Rapid Build Options

[VictorReinhart]

We use SF for our Demo program and are very happy. We wonder if you can help us decide to use SF for our actual application. 3 concerns:

1) We need a fast build -- much faster than it currently is. Even without compressing files, due to the large number of files/MB, it is still too slow. This is important so we can create fixed installs quickly.

2) We need an option to create a CD which mirrors the directory structure of the source files. Currently, SF creates one huge setup.exe file, so we can't re-copy any files manually once the CD is burned.

3) We would like more than 4 install types. Currently SF is limited to 4, which you can rename, but that doesn't cut it for us. For us, a "Complete" install is meaningless, and half our customers would wind up doing a "Custom" install.

These may sound "out there", but it would really, really help us. SF's ease of use is the best, and I think these features might help other companies like us who ship software packages with many different modules, but five common configurations:

1) Single-user SQL Anywhere
2) Client (for any Database)
3) MS SQL Server - Server
4) Oracle - Server
5) SQL Anywhere - Server

Thank you


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VictorReinhart

[Mark]

Re: Rapid Build Options

Hi,
1) As far as the extraction speed is concerned, I do not think this will change much. I will pass it on to the developers, and perhaps they will be able to speed it up a bit.

2) If you want your CD-ROM to retain a specific directory structure try using the CD-ROM tab instead of the ARCHIVE tab. The CD-ROM tab is used to install files that will exist on the CD-ROM but will not be compressed into the SETUP.EXE archive.

3) The reason that only four Install Types are available is because it allowed the designers to make using Install Types and Packages as easy as possible. This being true more Install Types would be handy for certain installations. I will pass this on as a suggestion.

mark.

[VictorReinhart]

Re: Rapid Build Options

Mark,
Thank you. Your reply to #2 addresses #1 as well. (If you don't need to do the physical copy of many large files, then of course the build will be fast!) This reply makes me very happy! Setup Factory is really awesome!

Thanks for asking for additional Install Types. Maybe we can prototype the install using the "Select Packages" screen in the meantime.