Thin Client Setup w Vfp8

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Stephen J. Land - 26 Apr 2004 22:39 GMT

All,
I have created and distributed numerous "thin client" Vfp7 applications on
our corporate network. All of the executables, data files, and runtime
libraries [e.g., msvcr70.dll, vfp7r.dll, vfp7renu, and vfp7t.dll] will be in
folders on a network server. The SetUp file is a VB script file that
creates a desktop shortcut to the executable on the network. This helps
since the application footprint is only about 15kb or so. In addition, most
users do not have Administrator rights on their PCs so can't run a regular
SetUp.exe program.

I tried the same technique with an application I converted to Vfp8 from
Vfp7; but the application didn't run. Is Vfp8 constrained or are there
additional files necessary in the application folder?

TIA,

Stephen Land
City of Seattle
Dept. of Planing & Development

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Stefan Wuebbe - 27 Apr 2004 07:44 GMT

One point might be the new GDI+ runtime, see also
http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~VFP8RuntimeFiles~VFP

> the application footprint is only about 15kb or so.

While the local footprint is small, the disadvantage is to have
a lot of additional network traffic, isn't it? Aside from registry /
COM problems, I'd expect that to slow things down...
FWIW, personally I prefer the "loader" maintenance approach,
for example he one described by George Tasker and John Koziol
in their article available at www.universalthread.com

-Stefan

> All,
> I have created and distributed numerous "thin client" Vfp7 applications on
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> City of Seattle
> Dept. of Planing & Development

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Stephen J. Land - 29 Apr 2004 16:56 GMT

Stefan,

In most cases a user is working on a small set of records at a time or a
parameterized view. Since all of the data files need to be on the server
anyway (so everyone can get to them), having the runtimes on the client PC
may not reduce network traffic very much anyway. It seems that the only
traffic savings may be when forms load. Is there another advantage to the
local vs remote application?

Stephen

> One point might be the new GDI+ runtime, see also
> http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~VFP8RuntimeFiles~VFP
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> > City of Seattle
> > Dept. of Planing & Development

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Stefan Wuebbe - 30 Apr 2004 09:56 GMT

Hi Stephen,

Just tried SysInternals' FileMon and .. actually there was less
traffic than I had expected <s>
However, I think while it /almost/ always might work to put the
Vfp runtime files in "proprietary" places -
I just cannot see the advantage in doing so... except you'd save
some time distributing new service packs every here and then,
right?
On the other hand, frequently asked questions, like here in the
groups, seem to indicate several possible issues. For example,
since custom.exe + vfpr*.dll's on a shared drive do not actually
run on the remote machine but locally, there might be version
conflicts when other setups suddenly add vfp*.dlls in the local
places, like program files\common files\ or in the local system32
folder, which are in the search path sequence at runtime.

-Stefan

> Stefan,
>
[quoted text clipped - 43 lines]
> > > City of Seattle
> > > Dept. of Planing & Development

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Stefan Wuebbe - 30 Apr 2004 21:17 GMT

"Stefan Wuebbe" <stefan.wuebbe@gmx.de> schrieb
...

> I just cannot see the advantage in doing so... except you'd save
> some time distributing new service packs every here and then,
> right?

No, actually I can see the advantage in doing so - if it just
would not be kind of risky ...

-Stefan

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Eric den Doop - 27 Apr 2004 08:03 GMT

Hello, Stephen!

SJL> I tried the same technique with an application I converted to Vfp8
SJL> from Vfp7; but the application didn't run. Is Vfp8 constrained or are
SJL> there additional files necessary in the application folder?

Yes, VFP8 needs more files. A complete list can be found here:
http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~VFP8RuntimeFiles

Signature

Eric den Doop
www.foxite.com - The Home Of The Visual FoxPro Experts - Powered By VFP8

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swdev2 - 27 Apr 2004 22:28 GMT

Hullo Stephen -
You have the runtimes for VFP version 7 on the server.

You DO NOT have the runtimes for VFP 8 on the server, RIGHT ?

suggest, if you want to keep the same paradigm, you make a new directory for
your
VFP 8 apps [this will keep your foxuser.dbf files from being tromped on
between the versions]
then modify your 'setup' file a bit .
and go forth .
mondo regards [Bill]

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> All,
> I have created and distributed numerous "thin client" Vfp7 applications on
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> City of Seattle
> Dept. of Planing & Development

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Stephen J. Land - 29 Apr 2004 16:50 GMT

Bill,

For the VFP8 test, I did have the VFP8 runtimes on the server. However, I
only had the equivalent files to the VFP7 runtimes. According to Eric in
the note above, there are additional files necessary. That may have been
the source of the problem.

Regards,
Stephen

> Hullo Stephen -
> You have the runtimes for VFP version 7 on the server.
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
> > City of Seattle
> > Dept. of Planing & Development

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swdev2 - 30 Apr 2004 03:18 GMT

Ah - there are runtimes, and then there are runtimes. I swear this was in a
helpfile somewhere.
oh well. Glad it worked for you .. I found out what they were last year and
automated my build process with vfp and innosetup, so I would actually have
to *DIG* and find the file list ..
Good to know all is well there.
mondo regards [Bill]
--
William Sanders / Electronic Filing Group Remove the DOT BOB to reply via
email.
Mondo Cool TeleCom -> http://www.efgroup.net/efgcog.html
Mondo Cool WebHosting -> http://www.efgroup.net/efglunar.html
Mondo Cool Satellites -> http://www.efgroup.net/sat
VFP Webhosting? You BET! -> http://efgroup.net/vfpwebhosting
mySql / VFP / MS-SQL

> Bill,
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Regards,
> Stephen

[snip]

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