 |
   | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Broken links? Email us! |
|
This class allows you to create self extracting executables for use in distribution or setup programs. Many people have helped me along the way to produce this class but here are a couple I would like to thank.
Please note that this class does not contain any compression algorithms so the resulting executable with be the size of the sum of it's parts. The class could easily be extended to add compression in the future if anyone wishes.
The SFX file which this class creates consists of an extraction executable with the data files appended to the end of it. The data on the end of the file does not affect the executable image and so the file executes as if the data wasn't even there. So to extract the data, the executable must first detach the data from itself and then create the approriate files. The way I have chosen to do this is to write a 'Table of Contents' (TOC) after the data which can be read by the extractor to find out where the various files are stored in the data segment.
The layout of the TOC is as follows:-
Starting from the end of the archive and working backwards :
This section contains one record in the following format for each file
Each file is written (uncompressed) here in the order of the TOC
After this is the extractor executable.
Having said all that, you don't need to know any of that stuff above to use it. All you need to do is create an instance of CSelfExtractor and then call AddFile() to add in all the files that you want to include. Next call Create() to create the archive.
The demo project consists of two projects - 'Extractor' which is the executable which extracts the archive and Self Extractor which is the program for building Self Extracting archives. Self Extractor allows you to specify an external extractor program to use for the archive or alternatively you can use the extractor which has been compiled into the program inside the resources. Read the source code to find out more.
As always, expect bugs. Don't shout if you can't get it to work. The demos are just as they sound - demos. They are not fully implemented and fully tested release software, they are an example of how the classes should be used. The demos make use of classes written by other people at codeguru so any bugs in those should be directed at their respective authors.
James is currently working as a Software Engineer for Siemens Airport Solutions, integrating IT systems into the world's airports. He has been programming in C/C++ for 5 years and Visual C++/MFC for 3 years, although most of his recent work has been in ASP and COM+.
His software company, Lyme Software, has a web site at http://www.lymesoft.co.uk.
James is originally from Nottingham (no Robin Hood jokes please) but is now based in sunny Manchester, UK.
Click here to visit James Spibey's homepage.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||
Lounge
New Articles
Sign in
Forums
Contribute
New thread
