dBASE Plus and InstallShield Express
by Jean-Pierre Martel, editor of the dBulletin

Introduction

If you received InstallShield Express (ISE) with a previous version of dBASE and would like to deploy your dBASE Plus applications with it, your copy of ISE will have to be updated. This will be done in three steps. The following methodology is valid if you are using ISE version 2.01 only. To know which version you have, run InstallShield, and call the Help|About… menu item. Version 2.01 is the one that came with Visual dBASE 7.01. If you are using the version that came with VdB 7.0, the following instructions will not work.

From VdB 7.01 to dBASE Plus

If you moved directly from VdB 7.01 to dBASE Plus (without installing VdB 7.5, nor dB2K), you will have to update your copy of ISE with a patch that will allow you to use the version of the Borland Database Engine (BDE) that came with dBASE Plus. First follow the instructions Michael Rotteck gave in our magazine: these instructions are different for the users of the English (bu03bde5.htm) and for the German (bu03ise5.htm) version of Visual dBASE. Once that’s done, follow the instructions given in this article.

From VdB 7.5 to dBASE Plus

If you did upgrade to VdB 7.5 before dBASE Plus, I am assuming that you already followed Michael Rotteck’s English or German instructions and updated your copy of ISE. If you didn’t, you will have to do it otherwise you will have problems with the Borland Database Engine (BDE). If you followed his instructions, there is nothing else to do but to follow the instructions given in this article.

From dB2K to dBASE Plus

If you have upgraded from dB2K to dBASE Plus, you might have followed the instruction given in our previous article on how to update ISE in order to make it work with dB2K. If you did, follow the instructions given hereunder. On the other hand, if you didn’t, don’t panic: you can update your copy of ISE without following the steps given in our previous article. In this case, you just need to know that most of the values to be changed will be different from the ones given in our examples.

First step: Isdepend.ini

First, we will edit an ASCII file called `Isdepend.ini`, located in the folder where ISE was installed. These changes are needed to update the ISE interface. We will change five entries in the`[Options]` and the`[Visual dBASE Runtime]` sections, at the beginning of that ini file. If you don't want to make these changes yourself, just download the new version of `Isdepend.ini` from the link at the end of this article and copy it in the folder where ISE was installed. Change:

| `; for BDE 5.01 / 5.1.0` `[Options]` `Option1=Visual dBASE Runtime` `Option2=BDE (Borland Database Engine)` `Option3=SQL Links` `Option4=Local InterBase Server Files` `Option5=Local InterBase Windows Tools` `Option6=Local InterBase Command Line Tools` `Visual dBASE RuntimeID=251` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID=101` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID2=99` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID3=98` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID4=97` `SQL LinksID=102` `Local InterBase Server FilesID=171` `Local InterBase Server FilesID2=172` `Local InterBase Server FilesID3=175` `Local InterBase Windows ToolsID=173` `Local InterBase Command Line ToolsID=174` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)Setting=1` `SQL LinksSetting=1` `;` `; The following sections tell what other sections are referenced by each` `; section listed above` `;` `[ObjName]` `BDE=BDE (Borland Database Engine)` `[Visual dBASE Runtime]` `Name=Visual dBASE Runtime Files` `Dest=<WINSYSDIR>` `ReferTo1=VdBase Support`

to:

| `; for BDE 5.01 / 5.1.0` `[Options]` `Option1=dBASE Plus Runtime` `Option2=BDE (Borland Database Engine)` `Option3=SQL Links` `Option4=Local InterBase Server Files` `Option5=Local InterBase Windows Tools` `Option6=Local InterBase Command Line Tools` `dBASE Plus RuntimeID=251` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID=101` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID2=99` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID3=98` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)ID4=97` `SQL LinksID=102` `Local InterBase Server FilesID=171` `Local InterBase Server FilesID2=172` `Local InterBase Server FilesID3=175` `Local InterBase Windows ToolsID=173` `Local InterBase Command Line ToolsID=174` `BDE (Borland Database Engine)Setting=1` `SQL LinksSetting=1` `;` `; The following sections tell what other sections are referenced by each` `; section listed above` `;` `[ObjName]` `BDE=BDE (Borland Database Engine)` `[dBASE Plus Runtime]` `Name=dBASE Plus Runtime Files` `Dest=<WINSYSDIR>` `ReferTo1=dBASE Plus Support`

Second step: Swdepend.ini

Secondly, we will edit the ASCII file called `Swdepend.ini`, found in the folder where ISE was installed. ISE uses the information from this file to create the specific`.iwz` for each project setup. Once the changes are made in `Swdepend.ini`, these changes are reflected in all the`.iwz` made by ISE.

`Swdepend.ini` keeps track of the files that are used by the dBASE runtime and the Borland Database Engine (among other things). To deploy the dBASE Plus runtime instead of the dB2K runtime, only the section called `[VdBase Support]` has to be changed from:

| `[VdBase Support]` `Src=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\dBASE\dB2K\0.1\RootDir` `SrcSub=Bin` `Uses1=db2krun.exe` `; the following item is valid for the English version of dB2K` `Uses2=db2kr_en.dll` `Uses3=Resource.dll` `Uses4=Ctl3d32 file`

to:

| `[dBASE Plus Support]` `Src=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\dBASE\PLUS\series1\RootDir` `SrcSub=Runtime` `Uses1=PLUSrun.exe` `; the following item is valid for the English version of dBASE Plus` `Uses2=PLUSr_en.dll` `Uses3=Resource.dll` `Uses4=Ctl3d32 file`

Please note that the line `Uses2=db2kr_en.exe` is for the users of the English version of dBASE Plus. You will have to change this line to:
`Uses2=PLUSr_de.dll` if you are using the German version
`Uses2=PLUSr_es.dll` if you are using the Spanish (Español) version
`Uses2=PLUSr_it.dll` if you are using the Italian version
`Uses2=PLUSr_ja.dll` if you are using the Japanese version

To make your job easier, if you don't want to make these changes yourself, just download the new version of `Swdepend.ini` from the link at the end of this article and copy it in the folder where ISE was installed.

Important note: For these changes to take effect, you will have to load ISE, open a project, uncheck the dBASE Plus runtime checkbox (in the section called General Options), then check it again before you create your first deployment script under dBASE Plus.

Third step: the first installation script

For the last step, click the Keys button under the section Make Registry Changes. Beside the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, there is a + sign: click on it, then click the + sign beside Software and the one beside dBASE. Highlight the key dB2K and click the Modify Key… pushbutton. In the Registry Modify Key dialog box, change the key value from `dB2K` to `Plus` (not `dBASE Plus`) and push the OK pushbutton.

Back in the Make Registry Changes dialog box, the key dB2K is now renamed Plus. Click the + sign beside it to reveal the 0.1 sub-key and highlight it. Click again the Modify Key… pushbutton and rename that sub-key from `0.1` to `series1`. Click the OK pushbutton to accept these changes.

These steps, once completed, will set the new default values for any installation script, whenever you are creating a new installation script or opening an existing one.

The dBASE Plus interface doesn’t offer a means to access directly ISE through its menu (the Build|Create Install Program… menu choice doesn’t exist anymore). So once a project has been created under dBASE Plus, the only means to deploy the application with ISE will be to access it by double-clicking the `Isx.exe` file in the folder where ISE was installed (or through a shortcut.) The rest will be as easy as it used to be.

To download the new version of Isdepend.ini and Swdepend.ini, click here
(it is a 2Kb zipped file)

The author would like to thank Robert W. Newman, his proofreader, for the improvements he brought to this text.