[RESOLVED] Exe on Shared Folder Questions

[charmedcharmer]

Hi guys. Its about time that I do this, I have an application which is being run on several workstations. My problem now is that everytime I update my program, I tediously update all workstations. I was going to use a batch file to update the workstations but we have this network access control program that have so many policies.

So I was thinking of placing the application on a shared folder on a server, then have the workstations run the application using a shortcut pointed to the exe on the server. I haven't tried this before so I have a few questions:

1. Which resources are being used? The workstation's or the PC's?

2. Should there be any precautions I should consider especially that my application is connecting to a database?

3. What exactly is this method called. I want to search it on google and get some more info
Thanks in advance

[Hack]

As long as all dependency files are installed and registered on the workstation, the exe should run from the network without a hitch.

This could cause a lot of network traffic however, depending on how many contiguous users there are.

Obviously, if the server goes down, the app goes down with it.

[mendhak]

1. Workstation. The EXE gets copied to the local machine and is then executed.
2. Those should be taken care of within the code. Other considerations may include allowing users access to that shared folder. They should have your VB6 runtimes or .NET framework present, depending on what you used to write it. If you have class libraries associated with the exe that need to be present in the same folder as the EXE, then it will get complicated, as the DLLs won't get copied over. (Someone confirm this please?)
3. I doubt it has a name, but not entirely sure.

[RobDog888]

1. Workstation. The EXE gets copied to the local machine and is then executed.
2. Those should be taken care of within the code. Other considerations may include allowing users access to that shared folder. They should have your VB6 runtimes or .NET framework present, depending on what you used to write it. If you have class libraries associated with the exe that need to be present in the same folder as the EXE, then it will get complicated, as the DLLs won't get copied over. (Someone confirm this please?)
3. I doubt it has a name, but not entirely sure.

1. Correct.
2. Proper disconnection and cleanup code. Multiuser access will be an issue if using an Access db. IMO, its safer to just place the exe in the network folder/share and have the dependancies in place on each workstation.
3. Maybe search on "Run exe from network share".

[RobDog888]

Just remembering, on #2 if you include the dlls and supporting files in the network folder they dont get copied over, true, but when the exe is run if the working directory is the network location then the exe wil look in the app.path location first before it looks to the system32 or windows directory which will be the network location. This can add to system resources being used and also slow down the performance of the app due to the increase in network traffic and latency.

[charmedcharmer]

Thank you very much. It's been a great help. Sorry for the late response though. I will try it this time around. Again, thank you.

[Kasracer]

A Web Service would be safer and abstract the database calls to prevent others from getting your connection strings and other information (for #2).