Anyone played around with putting a completely stand alone application on a memory stick - Can it be done? It would be so good to have an application/runtime files/dll's etc on a device that you know will work when it gets given to a user. Just airing thoughts, wondered of the possibilities.
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Application on Memory Stick 2
- Thread starter ZOR
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #21
Good to hear back from you. Just waiting for the license for the Beta Win98 version of SA Xpress, but so far the trial copy seemed to do things I wanted, thanks for the referal.
Regarding Fonts, I know I asked this a while ago, and the answers came back on legality. Don't think they are distributable by law. Could have got it wrong, but it seemed the legal issues were quite costly. Hope someone comes back saying I'm telling lies - lets see. Regards
Regarding Fonts, I know I asked this a while ago, and the answers came back on legality. Don't think they are distributable by law. Could have got it wrong, but it seemed the legal issues were quite costly. Hope someone comes back saying I'm telling lies - lets see. Regards
Zor,
Should I start a new thread about this do you think?
The fonts I wish to distribute I have designed myself, they are just the basic 26 letters of the alphabet and the @ sign.
The problem is when I use StalXP to copy them to the fonts folder on my test machine, Windows doesn't recognise them, I would assume they need to be registered on the system, however I do not know the code to do this.
Can anyone help (or new thread?)
Thanks for the acknowledgement.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
Should I start a new thread about this do you think?
The fonts I wish to distribute I have designed myself, they are just the basic 26 letters of the alphabet and the @ sign.
The problem is when I use StalXP to copy them to the fonts folder on my test machine, Windows doesn't recognise them, I would assume they need to be registered on the system, however I do not know the code to do this.
Can anyone help (or new thread?)
Thanks for the acknowledgement.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
- Thread starter
- #23
Probably worth a new thread. I would have thought if you'd designed the fonts yourself then there wouldn't have been a problem. I know when I asked the question, I wanted a font which looked like a tickmark in a box to go into a flexgrid on the users machine. I did not realise that with VB, even if you select all the fonts you want for labels etc in your application, if there not there on the users machine then the users application at his/hers end won't be the same. I would have thought it mainly covered MS Fonts being copyright tricky, however my query was on someone elses. Give it a seperate shot and see what you get. Regards
- Thread starter
- #24
Just sucked this off the MS site. Applicable to MS Fonts.
Fonts
Microsoft develops some fonts in-house and licenses others from independent font vendors. If you are looking to license a particular font, you should contact the vendor, not Microsoft, regarding licensing issues. The vendor is listed in the font's copyright or trademark entry, which you can examine by downloading and using our free 'Font properties extension'. Once you have installed the extension you can 'right click' on any TrueType font to examine its properties.
The following fonts are wholly owned by Microsoft and are not available to license for redistribution, 'Verdana', 'Georgia', 'Comic Sans MS', 'MS Sans Serif', 'Tahoma', 'Wingdings', 'Webdings' and 'Trebuchet MS'. For more information regarding fonts, and links to font vendors, please visit the Microsoft Typography Web site at
I know the character I wanted for a flexgrid was a Wingdings one, the user did not have it on his machine so I had to get a tick.icon instead. However this does not answer your own design. Regards
Fonts
Microsoft develops some fonts in-house and licenses others from independent font vendors. If you are looking to license a particular font, you should contact the vendor, not Microsoft, regarding licensing issues. The vendor is listed in the font's copyright or trademark entry, which you can examine by downloading and using our free 'Font properties extension'. Once you have installed the extension you can 'right click' on any TrueType font to examine its properties.
The following fonts are wholly owned by Microsoft and are not available to license for redistribution, 'Verdana', 'Georgia', 'Comic Sans MS', 'MS Sans Serif', 'Tahoma', 'Wingdings', 'Webdings' and 'Trebuchet MS'. For more information regarding fonts, and links to font vendors, please visit the Microsoft Typography Web site at
I know the character I wanted for a flexgrid was a Wingdings one, the user did not have it on his machine so I had to get a tick.icon instead. However this does not answer your own design. Regards
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1
- #25
gpalmer711
IS-IT--Management
The details of the fonts are kept in the registry at the following keys
Windows 95
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
Windows NT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
If you are unsure on how to edit the registry through VB take a look at the FAQ in this forum.
Greg Palmer
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Any feed back is appreciated.
Windows 95
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
Windows NT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
If you are unsure on how to edit the registry through VB take a look at the FAQ in this forum.
Greg Palmer
----------------------------------------
Any feed back is appreciated.
gpalmer711
IS-IT--Management
One other thing to bear in mind when specifying fonts and font sizes in a vb project. If the end user is using the windows accessability options to increase the Text size, the text in your application can easily be hidden from view. Getting around this is easier said than done. However you can force your VB project to use the fonts and sizes that you have specified.
