Re: How to register my application

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There is no concept of "registering" an application unless it is automation-enabled.

The rest is just "installing" it.

The problem with mechanisms that don't involve installers is that you can't really know if
you have the right collection of DLLs. This is more than the MFC and C runtime libraries;
a full-blown app might be using a couple dozen DLLs, many of which are considered
"redistributable". The complications arise because they come in suites; so you have to
have version N of DLL A, which requires version M of DLL B, and both require version K of
DLL C. Installers make sure that the suites are consistent, both internally consistent
with each other and consistent with the version of the runtime you use, whether that
runtime is statically linked or dynamically linked.

Trying to figure out how to get all the Registry entries created to get something in the
Add/Remove program mechanism, and make sure that it is going to be handled across all
possible releases of the operating system, gets to be quite challenging.

I've written installers. Years ago, when they were, relatively speaking, easy to write.
Today they are *much* harder to write.

But the bottom line is that the 200K is there because you can't assume that the stuff you
need is already installed, or that the right versions of it are installed, so it includes
that stuff. If you just copy the .exe and/or .dll files of your own, you may find that
you have a support nightmare as the many variations of the many DLLs already present on
the target machine refuse to behave in the way your code presumes they will.

I've been on the wrong side of tech support calls when this happens, and it isn't a pretty
place to be. These days, I tell my clients that if they don't use an installer, I can't
help them support in the field. Even at my outrageous rates, it isn't worth the hassle.
joe


On 4 Oct 2006 23:17:51 -0700, anup.kataria@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

I have a application I want to register that application with the
current operating system.

I do not wish to use Installationshields or anything else. because It
is a downloadable instance and using installation shields will increase
the size by 200KB.

I wish to do that one programattically using VC++. I wish to get the
application to the program file list and get the application in the add
remove programs


Can any body guide me ?


Thanks
Anup
Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm
.

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