═══ 1. About AI's Installer ═══ AI's Installer Version 1.0 - by Antonino Iannella, July 12th, 1996 AI's Installer is a software installer, which uses standard REXX functions with a PM interface. Please choose a section below. Contents  Who this is for  Usage demonstration  Creating your own installation routine  Registration  Contacting the author  Revision history  FTP and BBS site documentation ═══ 2. Who this is for ═══ AI's Installer is a software installer for OS/2 applications. It utilises existing REXX functions, and adds an intuitive PM interface. The installation program may be customised for the application it installs. AI's Installer was designed to facilitate installation programs by providing a robust, quality utility which inherits all the benefits of REXX programming. Software developers benefit because they customise an existing, functional installer for their own purposes. End users benefit from using a simple, intuitive method to add new software. ═══ 3. Usage demonstration ═══ You must have OS/2 Warp (or above) and REXX installed. The installer is distributed for installing the sample program, Example. Activate InstAI.exe. This is the standard installer user interface. The installation process is 1. Choose an appropriate directory to install Example to. By default, the \OS2\APPS directory is chosen. The user also may choose a different target by selecting Other directory. 2. Choose whether to create a desktop object. The installer is designed to create a Program object. 3. Press Install to commence the installation. A message box appears on the success of the installation. The installer exits if the installation was successful. 4. Pressing Cancel at any time aborts the installer. No action is taken. 5. Pressing the big OS/2 logo informs the user of the application they are installing. This may be used to provide on-line help. ═══ 4. Creating your own installation routine ═══ If you think AI's Installer will be ideal for your application, then feel free to use it. However, please register with the author! To use AI's Installer, you should be reasonably familiar with OS/2 REXX and Dr Dialog. Dr Dialog is a GUI creation tool made available through the IBM EWS. It is commonly distributed with the Developer's Connection CD-ROMs from IBM. Steps for creating a simple installation program  Activate InstAI.Res with Dr Dialog, hopefully via its popup menu, or manually loading it by starting Dr Dialog first.  An outline of all the Installer's widgets will appear. Open the Global Procedures section of the notebook. Open the UserDefine procedure.  AI's Installer relies on the all the variables in this procedure. Initialise them as follows ┌───────────────┬────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┐ │Variable │Uses │Example │ ├───────────────┼────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤ │Product │The software's product name │Example │ ├───────────────┼────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤ │DesktopName │The label of the desktop object │Example application │ │ │created for the user to start │ │ │ │the application │ │ ├───────────────┼────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤ │Exename │The name of the executable, used│Ex.exe │ │ │for the desktop object │ │ ├───────────────┼────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤ │WaitString │The string displayed while the │Please wait, installing... │ │ │software is installing │ │ ├───────────────┼────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤ │SAuthor │The software house name │Antonino Iannella │ ├───────────────┼────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤ │Inform │Used by the About the Author │Product "v1.0 (C) 1996 by" SAuthor │ │ │dialog box. It is automatically │ │ │ │set, as shown in the example. │ │ └───────────────┴────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘  Now edit the Click event handler for the Install button. The code to edit lies half way down. It is reproduced here. By following the example, necessary application files may be copied to the target directory, defined as DirInstall. /* ------------------------------ */ /* Here is where the necessary files are copied to the target directory, DirInstall. The variable 'rc' is 0 if the installation completed sucessfully. */ Copy "Ex.exe" DirInstall /* ------------------------------ */ If the installer appears to not install anything while running it through Dr Dialog (by pressing F5), use commands like Copy ".\Ex.exe" DirInstall The installer will still work when it is completed.  Naturally, registered users are free to modify and use AI's Installer as they see fit. Hopefully, they will provide the author with valuable ideas on how to improve it!  Now choose 'Save As...' from the File menu and save the installer to your own installer name, like Rideinst.RES.  Create your own icon or edit InstAI.ICO for the installer. It must have the same name as the installer, like Rideinst.ICO.  Hopefully, your new installer will successfully install your application. Drop the .RES object onto the RestoEXE object in your Dr Dialog folder. This will create an installer executable. You must distribute the executable, your .ICO file (it is still needed), and the InstAI.DLL file with your application.  Enjoy your nice, new installer! ═══ 5. Registration ═══ AI's Installer is provided as a fully-functional product, with no limitations. However, it is shareware. If you intend to use this product as part of your own, or to create a derivative work, please be kind enough to register by sending $5 Australian for each application that uses it $10 Australian for lifetime use for any applications to the author. This will ensure that precious development efforts will continue. In return, you will receive excellent customer support, for any query or problem. Those with lifetime registration will be notified of new releases and be registered to use them. AI's Installer remains the property of the author. It is freely distributable on any medium or site. All files from the archive must be intact when distributed. I do not guarantee the software's reliability, although I would appreciate being informed of any problems anyone may have. Any damage or loss incurred as a result of using this software is NOT the author's responsibility. Microsoft employees and their families must pay US$1 000 000 in registration for every copy they possess, for any application which uses AI's Installer. They will receive free upgrades. Trademarks All trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. ═══ 6. Contacting the author ═══ Send all comments, bug reports, or suggestions for improvement to **** **** * **** Operate at a higher level. * * * * * * * * * * * * Mr Antonino Iannella * * **** * * Computer Systems Engineering * * * * * * 9308390r@lux.levels.unisa.edu.au **** **** * ****** http://members.tripod.com/~antonino/index.html Would you fix your house if the windows need replacing? So why not fix your computer by replacing its Windows? Send registration payments by mail to Mr Antonino Iannella 6 Bolingbroke Avenue DEVON PARK SA 5008 AUSTRALIA Phone + 61 8 346 2742 anytime. ═══ 7. Revision history ═══ v 1.0 - First release July 12th, 1996. Future plans Future revisions of AI's Installer will include  An improved user interface and the ability to find which drive \OS2\APPS lies in  An uninstallation method, to remove installed applications  A global installation object for any application installing which needs to be done.  Built-in handling of a compressed archive to get files from, instead of simply copying them ═══ 8. FTP and BBS site documentation ═══ This section has files needed for public domain sites.  FILE_ID.DIZ  InstAI.txt ═══ 8.1. FILE_ID.DIZ ═══ InstAI.zip - AI's Installer A PM software installer for developers. Uses REXX functions. Shareware Mr Antonino Iannella 9308390r@lux.levels.unisa.edu.au ═══ 8.2. InstAI.txt ═══ OS/2 Upload Information Template for ftp-os2.nmsu.edu Archive Name: InstAI.zip Program Description: (keep it under 60 characters) A PM software installer for developers. Uses REXX functions. Operating System Versions: OS/2 3.0 (Warp) and above Program Source: none Replaces: none Your name: Antonino Iannella Your email address: 9308390r@lux.levels.unisa.edu.au Proposed directory for placement: /pub/os2/dev32 or /pub/os2/dev32/rexx