Compiling Foxpro .exe to open from anywhere

In case you're wisely using the latest version of Visual FoxPro, VFP9, here's the skinny on the required files:

VFP 9 Runtime Files
http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~VFP9RuntimeFiles

Here's the articles on what should be done to automate the process using the free InstallShield LE that shiops with VFP7 through VFP9 on the VFP CD:

Walkthrough: Creating a Visual FoxPro Application Setup Program Using InstallShield Express
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnfoxgen7/html/vfpdeploy.asp

'Where is the Setup Wizard?' and Other Annoying InstallShield Questions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnfoxtk02/html/ft02a1.asp

Usually you copy vfpx*.* (where x is the version number) from development \windows\system32 to the other computer.

It worked for me on all versions up to 6. I could not get 7 and 8 running. I did not try with 9.

But I suggest creating a setup.

To add to Carl's comment and disagree with CaptainCyril, please note that the second column ( in the Wiki site) of the list of DLL clearly indicates that certain DLL shouldn't be just copied, but rather should be registered. And maybe one day in a multi-user environment you might question certain behavior of your application that is unexplained (like slow loading) where a simple registration of the DLLs might just prevent that from happening.

I am using version 9, sorry for not mentioning. I have tried adding all my files from the directory I have the foxpro program installed in but it still gives me the same error after going through the installation. Carl, I am not sure what you mean by the 'required files'. The VFP 9 runtime files, where do I get those from? I do not have the msvcr71.dll file in a visual foxpro folder. As far as installshield, do I just dump the folder that contains my VFP program files into it?

I have been trying adding my .exe to installshield with no luck, still getting the error. In installshield is there a certain place I need to add the .exe and the .dll's? Do I even need to include the .dbf files and others that are included in the project? If anyone can tell me what files I need to include in the installshield to get this to run I would greatly appreciate it.

The way I register my dlls if I copy them is:

regsvr32 dllname.dll

One of the problems in registering DLLs for all of this manually is that certain files must be there in place first before that happens.  The InstallShield setup process takes care of that for us.

When I attempted a install on a Windows 98 PC, just to prove VFP9 could run on it, I stumbled a lot at first trying to manually make it install.  You cannot just load the VFP9*.dll files to make it work-- it just will not happen on older  operating systems.  (It may on Windows XP, I'm not sure.)  It needs to have that goofy C dll (msvcr71.dll) in place as well as the GDIPLUS.dll that VFP9 makes heavy use in the area of report writing.  Once those were in place, I seemed to be able to manually register the main vfp9 runtime dll.  

But, again, when there are dependencies in one dll which require the presence of other DLLs to register properly, your install will fail every single time without those other DLLs in place.  As I mentioned earlier about InstallShield, when you choose the BFPRuntime.msm merge module, InstallShield is intelligent enough to determine those dependencies and it automatically selects the msvcr71.dll and the gdiplus one so that VFP9 will register and install properly.

Well, I just successfully made an InstallShield setup that installed the VFP9 runtimes on a virgin Windows 2000 PC.  I still have some issues as to where it ended up putting my original app executable.  But, that is because I didn't quite take the time to understand the terminology in InstallShield as they presented it to me.  I just guessed and figured it would all sort itself out when I ran the final setup on a fresh PC.  And I already had placed the executable and data files in its proper place on the local PC by extracting a .zip file I created from the app folder.  

Because I'm in a hurry, as most of us are, I really just needed InstallShield to place the latest Visual FoxPro 9 RunTime files on the PC so that I can successfully do the subject of the original posted question:  have the ability to open the .exe from anywhere without getting that annoying message of 'Cannot locate the microsoft visual foxpro library'.  The compilation process has nothing to do with getting that done.  It is the one-time (per latest Build from MS) installation of the VFP9 runtime files that is your main task and mine as well.  Once the runtime files are in place, we should all know what to do as VFP9 developers to supply just new .exe builds and potential table structure changes, etc.

I chose to have the final build of my InstallShield work go into a Single Image, which ended up producing about a 7Mb file
called SETUP.exe.  That way, a user on the other can run that and follow the simple standard prompts we are all used to
seeing when we install new "shrink-wrapped" commercial programs and go from there.

But, it seems your latest battle is to figure out what in the heck to put into the InstallShield gauntlet where it will produce something that works  I will attempt to tell you what to put in, even though I'm sure what I did wasn't perfect or the best sequence of events.  But, it gets it done and I don't have time right now to become an InstallShield expert.  I'm not even sure I want to be an InstallShield expert. <s>

Under Files in InstallShield's Specify Application Data area, I added a VFP9 executable that I created to so something could at least be tested once the rest of the files got registered and installed.  The good news is this exe you pick doesn't even have to be your main VFP9 executables you will be running either locally or off of a network server.  It can simply be a very small test exe that merely can get run that says, "Congratulations!  VFP9 works on your PC!" and then exists.  The whole point is to get VFP9 runtimes on the PC and this will get that done.  I found the exe file in the Source Computer's File area and dragged and dropped that exe file name into the Destination Computer's Files area.  Done with that.

Next, right below that Files choice is Redistributables.  To make a setup as small as possible with no extra fat where I might include connectivity driver files and XML, etc., I simply selected Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9 Runtime Libraries.  And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the GDIPLUS and MSVCR71 stuff was automatically selected.  That's all I selected!

Under "Configure the Target System", I created a ShortCut and filled in a bit of info on what it wanted.  This is where I
would get my first clue that where it would put it wasn't the best place.  But, I didn't care-- it was just a placeholder test .exe and a throwaway after I tested that VFP9 was installed and working.

Then I really got going because I'm impatient and don't want to develop installation programs. <s>  I simply skipped all the way down to the Prepare for Release steps and chose Build Your Release.  After filling in a few areas under the Single Image choice, I right-clicked on Single Image and told it to "Build".  It goes through the steps and gives you a log file that you can see if there were problems.  I had no problems.  So, it created a good InstallShield build.  Last step, send it to a destination as the final Setup.exe file.  To get that done, simply go below where you were on the left treeview and choose "Distribute Your Release."  On the subsequent screen, choose the destination where you want that single image file and then click on the Distribute button.  That's it!!!  Of course, remember where you sent it. <g>

While this worked for me, I may have skipped a few filled-in areas to speed up this long answer to a simple question.  I
hope it gives you the will and confidence to get it done for yourself.

I looked back and saw the [INSTALLDIR] value in InstallShield default to c:\Program Files\ + CompanyName + an application folder name.  Way too much and not where I wanted the app executable loaded.  But, as I said, it was a temporary placeholder app that I could delete or move anyway.  I deleted all of that folder location once I saw VFP9 runtime was working.

This should apply to VFP9 as well:

Distributing VFP 8
http://www.alvechurchdata.co.uk/foxfiles.htm

Also, you and I both may want to run something that copies/moves or otherwise does anything but what InstallShield does after InstallShield is done doing its thing.  This KB link may provide us some help:

HOW TO: Run a Post Setup Executable with InstallShield Express
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316907