The following article uses options that are available starting with the edition and project type. This tutorial will guide you in creating a VB application with licensing and trial support using Advanced Installer. This walkthrough is designed to help you gain a better understanding of how the licensing feature in Advanced Installer works and how you can implement a licensing component into your own project. Throughout this example we'll create a simple Visual Basic project using Visual Studio 2008. Our sample application itself will have a simple form but you should find sufficient comments in the underlying code to assist you in implementing this feature into any of your own projects.

The project will include a very simple 'About' form which will display the licensed state of the application. Because the nature of this walkthrough is to help you understand the licensing process in its entirety we are going to flip backwards and forwards between Advanced Installer and the application code.

It's assumed that you are familiar with the basics of using Visual Studio so these will not be gone into. So with our Visual Basic project completed as far as we wish to go at present we'll create a quick build in Advanced Installer using the Import Visual Studio Project wizard and then we will set the licensing options. • 5.1 • 5.2 • 5.3 • 5.4 • 6. Add Trial and Licensing Licensing and trial options can be configured from the page that you will find in the Tools section of the left pane or alternatively you can access it from the 'Installation' ->'Tools' ->'Licensing' menu.

Click the [ New Trial ] toolbar button to add a licensing library to your project. The licensing library will be placed into the Application Folder and you can see it in the page. Note that the name of the library file corresponds with the trial configuration name. The licensing library name will be used in the application source code so it's better to leave it in the same folder as the application. 5.1 Trial Options Display Name - the application name which will be used in the Licensing user interface.

By default it will be the Product Name you entered during the import wizard or changed in the page. Purchase Url - your Web Site page that handles purchases. By default it will be the 'Product URL' specified in the page. Advanced Installer supports several types of trial periods: • Time Limited - the trial period will end after a predefined number of days have passed since the installation of the product. • Uses Limited - the trial period will end after a predefined number of runs of the application.

You can create an MSI package by using a Visual Studio Setup project and. Creating an MSI Package Using a Visual Studio. In MSI section of this tutorial.

• Both - the trial period will end when one of the above ends. Now that we have seen the available types of trial, let's select 'Both' because it will expire faster. Set the trial period quantity into the 'Limit At' field to a small value, let's say 10. This way the trial will expire after 10 runs or after 10 days since installation. Finally in the 'On new version install extend to' field we will set the number of days and uses that we are prepared to extend the trial by when a new version of the application is installed.

Set this value to 5 because the user already had some time to try the application in the previous version. Lets not choose to support trial extension options to keep thinks simpler.

Now we should specify which kind of application will use the licensing library. 5.3 Display Options Here we can control what our registration wizard will look like and the frequency with which it is displayed during our trial period. Please note that the display frequency percentage is applied to the number of times that the application is opened and does not strictly adhere to the choice that you made on the previous tab about the type of trial that you would like to implement. The default is set to 30 which means that you will on average see the trial dialog every third time that you open the application. We will enable the “Show the trial message at first run” option since it is meant for applications that display a license agreement or a welcome message at the first run. You can change the default “Banner Image” and “Dialog Image” but keep in mind that they will only be used on operating systems earlier than Windows Vista.

5.4 Integration settings summary There are three settings that we need in order to integrate out VB application with Advanced Installer Licensing: • library name - we will need it to identify which library will be loaded when the application starts • platform type - we should make sure that our VB application is compatible with the selected platform (32-bit). • library key - specified in the 'Registration' tab page and used when we will call the library functions Now we are ready to return to Visual Studio and integrate the Advanced Installer Licensing library. Integrate the Licensing Library within application In our Visual Studio project lets set the corresponding platform of the VB application. So into Visual Studio go to 'Project' ->'Properties' ->'Build' ->'Advanced Compile Options' dialog and set the target CPU to x86. Into the Form1.vb source file add the following code snippets: Don't forget to replace the Library Key from the code snippet with the one from the Advanced Installer project >Licensing >Registration page.

Imports System Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices. ' This function does all the work _ Private Shared Function InitTrial(ByVal aKeyCode As String, ByVal aHWnd As IntPtr) As UInteger End Function ' Use this function to register the application when the application is running _ Private Shared Function DisplayRegistration(ByVal aKeyCode As String, ByVal aHWnd As IntPtr) As UInteger End Function ' The kLibraryKey is meant to prevent unauthorized use of the library. ' Do not share this key. Done - Build and install Now that we have integrated the licensing functionality lets go back to Advanced Installer and build the installation package.

Click on the [ Build ] toolbar button and a “Build Project” dialog will appear showing you the build evolution. Once the build is complete, click on the [ Run ] toolbar button. A setup wizard will appear that will guide you through the install process. You have successfully created your licensed application.

By default, the application file will be installed under C: Program Files Your Company. Browse to that folder in Windows Explorer and run the application. Click the [ Try ] button and the VB form should appear. In the “About” dialog the trial message should be displayed. Register the application After 10 tries (or days - remember the used) the trial period must expire.

