How to install a new version?

[JeremyNicoll]

I'm a new user of ExamDiffPro, having first installed V4.5; now I'm about to install the most recent V5.0 beta.

But I can't find any information that explains whether I can/should uninstall V4.5 before installing V5. I'm not generally in favour of installing new versions of products "over the top" of old ones, but at the same time I don't want to lose whatever options etc I've already got defined for my existing installation.

I hunted around in C:\Documents and Settings\... looking for saved settings files (which perhaps I could/should backup before doing either an uninstall or a new install) but couldn't find anything... so perhaps it's all in the registry? But if I do an uninstall of 4.5, will the registry information get deleted?

Advice would be welcome!

[psguru]

If you uninstall 4.5, your setting will still be untouched. In version 5.0, if you decide to install it, you'll be asked whether you want to delete your settings.

Now, there are two ways to install 5.0: on top of 4.5 (which is the same as uninstall 4.5, then install 5.0), or install 5.0 into a different folder. The latter will let you use 5.0 while keeping 4.5. There shouldn't be any problems with 4.5 as it uses a subset of 5.0 options.

[JeremyNicoll]

Thank-you!

[JeremyNicoll]

I elected to install V5 alongside V4.5 ie into a different folder in C:\Program Files. The process hasn't worked properly.

I chose to use a different Start Menu group for the new install, to keep shortcuts to the old and new versions separate. That seems to have worked.

During the install, I was not asked whether I wanted shell integration to be installed; consequently explorer's context menu only has the options to start the old version present.

I also wasn't asked about preserving settings.

After the install I found that in Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs there was no longer any mention of the old version of the product.

Also... this was an Inno install, I think - so where's the logfile from that been put? it's not in the usual place (the temporary files folder).

[psguru]

During the install, I was not asked whether I wanted shell integration to be installed

This is now not asked. It can be enabled/disabled in Options | Global | Enable Windows Explorer (Shell) integration.

consequently explorer's context menu only has the options to start the old version present.

You need to disable it in 4.5 and enable in 5.0 by using the option than I mentioned above.

I also wasn't asked about preserving settings.

As I said earlier, you will be asked to clean up ExamDiff Pro settings if you uninstall 5.0.

After the install I found that in Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs there was no longer any mention of the old version of the product.

We'll have to look into this. But you can always manually remove your ExamDiff Pro 4.5 folder.

Also... this was an Inno install, I think - so where's the logfile from that been put? it's not in the usual place (the temporary files folder).

Yes, it is an Inno installer. You need to use /LOG command line option in order to create logs. See http://unattended.sourceforge.net/InnoS ... Codes.html for details.

[JeremyNicoll]

You need to disable it in 4.5 and enable in 5.0 by using the option than I mentioned above.

I've tried this several times - running 4.5, turning the option off, quitting 4.5, seeing that integration is no longer present from explorer's context menu, then starting 5.0 and turning the option on and quitting. Going to explorer the integration items appear in the menu. Hooray! But when I use them it's always 4.5 that gets started to do the compare.

I also wasn't asked about preserving settings.

As I said earlier, you will be asked to clean up ExamDiff Pro settings if you uninstall 5.0.

What you actually said was: "In version 5.0, if you decide to install it, you'll be asked whether you want to delete your settings." So I was assuming that as I installed V5, the installer would ask if it should use the existing settings or write a new set.

After the install I found that in Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs there was no longer any mention of the old version of the product.

We'll have to look into this. But you can always manually remove your ExamDiff Pro 4.5 folder.

I dare say, presumably by double-clicking the unins000.exe in the installed application? Or (for logging) making a shortcut to it, adding /LOG to the command, and then running that?

You need to use /LOG command line option in order to create logs. See http://unattended.sourceforge.net/InnoS ... Codes.html for details.

OK; could you build that into future installers for both the install and subsequent uninstalls? People who don't care about logs won't know it's been created amongst all the other junk in the temp file folder - and possibly aren't in the habit of looking in there regularly. People who'd like to see it might be glad of it...

