxPro application to be run from a network server the same way you set it up in previous versions of FoxPro.

You can use the Setup Wizard to create distribution disks or a network setup directory that will only install Win32s. The Setup Wizard requires that at least one user-specified file be installed. This can be any file. This article uses a file named Test.txt that is copied to the Windows directory.

The following steps outline how to use the Setup Wizard to create the Win32s distribution disks:

1. Create a new directory and copy Test.txt into that directory.

2. Run the Setup Wizard, and specify the newly created directory as the Distribution Tree Directory. Then click Next.

3. Choose Win32s as the only Optional Component, and click Next.

4. Specify a Disk Images Directory, and choose the type of disks needed. Then click Next.

5. Enter Win32s for the Dialog Caption, and click Next.

6. Type C:\Test in the Default Destination Directory field, and type Test in the Program Manager Group field. Then click Next.

7. Change the Target Dir to Test.txt to WinDir in step 6 of the setup wizard.

8. Click Finish.

This process creates three 1.44-MB disks, or four 1.2-MB disks.