At this point the user needs to register the application since we didn't enable the trial extension option. Registration codes can be generated from the Advanced Installer ->Licensing ->Registration page by using the “Generate Registration Keys” link. In the “Generate Registry Keys” dialog generate any number of keys you want.

The keys will be saved into a file from where you can easily pick one when you want to sent it to a user. Norton Commander Dos Abandonware Windows Games. Next time you generate registration keys you should fill the “Key or KeyID number to start from” with the last key that you have generated previously. That will ensure that the generated keys have not been generated before. Copy a registration code from the file you have just saved. Now, return to the trial expired page and click [ Register ] and paste the registration code (if it wasn't already detected in the clipboard) into the text area from the Registration page. Click [ Continue ] to validate the registration key. Click [ Continue ] to exit the Registration Wizard and resume the VB application.

The application is now registered and we can see it in the “About” dialog. Uninstall and Clean-up During testing or development you may want to remove any trace of the application to reproduce the conditions before the first installation. For that you must: • Uninstall the package - that will delete the installed files. • Delete the registration code from registry - by default it is saved in Current User Software Your Company Your Product Registration Key and can be configured from the Advanced Installer ->'Licensing' ->'Registration' page.

• Delete the trial information from the system - in Advanced Installer ->'Licensing' page right-click on the trial configuration and choose 'Testing' >'Remove Trial Info' (Advanced Installer must have administrator rights for this operation to succeed). • Reinstall the application, the trial should now work as it did the first time you installed it. You can now continue debugging it. That concludes our tutorial. You may also find useful our licensing projects.

Introduction There is a limited InstallSheild which is supplied with VC++ 6.0. This is an article to demonstrate how to use Installshield to build an installer which will deliver a single executable to a destination folder. Step 1 If you have not installed InstallSheild for Visual C++ from the CD, do so now. Step 2 Fire up Visual C++ and write a totally cool killer app which you wish to deploy. Step 3 After resting a bit and feeling pretty pleased with yourself for writing a bug free killer app, generate a release build (statically linked). Now, in the tools menu select 'InstallShield Wizard'. Use the 'Browse' button to locate the project file for your killer app.

Once you have done this, click the 'Next' button and fill in the dialog. Once you have filled in the relevant details, click the 'Next' button again and you will be faced with a 'Summary' dialog, click 'finish' and InstallShield will open.

To look something like this following. Step 4 Ok, sit back and take a deep breath, the fun isn't over yet. Perhaps it's time for a coffee break, watch some TV. Let it all sink in. In the 'Projects Workspace' on the left, click on the 'File Groups' tab Open the 'Program Executables' folder and check that 'Links' file displays the information for the killerapp executable in the right hand pane. If it doesn't, right click the 'Links' file icon (or right click on the pane which displays the info) and use the file dialog to locate the exe and click 'Open'. Step 5 Next click on the 'Setup Types' tab.

Because we are only delivering one file we won't be requiring three type of setup. So click on 'Compact' and then either hit the 'Delete' key, or right click on 'Compact' and select 'Delete' from the drop down. Click 'Yes' when the dialog asks you if you are sure. Then repeat the process for 'Custom'. This should leave you with just 'Typical'. Step 6 There are a few things to do before we're done, not much and it shouldn't take us long, so bare with me and we'll be done before you know it.

Click on the 'Scripts' tab and InstallShield will open up a pane on the right hand side. Inside this scripts page is where we can do some cool stuff. The first thing we're going to do is remove parts of the Installation setup which we don't need.

Now, scroll down, or use the Control-F and find the 'Show Dialogs' script function. This function organises the display of the installation dialogs. Longtaildragon 15-Mar-06 4:52 15-Mar-06 4:52:(I packed my program by using Install Shield. My program initializes data by reading file, but the program can not find the configuration file, for the path is not correct.In my program the path is not the absolute path, but I can not give an absolute path in the program because the path varies with user's installation.

How can I solve the problem. I have tried read the path from registry, but it does not work in all PCs, ie, it workes in some ones and doesn't in other ones. Shailesh kumar wrote: 2). Is the installable exe made on installsheild 6.0 capable for windows XP? I dont know, i have not ried it but i can see no reason why not shailesh kumar wrote: 3). Is installshield 6.0 only for windows 3.1, windows95 and windowsNT? Nope, mine works in windows 2000 shailesh kumar wrote: 4).

How i make installer for windows XP in installshield If I were you I'd start by reading the article and the help files/tutorial that come with Install Shield as each project will have different requirements cheers Bryce --- Publitor, making Pubmed easy. Dharani 23-Sep-03 2:44 23-Sep-03 2:44 Hello author This is a wonderful article.I have a project in VC++6.0 and I have another exe which has to be fired by the main exe and the project uses two configuration files also.(ini files) so now i have my project exe and three more files to be added to the installer.so i added them to components--->helpfiles but when i built the media it says error:-7201: cant build set up.so please tell me how i could add three files along with my executable. Thanking you bye dhrani. Tom Pruett 23-Jul-03 6:52 23-Jul-03 6:52 Great article. Unfortunately, I found it after spending a few hours struggling with InstallShield myself. There are 2 things you can do to make it ever easier - no script editing! Start InstallShield stand-alone and use the 'Project Wizard' to create a dummy installation with just the dialogs you want to use.

