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Thread: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

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  1. #1

    Default End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    The following products have already been discontinued and are no longer
    sold. There are no bugfixes or other enhancements planned.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Product Name Version Remarks
    ------------ ------- -------

    SetupBuilder Standard 4.x Migration to SetupBuilder 5 Professional
    recommended

    SetupBuilder Web 4.x Migration to SetupBuilder 5 Developer
    recommended

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Friedrich Linder
    CEO, Lindersoft
    www.lindersoft.com
    1.954.252.3910

    "point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

  2. #2

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Is there a way to migrate SB4 installs to SB5?

    Thanks,

    --
    Carlos Gutiérrez
    http://sca.com.mx

  3. #3

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Carlos,

    SB5 cannot open SB4 files. SB5 has a different philosophy regarding the
    project management (and feature set). SB5 is completely "script driven".
    SB4.x projects are limited because they are based on a sequential database
    driven processing model. Something like the following:

    1) Display GUI (Welcome -> Readme -> License -> etc.)
    2) Install Files
    3) Write Registry/INI Entries
    4) Perform Actions
    5) Run Programs

    In contrast to SB4, the new SB5 is completely script driven. Would you like
    to display the License Agreement before your Welcome dialog? No problem.
    Or read some values out of the Registry and based on this information
    display different sets of wizard dialogs. With SB5 you can do it. SB5
    supports IF..THEN..ELSE and LOOP control structures to provide looping and
    conditional execution of installation components.

    You can now use the *same* script to compile *different* versions of your
    installer (e.g. full or upgrade image). The SB5 preprocessor can
    conditionally include lines of code within an installer program. The
    directives that include code conditionally are defined in such a way that
    you can construct a chain of inclusion directives to include exactly the
    functions you want.

    Of course, you can still use your old SB4 installations (there is nothing
    wrong with that). Because SB5 gives you so much more power and flexibility,
    it's wise to "rethink" some distribution projects.

    If you create new projects, I would consider SB5. It supports Windows 95,
    98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista.

    Does this help?

    Friedrich

    --
    Friedrich Linder
    CEO, Lindersoft
    www.lindersoft.com
    1.954.252.3910

    "point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

  4. #4

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    I understand the advantages of SB5. The problem is when you have complex SB4
    setup you have been polishing over the years. I would be nice if SB5 could
    import file lists with attributes, shortcuts, folders, registry key, delete
    file actions, etc. from a SB4 project, even if the resulting SB5 project
    wasn't completely functional. Alot of the hard work would be saved. Even an
    external unsupported utility would be fine.

    Regards,

    --
    Carlos Gutiérrez
    http://sca.com.mx

  5. #5

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Carlos,

    I agree that a conversion utility to write 'the bones' would be a good idea.
    I have a client that upgraded from SB4 to SB5 and I had to rewrite their
    install for them - a real PITA. I was quite surprised there wasn't any
    conversion utility.

    After that effort, I've elected to stay with SB4 since I have a whole lot
    more installs than my client that would need to be rewritten and SB4 is
    doing everything I need. I'm sure SB5 is a "whole lot of wonderful" but ...

    Al

  6. #6

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Al,

    Unfortunately, it's not possible to develop such a tool :-( There will not
    be a conversion utility for SB4.

    Friedrich

    --
    Friedrich Linder
    CEO, Lindersoft
    www.lindersoft.com
    1.954.252.3910

    "point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

  7. #7

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Given that, it would be nice to have continued support for SB4. At
    least to the extent that if a new Clarion release or a new Windows
    service pack breaks SB4-based installers (as has happened in the
    past), fixes will be made so we're not out in the cold or forced to
    move to SB5.

    BTW, I did buy SB5 during the beta, but after difficulty getting it to
    work right I back-burnered it and stuck with SB4.

    > Al,
    >
    > Unfortunately, it's not possible to develop such a tool :-( There will not
    > be a conversion utility for SB4.
    >
    > Friedrich
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Steve Rothkin
    Developer, DJ Manager Software

  8. #8

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Steve,

    > Given that, it would be nice to have continued support for SB4. At
    > least to the extent that if a new Clarion release or a new Windows
    > service pack breaks SB4-based installers (as has happened in the
    > past), fixes will be made so we're not out in the cold or forced to
    > move to SB5.

    The last source code modification to SB4 was on 9/3/2004 (more than
    one year ago). It fixed a Windows API char(128) problem.

    The SB4 IDE is dated 12/4/2003 (nearly two years old).

    Unfortunately, it's not possible to port all the new SB51 Clarion 6.1,
    Clarion 6.2, Windows Server Family, Windows Vista, 64-bit support, etc.
    features back to SB4.

    The SB4 installer is simply not powerful enough to handle all the new
    Windows features or to detect C6.2, C7, etc. environments. We need
    the SetupScript scripting engine to handle all these tasks.

    > BTW, I did buy SB5 during the beta, but after difficulty getting it to
    > work right I back-burnered it and stuck with SB4.

    Did you check out the latest SetupBuilder 5.1?

    Thanks,

    --
    Friedrich Linder
    CEO, Lindersoft
    www.lindersoft.com
    1.954.252.3910

    "point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    4,307

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    I'm not looking for support for new OS features. I'm just thinking of
    support for when a new OS actually completely breaks an SB4-based
    installer. I think this last happened with Windows 2000 SP1 -- the
    installers were incorrectly reporting it as an unsupported operating
    system (and refusing to permit installation) until you released a fix
    for that. If something like that were to happen, I'd want a quick fix.
    SB4 is only one version back, so I don't think that's unreasnable.

    No I haven't checked 5.1 yet. Given that my SB4-based installer works,
    and I have lots of other tasks on my plate, spending time porting to
    SB5 isn't high on my list.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    4,307

    Default Re: End-of-Life Notice for SetupBuilder 4

    Steve,

    Yes, I understand. But there are new 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions
    (Vista, Windows Server Family) available now, and it's not possible to add
    support for these OS's to SB4.

    We released 40 SetupBuilder 5 beta builds in 14 month to make the transition
    as smooth as possible.

    SetupBuilder 5.1 already supports .NET and 64-bit installation. It supports
    the Windows Server Family and Windows Vista, Clarion 6.2 and (of course)
    will support Clarion 7.0. We already have an internal experimental compiler
    available to generate .msi files for those who need native Windows Installer
    support.

    --
    Friedrich Linder
    CEO, Lindersoft
    www.lindersoft.com
    1.954.252.3910

    "point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

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