~CREATE NEW INSTALL CREATE NEW INSTALL In order to create an INSTALL.EXE program you must first select a filename for the install setup file. This setup file will store all the configuration information for each INSTALL.EXE you create. This allows you to easily create installation programs for multiple applications. To recreate a previous install program you need only to reload the setup. You can load a setup file from a previously created install program to modify for a new install program. To create the new install setup file just rename the setup as you exit the QUIK-INSTALL program. If you like you may load the setup file that came with your copy of QUIK-INSTALL. You can then make the desired changes and save the setup under a new name. ~CREATE NEW INSTALL ~LOAD EXISTING FILE LOAD AN EXISTING SETUP FILE Choose this option display a directory listing of all the SETUP.QIK files in the QUIK-INSTALL directory. You can load a setup file from a previously created install program, modify it, then save it under a different name to easily create multiple installation programs. ~LOAD EXISTING FILE ~COMPLETION MESSAGE INSTALLATION COMPLETION MESSAGE At this prompt you may enter a message that will be displayed at the end of the installation. Most likely this would be a message on how to start or configure your program. It could be a greeting or warning. It can be anything you like up to 80 characters. Unless you clear or overwrite the screen by executing a batch file or program after the installation is completed, this message will be the last text on left on the screen. ~COMPLETION MESSAGE ~DEFAULT PROMPT DEFAULT PROMPT When the program runs it prompts the user to press ENTER to accept the default drive and subdirectory name to install to. You should use an example that will be suitable for your program. Example: If your program is named QUIKWORK your might want the user to install the program to a directory named QUIKWORK. In this case enter C:\QUIKWORK. QUIK-INSTALL defaults to the C: drive and the filename you have chosen for the setup file. ~DEFAULT PROMPT ~NUMBER OF DISKS NUMBER OF INSTALLATION DISKS Here you should enter the number of disks you would like QUIK- INSTALL to prompt for and copy. This number is limited only by the length of the EXE archive's filename. If you are not installing from an EXE archive this number is unlimited. The reason: QUIK- INSTALL concatenates the the number 1 to the number of disks to install to the end of the EXE archive's filename. If your program installs from more than 9 disks your EXE archive's file name must not be more than 6 characters long. If your program installs from more than 99 disks the EXE archive's name must not be longer than 5 characters. See option 7 for more details. (It is unlikely you will encounter this problem.) ~NUMBER OF DISKS ~EXIT IN INSTALL DIRECTORY EXIT IN INSTALL DIRECTORY After the installation is completed you will most likely want your user to start your program. If this is the case you should answer Yes to this question. Answering Yes will cause the user to be in the installed directory after installation has completed. ~EXIT IN INSTALL DIRECTORY ~STUFF KEYBOARD BUFFER STUFF KEYBOARD BUFFER If you like QUIK-INSTALL will stuff the keyboard buffer with a command of your choice. This allows the user to start the program without doing a directory to find the right file. This could be a batch file to type a README or it could start your program. You may leave this option blank. EXECUTE BUFFER If you elect to Stuff The Keyboard Buffer you will be prompted to have whatever the command execute immediately. You might wish your user to read a text file or start a configuration program. If you stuff the buffer with a batch file you can have the install program do a number of things. If you select No the command you have stuffed in the buffer will remain on the screen after the installation is completed. The user then has the option to press ENTER to start the program or choose to do something else. ~STUFF KEYBOARD BUFFER ~EXECUTABLE ARCHIVE EXECUTABLE ARCHIVE This option has some important features. First, when QUIK-INSTALL is run it will copy files or try to run an executable archive. If you enter a filename at this prompt the program will try to run an executable archive by the name you enter. If your program is being installed from a single disk this is all you need to do. If you are using executable archives and installing an application that requires more than 1 disk there are some special considerations. In order to keep the QUIK-INSTALL program at it's minimum size I opted not to store individual filenames for multiple disk archive installations. Instead I use a simple system that requires you to name your executable archives using a number as the last letter of the filename. Example: If your program uses three disks to install and your program's name is MYWORK you would have to name your three executable archives MYWORK1.EXE, MYWORK2.EXE and MYWORK3.EXE. When the QUIK- INSTALL program asks you for an archive name you would enter MYWORK. This method allows me to concatenate a number to the MYWORK filename based on the number of disks you are installing. It also allows an unlimited number of disks and requires no extra space inside the QUIK-INSTALL program. (Note: Make sure your file name does not exceed 7 characters (6 characters if you install 10 or more disks) so the disk number can be concatenated.) The QUIK-INSTALL program will work with any executable archive. It is not dependant on the command syntax of any of the known EXE archive compressors. ~EXECUTABLE ARCHIVE ~SPACE NEEDED TO INSTALL SPACE NEEDED TO INSTALL To have the program test for available disk space before installing, enter the amount of space your program requires in bytes. If the user tries to install your application to a drive that does not have enough space QUIK-INSTALL will abort the installation. It will also display a message explaining that your application requires the amount of space you enter here. Like all options you may leave this blank to have the program skip disk space checking. ~SPACE NEEDED