[psguru]

I've tried this several times - running 4.5, turning the option off, quitting 4.5, seeing that integration is no longer present from explorer's context menu, then starting 5.0 and turning the option on and quitting. Going to explorer the integration items appear in the menu. Hooray! But when I use them it's always 4.5 that gets started to do the compare.

The way this works is that the Shell Extension will execute ExamDiff.exe from the directory where the EDPShell.dll, which is registered, is located. So it looks like the one registered in your Windows is from the 4.5 installation. You can try registering the DLL from the command line: open CMD, change directory to your EDP 5.0 folder, then run this command:

regsvr32 EDPShell.dll

What you actually said was: "In version 5.0, if you decide to install it, you'll be asked whether you want to delete your settings." So I was assuming that as I installed V5, the installer would ask if it should use the existing settings or write a new set.

I misspoke then. The question is asked when you uninstall 5.0.

I dare say, presumably by double-clicking the unins000.exe in the installed application? Or (for logging) making a shortcut to it, adding /LOG to the command, and then running that?

I was referring to the ability to see both version in the Control Panel.

OK; could you build that into future installers for both the install and subsequent uninstalls? People who don't care about logs won't know it's been created amongst all the other junk in the temp file folder - and possibly aren't in the habit of looking in there regularly. People who'd like to see it might be glad of it...

Good idea; we'll add this to the next build.

[JeremyNicoll]

Thanks for information!

[JeremyNicoll]

I decided to start all over again (though I used View->Options->Export to save a text copy of in-use options first).

First I uninstalled V5.0.0.26 via Control Panel Add/Remove, choosing to have it delete registry settings. Then rebooted as requested, and went to the Start Menu folder entries for V4.5. Ran its uninstall that way, anad again agreed that registry settings should be deleted. Wasn't told I needed to reboot, presumably because that had only been needed the first time to delete a registered DLL or something?

Looked in registry and indeed the settings under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PrestoSoft\ExamDiff Pro were all gone.

But I've still got the session files' ".edpi" association ie key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.edpi\shell\open\command with value:

C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~2\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

and: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\ExamDiff.exe is still defined as:

C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~1\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

I expect you'll say that these will be recreated when I install a version again, but it's interesting to note that these point at two different folders in C:\Program Files, which makes me wonder under what circumstances the keys were defined.

I also still have:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ExamDiffPro.Session\DefaultIcon
C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~2\ExamDiff.exe,0

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ExamDiffPro.Session\shell\open\command
C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~2\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

(there were probably HKLM entries too.) Anyway I deleted all of these manually.

[psguru]

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.edpi\shell\open\command with value:
C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~2\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ExamDiffPro.Session\DefaultIcon
C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~2\ExamDiff.exe,0

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ExamDiffPro.Session\shell\open\command
C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~2\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

These will be cleaned up in the next build of 5.0.

and: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\ExamDiff.exe is still defined as:
C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~1\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

I can't reproduce this, and I can't see what could be inserting this key. Doesn't appear to be in our code.

[JeremyNicoll]

Weird. The C:\Program Files\ path in the key you don't recognise has

C:\PROGRA~1\~P-FOL~1\PRESTO~1\EXAMDI~1\ExamDiff.exe /sf:"%1"

I have installed three of your products in "C:\Program Files\~P-folder\PrestoSoft\" in turn; first the free non-pro version - which from my uninstalled apps notes was whatever one could download on 2 Dec 2009 and I see it went into \ExamDiff. Then I uninstalled that (but didn't look through the registry to see what keys might have been left in place) and installed the trial version of the V4.5.2.2 Pro product, into \ExamDiffPro.

Then as described in this thread I tried to install V5.0.0.26 alongside, which is to say in \ExamDiffPro-V5-0-0-26

I presume the "EXAMDI~1" part of the path suggests that the .exe being referenced is therefore either the free version or V4.5 Pro, but I don't know if that's a reliable guess....

[psguru]

The mystery is solved. Apparently, "the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications section contains references to the applications that appear in the Open With dialog box that is shown when you try to open a file that does not have an application associated with its extension." So while the installer did not create this key, it was added by Windows when you used the Open With command. In any case, we'll add cleaning up to the next build of 5.0.

[JeremyNicoll]

Thank-you!