Greg Palmer
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Any feed back is appreciated.
Greg Palmer
----------------------------------------
Any feed back is appreciated.
gpalmer711
IS-IT--Management
Also check out for how to install fonts using the Windows API
Greg Palmer
----------------------------------------
Any feed back is appreciated.
Greg Palmer
----------------------------------------
Any feed back is appreciated.
- Thread starter
- #28
Hello Greg,
I'm interested in your comment "However you can force your VB project to use the fonts and sizes that you have specified. " How do you do it, and what happens if the user does not have the fonts on his machine? That was the case for me, and the application seemed to just grab anything to put in a grid. Thanks
I'm interested in your comment "However you can force your VB project to use the fonts and sizes that you have specified. " How do you do it, and what happens if the user does not have the fonts on his machine? That was the case for me, and the application seemed to just grab anything to put in a grid. Thanks
gpalmer711
IS-IT--Management
Hi Zor,
This was more in the context of the Windows Accessability features. The user would still need to have the fonts installed on their machine in the first place. If the user has the large fonts option installed on their system and you have a label on your form. The text within that label will be increased to the large font size. Hence hiding some of the text that was in the label.
Greg Palmer
----------------------------------------
Any feed back is appreciated.
This was more in the context of the Windows Accessability features. The user would still need to have the fonts installed on their machine in the first place. If the user has the large fonts option installed on their system and you have a label on your form. The text within that label will be increased to the large font size. Hence hiding some of the text that was in the label.
Greg Palmer
----------------------------------------
Any feed back is appreciated.
- Thread starter
- #30
Greg,
Thank you for the information, all these visual settings and possible end-user outcomes twirling around in my head.
Some days I think "Why didn't I just stick with QBAsiC?"
Speak Soon, Thanks Again.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
Thank you for the information, all these visual settings and possible end-user outcomes twirling around in my head.
Some days I think "Why didn't I just stick with QBAsiC?"
Speak Soon, Thanks Again.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
dilettante
MIS
Not to throw cold water on this idea, because if it des what you need, great.
But isn't all of this effort still just installing the application on the user's hard drive?
This is where I look to Delphi - for programs that don't have MDAC and other heavy infrastructure dependencies. You have to option of creating a true stand-alone EXE instead of using external runtime libraries that would require an installation process.
Basically anything that results in a package that can be "XCopy deployed" (requires no registration of new components, adds nothing to system or system32 directories, etc.) will run from media like this w/o an install. In most cases this means avoiding OLE/COM like the plague though.
Alas, standard VB5/6 can't create such programs - you always need the external runtimes.
One good thing about VB.Net. One day when the Framework can be assumed to be installed on users' machines, it will be possible to write XCopy-able VB applications. Again, in limited cases where you don't need to drag in new infrastructure.
But isn't all of this effort still just installing the application on the user's hard drive?
This is where I look to Delphi - for programs that don't have MDAC and other heavy infrastructure dependencies. You have to option of creating a true stand-alone EXE instead of using external runtime libraries that would require an installation process.
Basically anything that results in a package that can be "XCopy deployed" (requires no registration of new components, adds nothing to system or system32 directories, etc.) will run from media like this w/o an install. In most cases this means avoiding OLE/COM like the plague though.
Alas, standard VB5/6 can't create such programs - you always need the external runtimes.
One good thing about VB.Net. One day when the Framework can be assumed to be installed on users' machines, it will be possible to write XCopy-able VB applications. Again, in limited cases where you don't need to drag in new infrastructure.
dilettante,
First.. No... It's Not.
The foresaid stalxp program packages up the Libraries and Controls of the software into one exe and can then run them straight from the EXE with OR WITHOUT installation.
making it a truly, external rt-free program.
secondly, Delphi and .net, currently, are pretty useless in this forum.
![[thumbsup2]](/data/assets/smilies/thumbsup2.gif "[thumbsup2] [thumbsup2]")
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
First.. No... It's Not.
The foresaid stalxp program packages up the Libraries and Controls of the software into one exe and can then run them straight from the EXE with OR WITHOUT installation.
making it a truly, external rt-free program.
secondly, Delphi and .net, currently, are pretty useless in this forum.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
- Thread starter
- #34
I saw you chalking up a one there, defnding the corner well I am still in email contact with Digits, they are getting me fixed up with a Win98SE version of Stand-Alone Xpress that doesn't require registering on the Internet, as my other machine has no connection. But the playing around I have done did enable me to put an application on a memory stick. Works a bit slow but thats the memory stick and it won't eventually live there. But it proves as you were first to tell me, it works. I have to suss out in the Files and Libraries to include page, the differences of sending them to system/temp etc. Will keep you updated.
