Edxor question

O

omega

ms said:
No wininit.ini in my C:Windows at all.

When it's done being processed, it gets deleted, so sounds like things
are normal.

Tiny note: If you want to check quickly if anything has been written
there to process at your next reboot, you should be able to just type
"wininit.ini" into the startmenu's Run dialog. Assuming you've got
..ini associated with something, like a notepad.

Btw, that wininit.exe message is kind of goofy, really. The way it
always says "Updating your Configuration Files.." even when it is
merely deleting a trivial temp file.
I tried to find Winpack. The link gives a 404, but Google has
packet radio, and Winpacks for different uses.

I'm sorry about that. I'd pasted the URL from the readme, without having
first confirmed its current status.
Might you have a download link for the Winpack you meant?

Just posted a working link....
 
J

jason

omega wrote"

I don't shut down processes for an install - so that part is not an
inconvenience.

The more I think about that, that's a very liberating thought. I've always
installed programs only when it was convenient to shutdown my computer
right afterward, since stopping my processes always entails a reboot to
get my Internet connection back. But really, what's the worst that can
happen if you install a program with all processes running? The worst is
that the program won't install. OTOH, the worst that can happen if you DO
shut down your processes...and you aren't careful...is that the
installation program can overwrite your system files.
 
M

ms

omega said:
snip

As to InstallShield. That's where you unzip the initial file (which can be
zip or exe or cab), and then get a file listing with names like these:

layout.bin, setup.ins, setup.lid, setup.exe, _sys1.cab,
_user1.cab, data1.cab

If you try to extract those .cabs, you find you cannot. They're a
nonstandard format, InstallShield cabs. So you use the special unpacker.

Ignore all the files in the list, except for those named, data*.cab. [1]

Run Winpack. You don't get to drag and drop to it, so you'll have to do
something like use pathcopy to point it to the cab. Then use either its
"unpack archive" command, or else, select only "unpack group" or "unpack
file." Depends on your preference. Tell it which folder.

You'll get used to seeing, these cabs contain some standard Inno files,
that you won't need or want. They're in separate groups, in the cab. It's
easier just to let your pattern recognition do things here, instead of
worrying about file name lists.

The data.cabs will also contain the exe, the hlp, and, if the prog has them,
its DLLs. So once extracted, you copy those files to the folder where you
want to keep that program. I've not yet had a program, extracted this way,
that wasn't happy to go ahead and run. Exception might be the occasion where
it needed me to right-click to register its DLLs first, before it was ready
for business. snip
other good progs there.) And I'm not giving a direct download URL, because I
don't know if it's best to recommend ver 2.3 or ver 3.0 beta. I've been
running the beta, and the only thing I noticed was occasionally its window
position slips too far off-screen (memory vague, but I think the fix was to
relaunch it using the start /max command).
snip
Karen:
Many thanks for the info and links.

I tried 3.0b, and saw the same screen in 2.3

I see only 2 choices, Load Packed File, or Pack a Folder. No reference
to Unpack.

In Winpack, I browse to a zip file, previously determined to be
InstallShield type, get message "wrong file type" or similar. Maybe
because this is not right, that's why I don't see "unpack"?

I tried copying the setup file itself to the Winpack folder, browsed to
it, no help.

You mentioned commandline, with the GUI, how/why do I pathcopy?

Operator error here, I'm sure.

Mike Sa
 
O

omega

ms<[email protected]>:

: [Re Winpack to unpack Installshield cabs said:
I see only 2 choices, Load Packed File, or Pack a Folder. No reference
to Unpack.

In Winpack, I browse to a zip file, previously determined to be
InstallShield type, get message "wrong file type" or similar. Maybe
because this is not right, that's why I don't see "unpack"?

I tried copying the setup file itself to the Winpack folder, browsed to
it, no help.

There are parts. The first is to deal with the single state of the file as
downloaded: ProgramSetup.exe. Given it is an InstallShield type, you'll be
able to use your normal unzip util to extract it. Then you'll be left with
a bunch of files.

