updating of app exe. file

[ocw]

hihi,,

recently, i have installed an application on some stations. The application is yet bug free. but due to the testing stage, i need to run it on some other machines. However, whenever there is an newer updates i will need to go to each single machine to do an update which is seem quite tedous for me.

i am thinking of downloading the most updated exe file from the web server so that evertime when the user login using the application, it will check for the most updated application exe, download it into the application folder, and over-ride the old version.

i have have tried it when the application is running, but fails cos the file is executing. The most ideal example is like anti-virus application or Windows(OS) which prompt user to automactically download the most resent file and updates the application.

or is there any other better way to do it beside sending out e-mails to them and ask them the do the update? [;>

???
ocw

[Maven]

hihi,,

recently, i have installed an application on some stations. The application is yet bug free. but due to the testing stage, i need to run it on some other machines. However, whenever there is an newer updates i will need to go to each single machine to do an update which is seem quite tedous for me.

i am thinking of downloading the most updated exe file from the web server so that evertime when the user login using the application, it will check for the most updated application exe, download it into the application folder, and over-ride the old version.

i have have tried it when the application is running, but fails cos the file is executing. The most ideal example is like anti-virus application or Windows(OS) which prompt user to automactically download the most resent file and updates the application.

or is there any other better way to do it beside sending out e-mails to them and ask them the do the update? [;>

???
ocw

You could do it no problem with an external patch program.

[Joacim Andersson]

What you can do is to have another smaller EXE file that is used as the launcher of your application. This EXE will check for updates and if one exist download it (or ask before doing so) and then launch your app. If no update is available it will simply launch your app.

[ocw]

hihi..

i am now trying to create a new exe file to download the file throught FTP. the problem is that how can i check the date of the file from the web server? So that i am able to know if myh application needs an update.

???
ocw

[bat711]

What I do is for this is create a text file that contains a version number or in your case a date would work, place it on the server and then read this file from my application which has a text file locally and included with the install package that contains it's own current version number or build date. Then just compare them if the one on the server is newer, download. If not launch the application.


EDIT:

I use a method like Joacim suggested to do this. So this would be a small .EXE that just pops up some message boxes to prompt the user for whether or not they would like to download the update.