I recently created my first Windows package for a small app I made using Kivy. I have a few questions with regard to running the app.
First, is there a way to get the app to run without a record log popping up in another window? It is just ugly and doesn't seem like something I want in my final "product".
Second, how can I run the app from my desktop? Right now I have a shortcut placed on my desktop, but if I wanted to send my app to a friend, how could I send it to them where they can simply have an icon on their desktop to click on?
Thanks!
The entire process is done in 2 steps.
Step 1: Make the windows executable files (not Python files)
You'll need to use PyInstaller to create EXE for Windows. Here's the link
https://kivy.org/doc/stable/guide/packaging-windows.html
You will notice a new folder created where all the files are kept along with the application executable file.
Step 2: Pack these into a Single Installer File (EXE you are looking for)
You can use a third part software like InstallForge to create a single package installer for these files.
This EXE file can be share with anyone and they can install the program just like any other windows software
Related
I wrote a Win-32 desktop application in 1999 and have maintained it through the various iterations of Windows ever since. It didn't need a 64-bit address space so I never bothered to migrate it to the 64-bit apis.
Until Win 10 came along, I could type < the first few letters of my app's name> and the app would run.
In Win 10, I have to double click on the app to get it to run. If I try the app's folder and its contents show in the start menu but not the app itself. I look under all apps and the app isn't there. I've added a shortcut to the start menu but even that hint isn't enough for Windows to find the app. I tried creating a bat file that would fire off the app and placed the bat file in Programs Folder but that failed.
I never wrote an installer for the app. The app lives in its own folder which I create by dragging it from a CD or network drive as I have migrated between all the Windows iterations since Win-98.
Is there now some xml file I must create that says "This is an app. Please Microsoft, include it in the start menu?" I had thought *.exe would suffice but apparently not. Perhaps *.exe code must now reside in Programs Folder, no exceptions allowed?
If it makes any difference, the application is written in C and compiled in Visual Developer 2008. It reads kid's handwritten responses to arithmetic questions.
More info I've dug up...
I noticed that Python shows up in Windows search but PHP doesn't. IIRC, I installed python with an installer whereas php was unzipped into its current location.
That establishes that a program need not reside in C:\Program Folder to show up in Start-search.
Then I discover that Python has a shortcut in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs but PHP doesn't. "That's it!" I think. Nope. Start-search now shows the folder I placed there but not the shortcut to the program. So residence in the start menu folder doesn't do it.
I am obnoxed.
..even more info...
I recompiled the entire project and now search finds the executable which suggests start-search is broken. Moreover, start-search only displays the app if I completely type its name. In Win 7, just the first few letters suffice as is the case with most executables in win10.
The app still doesn't appear in the all apps section but then again, neither do the autodesk apps I have installed. OTOH, the autodesk apps appear by typing just a few letters.
At this point, it appears win10 start-search is broken.
Most .exe files don't appears in Windows Search under Win10 unless they are installed in program files folder... I try to find a way to circumvent this limitation cause lot of my files are portable applications on another drive.
In meantime here's a Workaround: Make a folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\DummyApps" and copy the shortcut of the app you want to be listed in "Search Results" in the DummyApps folder.
I've made a shorcut of "DummyApps" on my desktop to drop shortcut of programs I want to access by the search.
Regards
When you say
I've added a shortcut to the start menu but even that hint isn't enough for Windows to find the app
do you mean that you added a shortcut here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs ?
If so, did you restart your pc (or at least explorer.exe)?
Adding a shortcut to the location above and restarting explorer.exe worked for me and it even added the app to the recently added apps section. Hopefully that helps.
step 1:win10 +x, open cmd adminstration mode
step 2:input 'start powershell' in cmd
step 3:input 'Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}' in powershell
I have created a WPF application. I want to make installer file (exe) for this application.
This application also uses some other 3rd party files (bat files); which i have zipped.
I want to unzip this file while installing and set the path of unzipped dir in Path variable also.