Thanks again
Thanks again
Gussett,
Good point, what if the program read some ROM information from the USB Disk/Memory Stick and used it to function.
Bad Example:
DISK S/N: MeDongle666
DISK TYPE: SONYMEMSTK
Does such information exist? And is it Hard-Coded in the traditional sense, or changeable.
What about cost-effectiveness of USB Disks as Dongles?
(ZOR> Is your program likely to be produced in quantities of 15 or more? What do you think of cost?)
Views would be nice as well as tek-posts on this one.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
Good point, what if the program read some ROM information from the USB Disk/Memory Stick and used it to function.
Bad Example:
DISK S/N: MeDongle666
DISK TYPE: SONYMEMSTK
Does such information exist? And is it Hard-Coded in the traditional sense, or changeable.
What about cost-effectiveness of USB Disks as Dongles?
(ZOR> Is your program likely to be produced in quantities of 15 or more? What do you think of cost?)
Views would be nice as well as tek-posts on this one.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
- Thread starter
- #37
Hello Jag,
I am finding that although things work as a standalone application on a memory stick, the speed is not as good as from the hard drive. Certainly seems a delay in some operations. My main interest was the ability to put everything on a stick for portability. Probably also not cost effective as a medium, however prices/speed should get better I would have thought. I paid £14 for 32mb, really as a toy to try. However as I say they will come down in price and should improve in operational speed. Another thing, the stick came with software which included setting a password in a partition. Whether this could be read by an application on it or used as an identity stamp I don't know. I do know in the Television Industry one or two companies are building black boxes that house several sticks. The use is for video clip storage, so someone has got over any operational speeds of a device. Certainly looks an emerging media amongst others for data/application storage. Maybe one day I will try putting an operating system on and build a micro laptop? , thats if the wife hasn't divorced me. Finally, I now have my application from Digits (Stand-Alone Xpress), works like a dream. No more Package and deployment wizards for me, had enough of all the hassels. Best regards
I am finding that although things work as a standalone application on a memory stick, the speed is not as good as from the hard drive. Certainly seems a delay in some operations. My main interest was the ability to put everything on a stick for portability. Probably also not cost effective as a medium, however prices/speed should get better I would have thought. I paid £14 for 32mb, really as a toy to try. However as I say they will come down in price and should improve in operational speed. Another thing, the stick came with software which included setting a password in a partition. Whether this could be read by an application on it or used as an identity stamp I don't know. I do know in the Television Industry one or two companies are building black boxes that house several sticks. The use is for video clip storage, so someone has got over any operational speeds of a device. Certainly looks an emerging media amongst others for data/application storage. Maybe one day I will try putting an operating system on and build a micro laptop? , thats if the wife hasn't divorced me. Finally, I now have my application from Digits (Stand-Alone Xpress), works like a dream. No more Package and deployment wizards for me, had enough of all the hassels. Best regards
Zor,
Glad it turned out OK with the software.
Thanks for the input on the partition thing..
I've figured out your main problem.. You are CLEARLY not bribing the wife enough! Give her more money you ol' miser!![[gorgeous]](/data/assets/smilies/gorgeous.gif "[gorgeous] [gorgeous]")
<Happy Mrs. Zor (Loaded!)
I bought two USB2.0 Disks and 1 USB1.1 Disk. As I thought, i've found the USB2 disks give more speed with an application. I have yet to try a Sony Mem Stick.
Any more input on the dongley thing would be appreciated.
Keep Smilin.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
Glad it turned out OK with the software.
Thanks for the input on the partition thing..
I've figured out your main problem.. You are CLEARLY not bribing the wife enough! Give her more money you ol' miser!
<Happy Mrs. Zor (Loaded!)I bought two USB2.0 Disks and 1 USB1.1 Disk. As I thought, i've found the USB2 disks give more speed with an application. I have yet to try a Sony Mem Stick.
Any more input on the dongley thing would be appreciated.
Keep Smilin.
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
As a forward note for anyone planning to utilise ZOR's Idea, If found a company in the UK with a website who sell USB Disks at good prices.
Their Website is and it's under the category of USB Flash Memory (I Think.)
Unfortunately they don't ship out of the UK, which is useless to me because i'm in Spain!.
Just a thought...
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
Their Website is and it's under the category of USB Flash Memory (I Think.)
Unfortunately they don't ship out of the UK, which is useless to me because i'm in Spain!.
Just a thought...
[tt]"Do not put off until tomorrow what you cannot put off until the day after tomorrow just as well." - Mark Twain[/tt]
jag, putting aside the questionableness of tonezone's commercial decision not to ship outside the UK, i'm sure that you have enough UK friends in this forum who would act as a go-between for you if you wanted to purchase from this company. i am one.
gusset
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