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Thread: Question about VB6 and Windows 7

  1. #1

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    Question about VB6 and Windows 7

    Hi,

    I'm testing my VB6 program and using the PDW. I installed virtual box and installed the Windows 7 trial. I ran my program and it installed. However, I sent my program to my mate, who runs Windows 7, 32-bit version and it didn't run on his computer, (both Windows 7 have same build and no service packs, very standard). I don't know much about Windows 7 because I have used Vista and XP till now. I want to test Windows 8 soon, basically any newer OS from Microsoft.

    Should I be aware of any surprises from Windows 7 and Windows 8? I did post a thread some time ago and there was a Microsoft article about a "space" being between the .CAB file, but I haven't tested it AFTER I fixed this problem. I'm thinking of buying Windows 7 to test.

    I realised this should be in "Application Deployment"

    Thanks

    Si

  2. #2
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    Re: Question about VB6 and Windows 7

    If you have successfully been developing for Vista systems with UAC intact then this does become a deployment issue.


    There should be no problems with most PDW installs on Win7 or Win8, 32- or 64-bit, especially if these are working on Vista with UAC intact. If you haven't tested on Vista 64-bit yet that could be an issue, but it doesn't seem to apply in your case.

    It is possible to get into trouble using the PDW if you haven't maintained it. For example there are out of date .DEP files for many libraries that tell the PDW to include sub-dependencies that are no longer appropriate to redistribute. This is normally handled by updating the [Do Not Redist] section of VB6DEP.INI in the PDW's folder under Program Files to strike out the files you should not redistribute.

    Note that this means you may need to keep several copies of VB6DEP.INI around if you are still developing for Win9x as well as modern NT-based systems.

    Alternatively you can strike out inappopriate dependencies manually in the Wizard each time you run it to create a new setup.

    Or you could move to something like 1999's VSI 1.1 which replaced the PDW back then. This can be used to create Installer packages that conditionally install items based on the OS of the target machine. You can also use the Merge Modules that Microsoft provides for the component libraries that shipped with VB6 (Winsock, RichTextbox, etc., etc.). These have the OS-install rules built in.


    Now in most cases a PDW-created setup with things in it that should not be redistributed should work OK in Vista or later. Modern versions of Windows are smarter than XP about chuckling and silently ignoring attempts by a legacy setup package to over-write system components.

    Of course rule-breakers like Inno can be vicious and do significant damage if the setup scripts used are not exactly right. However in most cases the OS will protect itself, so the biggest hazard using Inno is breaking other applications - typically when you uninstall an Inno-deployed application.

    But... there are some things that can get by the OS protection even using PDW setups. They won't break Windows but might result in application failure.


    "Didn't run" doesn't tell us much. Could you (1.) provide any more description of the problem, and (2.) post the contents of your setup.lst file?


    Regarding testing, Microsoft does offer time-limited test VHDs for several versions of Windows. These are primarily meant for IE testing, but can be used for any sort of testing. They are normally meant to be run in Virtual PC but can probably be coerced to run in VirtualBox if you prefer:

    Windows Virtual PC VHDs for testing websites with different Internet Explorer versions

    Do not install the VB6 development system on test systems. This will mask many issues, and basically invalidates your testing.

    Make use of the "undo disk" option in Virtual PC. This lets you create a stable VHD, and then following each test session you can roll back your changes during "system shutdown" of the virtual machine. That gives you a clean system for each test.

  3. #3

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    Re: Question about VB6 and Windows 7

    Is there any differences between trial Operating Systems and a real copy of an Operating System for testing purposes? (except the obvious the trial use is for a limited time). What I mean is, if I test my Visual Basic program on a trial copy of Windows 7 (i.e.on a clean system, with no "VB6 environment/helper programs installed) would this be the SAME SIMULATION as running my program on a real, purchased copy of Windows 7?

    Would the program behave the same way? If so, that means I can test on trial (free) Operating Systems and not purchase a real Operating System (mainly Windows 7,8)

    In a way, a "clean" trial version of Windows might be a good test, compared to an "unclean" windows system, because it won't have the helper/VB6 files with it, and the program will be "on its own" so to speak.
    Last edited by batman321; Mar 28th, 2012 at 05:09 PM.

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