i need help with deployment! :(

[nickjf89]

OK, I FINALLY finished the software I've been working on for the last 4 months or so.

This is my first ever application, I've only been developing for a year and I've pretty much taught myself (with the help of forums ).

So, I built a setup project, and everything went fine on my PC (running XP). The software is running perfectly with no issues.

I tested the download and install process on 2 other PCs (one was Vista, other was 7) and I got the same error on both, which was that they needed SQL Server Compact installed.

My software runs local databases, by the way.

So I installed the latest version on SQL Server Compact and then that obviously did something as I got a different error after that:

"internal error: cannot open the shared memory region".

Does anyone know what this means?

If so, please tell me what each PC that runs my software needs to have installed on it to work properly.

I don't have a clue where to start unfortunately.

Please give me some ideas, I'm gutted that I finally finished the hard part, and the easiest yet most important part of testing and making it available to the people who want it is causing me hige problems

Thanks in advance.
Nick

[MartinLiss]

I moved your thread to here from VB.Net

[nickjf89]

ok thanks. sorry about that

[dilettante]

... I'm gutted that I finally finished the hard part, and the easiest yet most important part of testing and making it available to the people who want it is causing me hige problems

This is a huge misapprehension.

Deployment is a complex subject and there is no magic bullet out there for it. There are lots of issues involved that vary with each application. People make some good money helping people properly package applications for deployment.


Here I would hazard a guess that you have bulled ahead ignoring one of the design issues you need to address before writing a line of code. It looks like a common one we see here often though: You didn't think about your application's deployed footprint. Don't feel bad, people who have been hacking away for years (sometimes paid for it) do the same sort of thing.

An application's footprint includes a number of things, but the most relevant one is to avoid putting read/write data files and registry keys into protected locations.

Let me guess: You put this .SDF file or files under Program Files/Programs.

People often ran XP systems logged on as admin all day long, or they left critical directories unsecured in the manner of Win9x. That was then (2001) and this is now (2007 and later) and current versions of Windows are not as forgiving.


There could be connection management issues that might cause the same error, but that's my guess based on the limited information provided.

Look for a FAQ here on the subject and its resolution.

[nickjf89]

yep, you've got me there. i'm a complete beginner at deployment, and yes i just put them into the program files.

the program runs without error if run as an administrator.

can this be fixed if the files are put elsewhere?

cheers

[kaliman79912]

This is a quote from the MSDN site: If you experience any errors with the prefix "Internal error" while you use SQL Server Compact 3.5, try the operation again as the error might not reproduce. If the error appears again, you should immediately contact Microsoft Product Support Services. The internal errors cannot be resolved by common troubleshooting techniques.

[dilettante]

can this be fixed if the files are put elsewhere?

The best way to know for sure is to try it. The symptoms suggest this is probably the problem though, and even if it isn't there is no way the program can update the database stored there without running with administrator rights.

[nickjf89]

thanks guys for the suggestions.

for now, if I get all users to use the program with admin rights, it will be fine.

ideally, though, I want to find some way of stopping this.

also, the reason I put the databases and everything in the application folder in program files is because if i didn't, I would get an error when running the program that the databases could not be found...so the program thinks they should be in there, and i've no idea how to change that...