mlapworth

I thought at first that the common thread was RMCC4 on win7, but I've had it reported on non-RM and non win7 setups, so there's no common thread that I can see. Many thanks for your replies and suggestions Arthur. I'll look into them over the weekend / next week and see if I can get to the bottom of it.

I don't think I'd do that within the msi. But it might be an idea to offer people the option to place the registration file somewhere else. I could do this via the configuration file, maybe. Still don't know why it stopped working properly though...

I don't think it's related to versioning, as it's not to do with replacing existing files. (Which answers you 2nd question :0) This is for initial installs... The problem might be to do with the program that creates the msi package (digitalweb installwizard) - but what confuses me is that it was working fine for over a year. It's as if the installer doesn't recognize the modified file as being the same one listed in the msi - even though it has the same name, same attributes etc. The only difference is the extra 3 bytes - maybe I should make the original file 3 bytes longer and see if that fixes it.

I've tried installing it on my computer after copying the modified file to the installation folder first. It worked fine. Is there any reason why it wouldn't work across a network if it works on one computer? BTW the computer I tried it on was XP. Also, the number of bytes in the modified file is 3 more than the original. Would this make a difference?

Thanks for your reply. A couple of schools have contacted me to say they couldn't register as they were behind a proxy server. I just emailed them a copy of the licence file. The issue is not with sending out the licence file that's already in the installation folder. This always installs no problem. But if you modify it (or rather, replace this one with a modified one) some people are saying it isn't copied acroos by the installer...

I've just tried installing it on my computer after copying the modified file to the installation folder first. It worked fine. Is there any reason why it wouldn't work across a network if it works on one computer? BTW the computer I just tried it on was XP. Also, the number of bytes in the modified file is 3 more than the original. Would this make a difference?

I'm not sure. I guess a good starting point for me would be to see if it installs on one of my computers if I replace the file. Thanks for your reply.

Thanks for your reply Pete. That's what I thought at first, but there have been several similar reports now over the last month or two. I haven't asked them to provide the log file. I'll maybe do that, and try to replicate it on my computers here.

OK, here I am 18 months on. I used the model as suggested by several people on here, and it worked a treat. In the last couple of months, however, there have been several reports of the process not working as it should. What's happening is that, after registering on one machine and copying the modified file into the installation directory, when this is installed to the network, the modified file isn't installed (ie. it isn't copied across). I haven't changed anything, as far as I can see, so I'm completely puzzled as to why this should be happening now, when it worked fine for the first year or so (with ZERO reports of it not copying the file across). Any ideas?

This is not for the TaskMagic program, but a separate standalone program based on TaskMagicPlay but with content included. Thanks for your comments. Thanks for the positives about teacher and student use of TaskMagic. I agree that it's worth updating, and this will happen. But for now, I just had this question about whether or not to use the self-extractor for this finished standalone program (NOT - I get the message), and then it got nasty...

So you're basically against it because it's a Windows program... That's it. Thank you for your constructive advice.

Hmm... well, I'd like to say "thank you", but... Version3 files are not text files. They have text, audio and images embedded into one binary file. Your script wouldn't convert them to hotpot files. If you seriously see TM and hotpot as offering something similar to language teachers, then I think you are really missing the point. I know what you mean about Mac compatibility. That is a BIG shame. Perhaps the answer would be for students not to set the exercises as compulsary homework. It is much better used in class either with an IWB or in IT rooms. That said, students who DO install TM at home (which is completely free) will get a far better learning experience, much more games, much more language repetition than they would with hotpots. BUT there are lots of other tools out there, many of them free, that will create web-based or flash exercises that can be used along with a VLE. As I said, TaskMagic is primarily intended to be used in school.

Thanks for having a look. It works beautifully on my xp and win7 computers. It looks like I'll have to go back to leaving the content unpacked. Here's an example of how it looks when left unpacked. Again, no installer for this sample. (There will be for the main program.) You can run the exe from anywhere as long as you (a) have unzipped it and (b) maintain the file/folder structure TaskMagic3 Spanish Sample Unit - En la cafetería - Free download - taskmagic's posterous

Thanks for having a look. It works beautifully on my xp and win7 computers. It looks like I'll have to go back to leaving the content unpacked. Here's an example of how it looks when left unpacked. Again, no installer for this sample. (There will be for the main program.) You can run the exe from anywhere as long as you (a) have unzipped it and (b) maintain the file/folder structure TaskMagic3 Spanish Sample Unit - En la cafetería - Free download - taskmagic's posterous

Thanks for your reply. There are already resources embedded in the main exe. What I was trying to do here was to include about 50MB of mainly audio files (but lots of other smaller ones as well) in a self-extractor of about 20MB. It all works fine if I leave them as separate from the main exe. But I wanted to make the exe smaller and simpler to distribute, as well as making it harder to copy and distribute the extra files. I presumed that using the iexpress tool which is part of Windows (type iexpress in the run or search box of the start menu if you're not familiar with it) would create a self-extractor that would work in most (Windows) environments without complications... The link on this page downloads an exe that has been packaged in this way (by me). It's a free sample program. It doesn't have an installer - the downloaded file is a self-extracting exe that should run from anywhere. Would this really be a problem on school computers?: ¡Es posible! - Michel Thomas Spanish course for schools - free sample download - taskmagic's posterous

Thanks everyone for your replies. I guess it's not the news I wanted, but I'm glad I asked. I'd rather not end up with problems further down the line.

