# VB6 packaging and deployment wizard



## sara_23apr (Jun 19, 2005)

Hi all
I am new to VB and need some help....i dont know if these questions are silly. But they are really eating my brains right now

1) I need help on VB6 "packaging and deployment wizard". 
I am able to package the product and even deploy it.
I need to know how to include a end user license agreement file (EULA)
before the installation .
If the user does not accept the conditions and clicks the exit button, it should quit the installation.
Is there any tutorial online which explains the programming part of setup1.exe? I tried to search MSDN online and i went crazy
2) Can somebody tell me how to refresh the VB data reports screen.
3) can i make the trial version of the product expire in 30 days.(even when system date is changed by user)

any help is truely appreciated.

regards
Sara


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## Emission (Jun 22, 2005)

well im assuming since you say your new to VB, you'd be incapable of creating your own trial period coding, or adapting your own installation rules. If you are incapable of that, it is a tad tricky, then i suggest you use teh internet to aid your cause. 

You can download free programs that give you teh ability to create your own installations for any files. unfortunatly the one i have used in the past i have completly forgotten  sorry.. but its out there, with it you can have activation codes, agreement notes, im not entirely sure about trial periods but mebbeh.. Th only thing they get back is a small advertisment that users will see at teh end of installation, nothing too bothersome. 

Hope that moderatly helps


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## Gibbs (Feb 28, 2005)

If you decide to use code activation then either don't store the code in the VB executable as unicode as it can be seen with notepad, or by dissasembling easy as pie. Use encryption at the bare minimum. I haven't seen any really effective open source ways to do this in VB, so look at www.pscode.com and do what you can to make them better. For installation packages I use Inno Setup Compiler which is free, but requires coding. It's fairly simple though, heres an example:


```
[Setup]
AppName=My Program
AppVerName=My Program version 1.5
DefaultDirName={pf}\My Program
DisableProgramGroupPage=yes
UninstallDisplayIcon={app}\MyProg.exe

[Files]
Source: "MyProg.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "MyProg.hlp"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "Readme.txt"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: isreadme

[Icons]
Name: "{commonprograms}\My Program"; Filename: "{app}\MyProg.exe"
Name: "{userdesktop}\My Program"; Filename: "{app}\MyProg.exe"
```
Alternatively you can use Microsofts "Installer" (cant remember the exact name) which comes with an interface similiar to Visual BASIC, and is really easy to add files etc, and is free.

Many programmes include EULA as a simple text file called eula.txt, so that could be done.

You could also read and write to an ini file and set a value to 0 so if they click Command2 (decline) it exits and doesn't change the value. However if they click Command1 (accept) it writes the value 1 which is read on form_load so the EULA form doesn't open on startup...

Just a few suggestions anyhow.


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## sara_23apr (Jun 19, 2005)

Hi Emission and Gibbs

Thanks for the valuable inputs
Sara


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