TO INSTALL ~BACKGROUND COLOR BACKGROUND COLOR This is the color the screen will be set to when the QUIK-INSTALL installation program is first executed. You should choose colors that are similar to the application that will be installed. When you choose this option a small window will be diplayed in the currently selected colors. The ARROW keys and Mouse may be used to select colors. When you have selected the color combination you wish to use you may press ENTER or "click" the ENTER line with mouse to set the colors and return to the main menu. ~BACKGROUND COLOR ~FOREGROUND COLOR FOREGROUND COLOR This is the color the information window will be set to when the QUIK-INSTALL installation program is first executed. You should choose colors that are similar to the application that will be installed. When you choose this option a small window will be diplayed in the currently selected colors. The ARROW keys and Mouse may be used to select colors. When you have selected the color combination you wish to use you may press ENTER or "click" the ENTER line with mouse to set the colors and return to the main menu. ~FOREGROUND COLOR ~BATCH FILE TO EXECUTE BATCH FILE TO EXECUTE If you enter a file name at this prompt QUIK-INSTALL will attempt to execute it before beginning the installation. This is the FIRST thing QUIK-INSTALL does after getting all the necessary installation information. QUIK-INSTALL passes three installation variables to whatever file is being executed. Using a batch file this will allow you to perform a variety of installation tasks. If you are adept at writing batch files it is quite feasable to have the start-up batch file perform the entire installation. The would allow you to create a highly customized installation. The variables passed to a batch file are: %1 - Drive letter the user is installing to in this form: C:. %2 - The sub-directory the program is being installed to in this form: \DIRNAME. %3 - The full path of the drive and directory where the QUIK-INSTALL program was executed from in this form: C:\DIRNAME\DIRNAME\ etc. (This is where the files being installed will be residing.) If a start-up batch file is specified you will be prompted to specify whether QUIK-INSTALL or the start-up batch file should perform the installation. If you select ENABLE the QUIK-INSTALL program will make the subdirectory, copy the files, and/or unpack the EXE archives. If you select DISABLE the previous three feature will be disabled. The QUIK-INSTALL installation program can called from this batch file to prompt the user for answers to additional questions and to set screen colors. (See the section in the manual on COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS for additional details on calling the INSTALL.EXE module from within a start-up batch file.) ~BATCH FILE TO EXECUTE ~MAKE INSTALL.EXE MAKE THE INSTALL.EXE PROGRAM When this option is selected a second menu listing the final setup information will be displayed. It is from this final menu that the INSTALL.EXE module is created. ~MAKE INSTALL.EXE ~EXIT PROGRAM TO DOS EXIT PROGRAM TO DOS When you select this option you will be prompted to save the current configuration under the current name or change it. After the configuration has been saved the program is exited to DOS. ~EXIT PROGRAM TO DOS ~DISABLE FUNCTIONS ENABLE/DISABLE QUIK-INSTALL INSTALLATION FUNCTIONS Since a start-up batch file has been specified you must specify whether QUIK-INSTALL or the start-up batch file should perform the installation. If you select ENABLE the QUIK-INSTALL program will make the subdirectory, copy the files, and/or unpack the EXE archives. If you select DISABLE the previous three features will be disabled. This option allows you to have the QUIK-INSTALL program pass information to the start-up batch file (Installation source and destination drives and directories) to allow it to perform the entire installation. Since the QUIK-INSTALL installation program can be called from within the start-up batch file using command line parameters to perform tasks that set ERRORLEVELS (Such as waiting for a keypress then setting the errorlevels to the ASCII code for the key pressed.) you can write very elaborate batch files that can perform very complex installations. ~DISABLE FUNCTIONS ~EXECUTE BUFFER EXECUTE BUFFER This option appears only if you choose to stuff the keyboard buffer. If you stuff a command into the keyboard buffer after installation it can be very useful to have it execute immediately. You might wish your user to read a text file or start a configuration program. If you stuff the buffer with a batch file name you can have the batch file perform an number of useful tasks. ~EXECUTE BUFFER ~COMPRESS INSTALL.EXE COMPRESS INSTALL.EXE The QUIK-INSTALL program can optionally call the public domain LZEXE program to compress the customized QUIK-INSTALL installation program. Compress the INSTALL.EXE module after it is created will usually squeeze another 1000 bytes or so out of it. To compress INSTALL.EXE leave this option set to YES. ~COMPRESS INSTALL.EXE ~OUTPUT DIRECTORY OUTPUT DIRECTORY This is the DRIVE\DIRECTORY where the new INSTALL.EXE program will be created. Usually when you are packaging a new application for distribution you will gather all it's associated files into a single directory. This option allows you to create the INSTALL.EXE module in the same place as the application files. The output path defaults to the currently logged directory. ~OUTPUT DIRECTORY ~TITLE TEXT TITLE TEXT This is a customized line of text that will be displayed underneath the copyright notice at the top of the screen. Use this line to relate the installation program to the application it will be installing. ~TITLE TEXT ~CANCEL INSTALL.EXE CREATION CANCEL INSTALL.EXE CREATION This option simply returns to the main menu. ~CANCEL INSTALL.EXE CREATION ~MAKE THE INSTALL.EXE PROGRAM When you select this menu item the INSTALL.EXE program is created using the configuration currently selected. The INSTALL.EXE program will be created in the DRIVE\DIRECTORY specified in the OUTPUT DIRECTORY field. ~MAKE THE INSTALL.EXE PROGRAM