How To Display a ReadMe File at the End of a Custom Setup (190814)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0
This article was previously published under Q190814

SUMMARY

This article demonstrates how to modify the Setup Toolkit project (Setup1.vbp) to display a text file, such as a ReadMe.Txt, at the end of an application's setup.

NOTE: Microsoft Technical Support does not support the modification of the setup process or any of the setup files. Support is provided for the Package and Deployment Wizard on an "as is" basis only.

MORE INFORMATION

Follow these steps to modify the Setup Toolkit project to display a text file at the end of Setup:

Step-by-Step Example

NOTE: This example assumes that NotePad is already installed on the end user's computer, and it is located in the same folder as Windows.
  1. Create a text file named ReadMe.txt.
  2. Make a backup copy of the VB98\Wizards\PDWizard\Setup1 folder.
  3. Open VB98\Wizards\PDWizard\Setup1\Setup1.vbp.
  4. Open the basSetup1 module, and go to the ExitSetup Sub procedure.
  5. At the beginning of Sub ExitSetup, add the following statement: 
          Dim vRetVal As Variant
  6. Locate the following statement in Sub ExitSetup: 
          If IsWindowsNT4WithoutSP2() Then
    ABOVE this statement, add the following statement: 
          vRetVal = Shell(gstrWinDir & "NotePad.exe " & gstrDestDir & _
         "ReadMe.txt", 1)
  7. Save the project, and make Setup1.exe.

    NOTE: Save Setup1.exe in the VB98\Wizards\PDWizard folder. When you save setup1.exe in this folder, you will be bounced back to VB98\Wizards\PDWizard\Setup1 unless you click the original setup1.exe in that folder to overwrite it explicitly
  8. Use the Package and Deployment Wizard to create a Standard Setup Package for a simple project, such as Calc.vbp. In the Included Files screen, add the ReadMe.txt file you created earlier.
  9. Run Setup.exe from the file distribution set you created in step 8. If the application's Setup completes successfully, NotePad displays the ReadMe.txt file at the end of Setup.
  10. Restore the original Setup Toolkit files before using the Package and Deployment Wizard to distribute applications that do not have a ReadMe file.

REFERENCES

"Programmer's Guide," "Distributing Your Applications" chapter, "The Setup Toolkit" section
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/1/2004
Keywords:kbAppSetup kbhowto kbwizard KB190814
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.