Plug-in installers

[MMcM]

Should plug-ins have proper Windows installers? If so, what's an appropriate toolkit to use, InnoSetup? Will Girder itself want additional control over the plug-in installation process in the future?

[Promixis]

We have been using INNO. If you want some code to automatically find the girder installation directory, I will post it. You can also enable plugins etc from INNO.


Ron and I have also been brainstorming about ways to have more consistent file placement (ie readme's etc), lua extension naming, to keep the Girder directory cleaner and make it easier to find help files.

Any suggestions?

[Promixis]

[code]
[Setup]
AppName=Lua Windows Functons
AppVerName=1.0.0.9
AppID =LWinFunc
DefaultDirName={code:GetGirderDir}
DirExistsWarning=no
InfoAfterFile=\\THOMAS\dfs\home$\Mike\Girder Stuff\Lua Windows Functions Plugin Intro.rtf
RestartIfNeededByRun=false
AppVersion=1.0.0.9
ShowLanguageDialog=yes
Uninstallable=false


[Registry]
Root: HKLM; Subkey: software\girder3\plugins; ValueType: dword; ValueName: 154; ValueData: 1


[Files]
Source: lwinfunc.dll; DestDir: {app}/plugins/; Flags: ignoreversion promptifolder replacesameversion

[code]
function GetGirderDir(Default: String): String;
var
s : string;
begin

if ( RegQueryStringValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,'SOFTWARE\g irder3','Executable',s) = TRUE ) then
begin
Result := ExtractFileDir(s)+'\';
end
else
begin
Result:='c:\program files\girder3';
end;

end;[/code]

[MMcM]

I finally found a few hours to get this done for some plug-ins. I did LCD (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/girderplugins/LCD-3.7.exe?download) and DVDSpy (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/girderplugins/DVDSpy-1.62.exe?download), since they seem to be the ones that have had some installation-related challenges.

I would very much appreciate some testing of the new installers on various configurations before encouraging users in general to use them.

For the directory,
{reg:HKLM\SOFTWARE\girder3,PlugInDir|{pf}\girder\p lugins} was good enough. This may well be a recent Inno feature.

[Promixis]

Hi Mike,

The install gives the following 2 errors (attached). NOTE: I do not have showshifter installed...

[Promixis]

LCD Driver installs without problems.

[Promixis]

And, if you want, you can now upload directly here via http://www.promixis.com/uploads.php

[MMcM]

If you do not have ShowShifter installed, you should not check the ShowShifter box. Should I just get rid of Full Installation completely? Or attempt to set the checkboxes based on what's installed? Or add Check functions that disallow components if the application does not seem to be installed?

[MMcM]

As a quick fix, I made compact the default installation the very first time. That way explicit user action is required to get any player support.

The conservative approach of not offering player support if the player does not appear to be installed is troublesome because it offers no feedback that such support was even possible when the installation is somehow nonstandard.

[Promixis]

I see what you mean. Even so, its a vast improvement over the "old" way.