Distributing ActiveX controls and other DLLs

[Gavrilo]

I'm creating an application in Visual BASIC 6.0 which will need to include some Microsoft OCX and DLLs such as the following:
COMDLG32.OCX
RICHTX32.OCX
RichEd32.dll
MSVBVM60.DLL
I'm concerned with troubles that could arrise if my setup package overwrites any of these files if the user already has them. Specifically, what if the user already has the file and it's registered is a later version than the one in my setup package? Will a setup package created with the Setup Factory check first if the user already has the file (registered) and then only install the needed file if the user either doesn't have it or if it is older? If the Setup Factory does not already make setups do this automatically, is there some way I can set it to do so?

[Darryl]

Re: Distributing ActiveX controls and other DLLs

On each file's properties dialog there is the "If file already exists" option where you can define what condition you would like to have, such as "Overwrite if existing file is same or older", or "Never Overwrite".

With system files, it's always best to not overwrite the user's system files unless you are absolutely sure that it needs to be updated and that the version you are installing is completely compatible with each target OS.

Many files are OS specific, so you'll definitely have to do some research to make sure that you don't corrupt the user's system.

Hope that helps.