The 1-2 files from that list which you want will be named data*.cab.

Second part is to run Winpack. Use it to open the data1.cab file. Do you now
see files displayed there, in the Winpack interface?

Right-click on the file list contents. Depending where you right-click, will
come the various choices.

select top level in the list: "Unpack Archive"
select a folder group in the list: "Extract a Group"
select something in the file pane: "Extract a File"

Similar options using Winpack's File and Archive menu, as with right-click,
they show up dependent on where in the file/group list you have selected.

I'm not sure whether the roadblock is getting used to the Winpack interface,
about it being picky about making sure you've selected at a certain place,
before getting an "Unpack Archive" option on menus? Or whether it is hunting
down which files extractable .exe's are InstallShield.

If this latter, I'm not sure best way to go about it. I'd long ago
already extracted whatever ProgramSetup.exe files were extractable, with
my unzipper. And don't now have a way to guess the best way to spot them
out globally. (?) There might be some file header to put in the Find In:
box, but I can't test.

I'd always dealt with extractable .exe's individually, by dragging them
to a different folder, with PowerArchiver's context-menu item, and at
destination, it would either extract them, or fail, depending on what
type they were.

The only step I know for globally identifying is at the second stage:
placing what's up once they're already extracted. Those Installshield
filenames...layout.bin, setup.ins, setup.lid, _sys1.cab, data1.cab, etc.
 
O

omega

ms said:
I see only 2 choices, Load Packed File, or Pack a Folder. No reference
to Unpack.

Sorry, Mike. I only now see what you meant here. When you launch Winpack,
that is the first screen you see, and I was forgetting to consider it.

On that first screen, choose "Load Packed File." (Translation for that
button item might be, "Open Installshield cab.")

After you've click that "Load Packed File" button on Winpack's opening
screen, it will then give you the normal File Open dialog, where you select
a user1.cab for it to deal with.
 
O

omega

I tried 3.0b, and saw the same screen in 2.3

I've now taken a look into differences. I see that the 3.0 help says,

"Version 3.0 offers a new interface, explorer-like. You’ll discover
a main menu and context menu that mimic the buttons functions."

Then I launched ver 2.3 (past the opening dialog, to the main interface) -
and saw indeed an absence of menu items and other. So at this point I
definitely prefer to recommend version 3.0


_______
ref: http://www.ifrance.com/snoopy81/dl_en/WinPack300b.zip
 
O

omega

Here is one case I recently found where the author, after contact, put p
the noinstall version on his website. A diagram program that can do flow
charts is not to common in noinstall.

I was pointed to another program by that author, a week earlier, Image
Analyzer, to meet a photo editing need I had. I'd been impressed by the
way he had so many image capabilities without it involving a bunch of
registry entries (esp avoiding activeX etc). His single registry use is
at HKCU, for preferences settings.

I'd also been most pleased that his programs were available as clean
no-install zips. The no-install choice came as a result of your bringing
it up with the author? Graci, that effort of yours helps the rest of us.
It may be of interest to you.

Ya be psychic.

I couple of years ago, I had a brief fascination with Orgchart, which comes
on the MS Office CD. It wasn't that I had the least need for a business staff
layout thing - but that I liked the more general, visual flowcharts aspect of
it. The MS Office thing, while it caught my interest, it was a bit too lame.
Not much customization, and no export from its proprietary format. So I spent
some weeks web searching for something similar. My extended efforts in the
quest ended me with mostly nothing. Perhaps since I didn't really grasp how
to call that which I was after. Or perhaps that there just might not have
been a good set of offerings along these lines.
Simple vector graphics editor for creating flowchart and diagrams.
Customizable template object palette.
Import/export WMF, EMF, BMP, JPEG, PNG and PCX images.

Although my search had quit off a couple of years ago, it hadn't meant that I
didn't still want such a toy. After your post, I retrieved Diagram Designer.
I've been playing with it...fun and pleasing. Thank you for putting this into
my Christmas stocking.
 

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