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Poser - OFFICIAL F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2024 Nov 09 8:30 pm)



Subject: Self-installing .exe files


Anthony Appleyard ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 5:32 AM · edited Wed, 23 October 2024 at 6:17 AM

How can I make one of my Poser models into a self-installing .exe file?


flyerx ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 5:43 AM

Attached Link: http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

Inno setup is a fully featured free installer program that you could use. Just start with one of the sample files as a template.

good luck


lmckenzie ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 7:04 AM

WinRAR will create self-extracting (SFX) archives, essentially rar/zip archives in .exe format that extract themselves. I'm pretty sure that many of the zip archivers - even the free ones probably have the same capability. Check WinZip or whatever you may be using already. Inno can certainly do it though it may be overkill unless you have some special needs beyond what using a normal .zip install would do, i.e. extracting the files to the folders.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken


markschum ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 11:18 AM

winrar  is free and works well. You first create a zip file and then select it in winrar and use tool , convert to sfx. There are options to do more than just extract.

 

Be aware that some people get nervous about running exe files and might prefer a zip file.


lmckenzie ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 1:00 PM

*"There are options to do more than just extract." *

Cool, I hadn't seen those. You could do a fairly good setup with them. 

No need to do zip first though, you can create the SFX directly. One thing you probably want to do is check 'use the current folder' in the advanced SFX options otherwise the default is program files - at least on my 4.x version.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken


Anthony Appleyard ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 4:26 PM

Will using this produce something that later can be uninstalled using Windows's uninstaller?


markschum ( ) posted Sun, 02 June 2013 at 7:35 PM

To get an uninstaller you need to use an installer package. winrar and winzip create an exe file but not using an installer as far as I know

Microsoft offer a package for developers that will create an msi installer and that will provide an uninstaller. The Inno installer looks like it does too.

I wrote a python script that reads a zip file contents and finds those files in the runtime and deletes them. I haven't usd it in ages. 


lmckenzie ( ) posted Mon, 03 June 2013 at 2:50 AM

Looking at the WinRAR docs, it apparently will create a shortcut file if you desire. , you could have that shortcut point to a .bat file that would delete the installed files. If you’re looking for that kind of functionality though, you are getting more into the realm of the setup type applications like Inno, to create DAZ type packages.

Keep in mind that no conventional setup package AFAIK, is going to handle uninstalls in the common Poser scenario where people may move the files to suit their runtime structure. Probably even markschum’s script is not going to be able to easily deal with a situation if they rename the files. To deal with those issues, I’d think that your installer would ideally allow the user to do the renaming/moving from within the setup and then record the final file locations for use in uninstalling. That’s something that may be better suited to a dedicated utility. IIRC one of the Poser zip installer utilities may have done something similar.

It all depends on the user and maybe the product. For something like one of the major DAZ figures, most people probably go with the defaults so an uninstaller would mostly work. All you can do is offer them the options and yeah, the setup creator would offer the most flexibility in that regard. I’d seriously consider why you want to go this route in the first place though, and the intended audience, e.g. the exe won’t work on Mac without some extra stuff on the user’s machine AFAIK. Without knowing what your goal is, I don’t know what the ‘best’ solution is ÷)

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken


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