OK. Thanks for the time taken to reply. I'm a little disappointed as I was trying to protect audio files from being freely distributed. I wouldn't mind a 2nd opinion...

So you're saying there IS a problem with what I wanted to do?

To clarify, the exe file will be deployed by msi. But once installed, the exe itself contains various components packaged so that they self-extract (into a temporary folder, I guess?) at runtime. The reason for this is so that the files that accompany the exe file (the content files, if you like) can't be *easily* copied and redistributed.

Would any of you envisage any problems with running an exe file on a typical school set-up but where the exe in question is a self-extracting package (ie. made with iexpress)? It works fine on all my computers, but I thought I'd better check it with the experts. FYI the exe is a program aimed at teaching languages in primary schools. The installation is very straightforward. The exe that is installed to users' computers is a self-extractor.

Thanks for all your help. I've gone with what was suggested by Kipling / Arthur. A dummy licence file is included along with the msi, unpackaged. The person installing to the network can register on one machine, then copy the new licence file to the installer before rolling out across the network.

Thanks Kipling and Arthur. You both come up with the same disadvantage in terms of security. I guess it's useful to see this in the context of the current version which doesn't require registration at all. I'm actually not trying to find ways of controlling the number of users using this reg data. I'm back to trusting in the honesty of the poeple in the school really... The school is provided with a registration key along with their CD. When they run the software and get to the registration screen - step f in my scenario a few posts ago, they will need to key in the registration key. This will then download a file from the taskmagic website containing the licence details for the school. When the program is run subsequently the school's name and licence type will appear on the splash sceen when TaskMagic opens. A pop-up will also appear at random intervals (hopefully not enough to be too much of a nuisance, every nth time a game screen is opened for example) saying that the software is licensed for use on 1 / 10 / all machines in the school (the name of the school will appear here too), and encouraging the reader to contact us if they suspect that the software is being used illegally... So if you pass on your registration key to another school, the splash / popup screens will hopefully be enough to discourage the other school from using the software. Our single user / 10 user licences are not concurrent users, but machines on which the software can be accessed without being in breach of the agreement. There's nothing physical to prevent this.

I also meant to add that the registration info would be kept independently of the exe files. So if you uninstalled / reinstalled / updated the software, there would be no need to register again.

I agree, but this isn't about when the software is installed. This would happen when either of the TaskMagic programs is run, so that a local copy of the registration data is kept. I know that if I am creating or setting registry keys during installation, these should be made in HKLM, but I'm attempting to use a method whereby registration is separate from installation (in order to avoid custom actions). Registration is required if no registration data is found - but once the person installing the software has registered it (following installation), the registration data will be created on the network drive and no other users / computers connected to the internet will need to register. So the person installing the software can specify a network path to store the registration data. (no need to store it in HKLM) The ONLY time the locally stored data would be needed is if a computer that has had the software installed with a modified config file (ie. telling the computer to look on the network for the reg data) is disconnected from the network, and the user tries to access TaskMagic.

Thanks for your reply, Kipling. You asked about the current storage of registration data: the current version of TaskMagic doesn't require registration at all. I wasn't really thinking of using HKCU or the docs folder as the main store for reg data. This was just an additional thing done automatically by the program so that if someone installs to their laptop via the network (or however that would work), a copy of the registration info would be stored locally so that the user could use the software on their laptop when not connected to the network. What I had in mind was: a) by default, require registration on each machine over t'internet. b) BUT allow a path to be specified in tm.config before installation, telling the software where to look for registration info. This means the person installing the software could specify a location on the network to store the registration data, and registration need only be done once. c) each time the programs are run, they look for the registration info in the specified location (if no location specified then they'd look in the programdata folder and/or the HKLM section of the registry). d) if there is a specified path in step c above, and this path is available, and regsitration data is present at that location, copy the data from there to the local machine (BUT THE QUESTION IS WHERE? HKCU was what I suggested as a possibility in my previus post, because Arthur said that user permissions would not allow the data to be stored in HKLM or in the all users directory / program data directory). e) if there is a specified path at step c, but the path is not available, look for the data locally (eg. in HKCU or wherever is the best place to store this - see d above) f) if the data canot be found in any of the above locations, presumably it hasn't been registered, so show the registration screen, requiring the user to input the registration key provided, and to be connected to the internet. g) The first time the school technician installs and runs the software, s/he will arrive at step f above. If they have specified a network path to store the registration data by modifying tm.config before installation, no other users will need to register, unless the network installation isn't applied to their particular computer. Steps d and e are only really needed for those situations where a computer has the programs installed as part of the network installation (and so has the tm.config file installed telling it to look on the network for registration info) and that computer is then used without a connection to the network. Would this work? If so, where is a good place to put the reg data in steps d / e above? I like your idea Kipling. But I'd like to go one step further in the sense that, if possible, as well as having only one exe file, I'd like to have only one installation CD (ie. avoid separate single user / 10 user / site licence versions).