Think I've lost the plot!!

[Chris Wasley]

I sort of feel really embarrassed posting this, but for some unknown reason, I cant figure it out.
Therefore my apologies in the first instance if this is really daft !!!

I have a load of folders and files (about 45Mb in all) that I intend to create a setup routine for.
I would like the setup.exe that gets created to be as small as possible.
Ive figured out about using the CD-ROM archive etc, but....am lost!
Although I realise that my original folders/files need to go on the CD ROM which I will burn, how can I get it so that the actual contents of them cannot be readily seen (read). For instance, a lot of setup routines which I look at on other peoples CD's have the setup.exe and then maybe some files which are either compressed up (generally not using zip though).

I appreciate that once the files have been installed onto the hard disk, users will be able to see them, but I don't really want them to be viewed directly off the CD.

OK - I now know that I am not explaining this at all well but let me give an example.

Lets say I have a document written in HTML which I want installed on the users machine.
Is there a special process I need to do so that the user cannot read it directly off the CD.
If I use one way, my setup.exe turns out to be almost 45Mb.
If I use another way, I can create a small .exe file but then the contents can be easily seen.

Sorry about the disjointed posting - I think I will scurry away into a corner and just hope that someone can make some sense out of this
Many thanks
Chris

[Mark]

Re: Think I've lost the plot!!

Hi,
Sorry but I am slightly confused about your question, do you want the user to be able to see all the files on your CD-ROM but not be able to access then when exploring the CD-ROM? If this is what you want then this is not possible using Setup Factory.
If you don't want your files to be viewed then you can simply compress all of them into one SETUP.EXE. If you are going to have 45MB on your CD-ROM I do not think that it matters whether the information is spread between a few files or simply stored in one.
If I have misunderstood your question please clarify, or if you were looking for something different please reply.

mark.

[Chris Wasley]

Re: Think I've lost the plot!!

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the reply.
If I create one large executable in order that the user can't see them directly off the CD, it comes out to just over 41Mb (very large)

If I leave the files on the CD in their raw format then the setup file gets reduced to around 400kb.

I suppose the idea I was having was to have most of the original files compressed up in some way (maybe zip or cab) which would result in the setup.exe file being smaller.
I wasn't sure though if Setup Factory could unzip the compressed files as part of its installation routine.

The reasoning behind all this is that we want the user to actually install our software onto their machine and run it under an application we have created.
However, if I showed all the files on the CD (making the executable setup file smaller)they could if they wanted to run it off the CD - which is not want I want to happen.

I don't mind the files being on the CD under various directory structures, but want to avoid them being able to see them in the normal format (i.e. pdf)
Can I rename some of our pdf files from say
file.pdf to file1.pd$
and then get setup factory when it installs it onto the users machine to rename it back to its original
file1.pdf type.

I suppose I could create some sort of DOS batch file to be run, but Im not sure if this is the best way to go about it.

Cheers
Chris

[Mark]

Re: Think I've lost the plot!!

Hi,
You can rename files in Setup Factory under: SETTINGS -> SHELL OPERATIONS -> FILE OPERATIONS tab. There create a new File Operation and simple make it's Operation: Rename. Note that you can use the ‘*’ and ‘?’ wildcards in your File Operation.
I guess I am still confused as to why you have reservations about a large Setup.exe file? The users are not downloading the file, since they are receiving it on CD-ROM, so I do not know why the size of it matters?

mark.