On Feb 5, 10:17 pm, Andre Kostur <nntps...@kostur.netwrote:
"Jon Turlington" <j...@ndemand.comwrote in news:1170731660.632715.219820
@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
I need to develop a CD slpash screen that runs without having to
install any frameworks, runtime environments, etc.
Can someone recommend a language to do this, I know VB, know Java(a
little and can learn it quickly), C/C++ is a bit foreign to me but I
think I could handle it.
Need unbiased opinions.
Unbiased opinion: You're asking the wrong crowd. You're asking a very
Win32-specific question (I suppose Win64 as well...). comp.lang.c++
discusses Standard C++ only. You're far better off asking in a newsgroup
with "microsoft" in its name.
He's right, but I guess I felt sorry for you (especially since you're
still on Windows instead of Ubuntu, tee hee). So, here's what I
suggest, based on my experience. You need to learn at least C or C#
for this, and Visual C++.NET is probably the option for you on your
given platform, although I have to hack and spit up when saying ".NET"
in a given sentence, as if Micro$oft suddenly discovered how to make
their products work for the Internet. Anyway, C++ might be overkill.
Okay, once on C or C#, you need to learn what the heck a static
library and static application is and learn how to make one. Basically
what this means is that instead of using the framework (shared DLLs)
on Windows which might not be there on a given system either now or in
the future, your static libraries are compiled for a lower level than
that and are compiled directly into the single EXE. When your CD is
inserted, it calls a little hidden INI file (of which I've forgotten
the name, but if you stick in a CD that does this, go looking for one
and you'll find it). You also have to burn the CD in a particular
format. (This is documented on Microsoft's website.) Okay, once you
have that, the INI file says what to launch, and you tell it the name
of your single EXE that has everything inside to draw that graphic
image on the screen. It's not going to be that difficult to use C# to
draw this and wait in a loop until it has copied certain installer
files out to the %temp% folder to then begin your other application
you were hoping to load. And I hope Microsoft has still permitted a
way for people to compile everything into a single EXE rather than
require runtime libraries on the system, at least with C#, C, or C++.
(Granted, yeah, every other language might require the runtime.)
Now, if you want to just purchase a product that does this, I think
InstallShield sells something called DemoShield. You basically use
DemoShield to make exactly what you're talking about here, and then
use InstallShield to build the installer for the rest of your
application. (InstallShield, that is, unless you're making a
presentation kind of CD instead of software.)