I got a link http://www.msdotnet.co.in/2012/06/how-to-create-setup-fileexe-file-from.html#.U3GT7YGSzxp
which tells how to create a installer file.
How to achieve unzipped part and setting environment vairable while making installer?
Thanks
Take a look at wix from Microsoft.
It can be run standalone, but is great run from within visual studio. You write a small xml file detailing what you want installed, and it does the rest.
To run a zip command, use a CustomAction.
Search for Install-shield. It is old tool but having good scripting capability like what you are expecting (i.e) Unzipping the folder and dealing with path environment variable
Use Inno Setup (http://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) or NSIS (http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page).
Both are free (open source) installation systems with many possibilities and huge community around (even here on SO).
They are really easy to use (especially Inno) and they are powerful so it is easy to achieve your required functionality.
Take a look at Stall:
https://github.com/jamesqo/Stall
It's an OSS project that lets you install your app from the command line, no configuration required.
Example Usage:
stall path/to/YourApp -e YourApp.exe -i YourApp.exe
This installs your app straight to the user's computer without having to make an intermediary MSI.
If you have to unzip files as well, you may want to just consider a simple batch files that downloads the binaries + unzips the contents + runs Stall.
Let's say that I have created a form or a console application. This form application's only dependency is .NET Framework (not a 3rd library) and application doesn't have any kind of requirements. What it does is to take a file and transforms to something else.
Does this application need to be installed? Can I just copy .exe file that is under \bin folder and share it?
First, you need to make sure that Copy Local is set to true for all the references of your start up project. Setting copy local to true will make sure that the DLLs get copied to the output directory. Then, build the solution and copy all the files from your output directory to any machine where you want to run the application. The application should work, as long as it has the appropriate .NET framework installed.
Here's a link about how to set copy local to true: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t1zz5y8c%28v=vs.100%29.aspx
There are 2 Ways to Do This... I just did this 20 Min Ago :)
Method 1 : Right Click on Your Project, Publish, Choose Location For
The installer. This installer can be copied onto other machines, installed and run
Method 2 : Your bin/release folder will contain .exe files which need to be copied and Installed, i prefer the 1st method. It avoids missing important / Needed Files for execution
Just a Side Note. Make Sure the Output Type Is of Console Type (Right Click on project... Output type...), Some windows applications give Problems when Publishing and Installing them due to the frameworks that might be missing
I have built a desktop version of my extjs app using Sencha desktop packager trial. It has created an output folder with a lot of dll files and an .exe file. The executable runs ok when i open it from within this folder but once i move the .exe outside it no longer runs. So it seems it is dependent on the other files generated along with it.
Am i doing something wrong here or is it supposed to be like this? Is it possible to get a single executable that will run on client machine?
Secondly after installation, is it possible to do automatic updates (or at least prompt for an update) based on version number?
Thanks,
You should use something like InnoSetup in order to automate the installation of the whole App directory on a foreign computer.
The question ultimately aims at answering this question: can a batch script run an AIR app? The goal is to setup an AIR app on a web server and make it run through batches. I simply have to know whether this is possible by default or not. Thanks.
Oliver Goldman from Adobe posts how to launch an application from the command line:
On Windows and Linux, invoking
AIR-based applications at the command
line is straightforward. On Windows,
inside the application's install
directory you'll find an executable
with the application's name; that's
the thing to run from the command
line. On Linux, the executable is
inside the "bin" subdirectory.
On Mac OS things are slightly
trickier. In Finder, applications
appear to be a single file, but
they're really a folder with with an
extension of ".app" and a particular
interior folder structure. To launch
them from the command line with
arguments, you have to dig into this
structure and find the executable. For
example, to launch an application
named HelloWorld you'd run:
/Applications/HelloWorld.app/Contents/MacOS/HelloWorld
You can also use the AIR Debug Launcher. It allows you to launch the application from the command line based on its application.xml file without requiring it to be installed.