NewMatic

Do your customers have a Windows network? Wouldn't it be convenient if newer versions of your application could be easily and automatically supplied to each user on the network?

NewMatic adds code to your Delphi project and uses a small (19 Kb!) auxiliary program to automatically transfer newer versions of your application to your users.

Requirements:

A Windows network and a shared directory accessible by the users of your application.

Basic Use:

Run NewMatic.
Select the project to modify.
Change the executable to be updated.
Select the path to the network share point that will contain any updated versions of your application.
Press the Do It! button.
Recompile your project.

Your project should now be modified for automatic updates from the network.

You must also install NMUpdate.exe in one of the following directories:

The application directory
The System or System32 directory (preferred)
The Windows directory
Any directory on the Path

Only the executable file of the application will be available for new distribution unless you create a setup program to be run. Any changes you may make to DLLs, Tables, OCXs, or anything else external to the main executable file will have to be distributed in the normal way or by your setup program.

Any updates to your application are put into the shared network directory. When your users start the application, they will be asked whether they want the newer version:

New Version?

If they do, the new version will be copied and started.

If the location of the shared directory is changed, or you switch to/from a setup-type program, the entries in the configuration file can be edited to change where the application looks for updates.

Regarding self-extracting/self-running setup programs:
You might want to check out the Delphi ZIP freeware packages at one of these sites:

http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/Vleghert/

The latest version contains an example of how to create a self-extracting archive that will run a program after extraction. For instance, you could create an InstallShield installation, zip up the setup files, and run setup.exe after they are extracted, automatically installing the newer version of your app.

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