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NewMatic Web Update

Changes from v1.3 : fixed a teeny resource leak.

Drop the component on the form, set a few properties, have NMWUpdate.exe sitting somewhere on the path...and your application will be able to check for newer versions of itself over the Web.

Well, okay. There is more to it than that. But not much more... You'll also need a version-information file sitting on the web along with the newer versions of your application. Here's an example of the ver-info file's format:

Version=1.1.1.2
Download=http://www.genjerdan.com/pub/WebTest.exe
Path=<INSTALLDIR>
Run=<INSTALLDIR>\WebTest.exe

If no Run data is supplied, the default is the calling application.

The file uses directory specifiers much like InstallShield.

• <WINDIR> - expands to the Windows directory
• <WINSYSDIR> - expands to the Windows System or System32 directory
• <INSTALLDIR> - expands to the calling application's directory
• <TEMPDIR> - expands to the system's Temp directory

Subdirectories can be used with the directory specifiers, i.e. if the calling app is in C:\MyApp, then

Path=<INSTALLDIR>\Help

would download the file into the C:\MyApp\Help directory. For more detailed samples of how to use the version-information file, see the How-To page.

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Obvious things, which I'll mention anyway

• If you have a web server on your intranet (LAN), you can update applications internal to your organization using this, rather than the LAN version of NewMatic.
• The version-information file and the updates file(s) don't have to be on the same server.
• Different versions of your application can be maintained by using different version-information and update files. For instance: one set for unregistered users, and one for those who have registered.

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Component Properties

(design & run-time)

• CanQuit
  - whether the application can close and check for a newer version of itself. Useful for preventing the closing of the application if, for example, there are open files which need to be saved first.
• CurrentVersion
  - the current version number. It must be in the Major.Minor.Release.Build format. If it is not (and either UserVerInfo is False, or there is no version number embedded in the application), then a version of 0.0.0.0 will be used.
• URL
  - the URL of the VersionInfo file on the web site. For instance, http://www.genjerdan.com/pub/nwt.nfo
• UseVerInfo
  - the version number will be taken from the embedded version number of the application. If the application has no embedded version number, it will use the version set in the CurrentVersion property.

(run-time only)

• Proxy
  - your application can set the proxy server address here, if the user needs to go through a proxy server.
• ProxyPort
  - your application can set the proxy server port here. It defaults to 80.
• ProxyUser
  - if the user's proxy server requires a login, set it here.
• ProxyPassword
  - if the user's proxy server requires a password, set it here.
• Username
  - if the web server requires a login name, set it here.
• Password
  - if the web server requires a password, set it here.
• CurVer
  - (Read Only) the actual version number, if present.

Examples

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