Then start InstallShield again from within VC++ with your project open. This will create the proper links. Now copy the file 'Setup.rul' from the dummy project into your project. New folders can be added to the 'Start->Programs' menu automatically if you use the proper macros. In InstallShield, under the Resources tab, drill down to 'Shell Objects->Explorer Shell->Desktop->Start Menu->Programs'.

Right-click on programs and select 'New->Folder'. It doesn't matter what you call this folder, but under 'Displayed Folder Name' enter '. This will create a new folder in the 'Programs' menu named according to what the user entered when prompted to 'Select Program Folder' during installation. Now right-click on the new folder and select 'New->Shortcut'. Under 'Shortcut text' enter 'PRODUCT_NAME'. Under 'Target' enter '/xxxxxxxx.exe', where 'xxxxxxxx.exe' is the actual name of your executable file. Under 'Start In' enter '.

This will create a shortcut to your program. You're now ready to compile your installation, build your media and test it. You'll want to replace Setup.bmp with your own graphic. InstallShield may not be the best, but once you've figured it out it's a quick way to distribute your program. It came with the Enterprise edition of Visual Studio that I use. Telmo Amaral 21-Apr-03 6:27 21-Apr-03 6:27 Hello, I’m a beginner and found this a very useful and balanced tutorial, because it readily teaches how to build a nice minimalist installer and, at the same time, goes into the scripting details that are most likely to require some tweaking. Two remarks, however, I think might help beginners save some time browsing through InstallShield’s Help.

First, at the beginning of step 3, it might be mentioned that, under Windows NT / 2000, one must be logged-in with administrative privileges or run Visual C++ as an administrator, otherwise the InstallShield Wizard item will not appear on the Tools menu. Second and more importantly, at the end of steps 6 and 8, it should be mentioned that one must click Build >Compile before actually using the Media Build Wizard, otherwise any changes made to the script will not affect the built installer.

Cheers, Telmo.

Introduction There is a limited InstallSheild which is supplied with VC++ 6.0. This is an article to demonstrate how to use Installshield to build an installer which will deliver a single executable to a destination folder. Step 1 If you have not installed InstallSheild for Visual C++ from the CD, do so now. Step 2 Fire up Visual C++ and write a totally cool killer app which you wish to deploy.

Step 3 After resting a bit and feeling pretty pleased with yourself for writing a bug free killer app, generate a release build (statically linked). Now, in the tools menu select 'InstallShield Wizard'. Use the 'Browse' button to locate the project file for your killer app. Once you have done this, click the 'Next' button and fill in the dialog.

Once you have filled in the relevant details, click the 'Next' button again and you will be faced with a 'Summary' dialog, click 'finish' and InstallShield will open. To look something like this following. Step 4 Ok, sit back and take a deep breath, the fun isn't over yet. Perhaps it's time for a coffee break, watch some TV. Let it all sink in. In the 'Projects Workspace' on the left, click on the 'File Groups' tab Open the 'Program Executables' folder and check that 'Links' file displays the information for the killerapp executable in the right hand pane.

If it doesn't, right click the 'Links' file icon (or right click on the pane which displays the info) and use the file dialog to locate the exe and click 'Open'. Step 5 Next click on the 'Setup Types' tab. Because we are only delivering one file we won't be requiring three type of setup. So click on 'Compact' and then either hit the 'Delete' key, or right click on 'Compact' and select 'Delete' from the drop down.

Click 'Yes' when the dialog asks you if you are sure. Then repeat the process for 'Custom'.

This should leave you with just 'Typical'. Step 6 There are a few things to do before we're done, not much and it shouldn't take us long, so bare with me and we'll be done before you know it. Click on the 'Scripts' tab and InstallShield will open up a pane on the right hand side. Inside this scripts page is where we can do some cool stuff. The first thing we're going to do is remove parts of the Installation setup which we don't need. Now, scroll down, or use the Control-F and find the 'Show Dialogs' script function. This function organises the display of the installation dialogs.

The bundled version of InstallShield is no where near as good as the InnoSetup and other free installers. I used to use the version of InstallShield from VC++ 6.0 and even wrote a program to generate the files necissary to build an installer for my source code and executable.

Try adding 1000 cpp files by hand and then when you update the source you had to add the new files to the install. This was soo painful but with my executable I could specify a search path and criterion for inclusion in the install and the input files to install shield were generated. There was one problem though. I still had to run the GUI to manualy compile my script and it did not make a single executable so I had to run it through a seperate step to combine the files with a self extracting executable. Then there was some development with InnoSetup that made it possible to do all I needed on the command line. John Last Visit: 31-Dec-99 19:00 Last Update: 26-Dec-17 9:20 General News Suggestion Question Bug Answer Joke Praise Rant Admin Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.