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Indigo Rose Software Deployment Suite
Introduction
The Indigo Rose Software Deployment Suite is a collection of four related Indigo Rose products: AutoPlay Media Studio, Setup Factory, Visual Patch and TrueUpdate. Together, these four products form a complete software deployment toolkit.
What is Software Deployment?
Software deployment is the ongoing process of getting software onto end-user's systems and keeping that software up to date. It starts during the software design process and then continues with installation, patch management/delivery and distribution.
One Suite, Four Products
Here is a description of the individual products that make up the software deployment suite.
AutoPlay Media Studio
AutoPlay Media Studio is used to create interactive multimedia autorun menus for CD-ROM and DVD-ROM discs. The autorun menus can launch setup programs, open document files, jump to Web sites, show training and promotional videos, open product documentation and much more. In fact, AutoPlay Media Studio is so flexible and powerful that many developers take it far beyond autorun menus and create full multimedia applications with it.
Inputs: Graphics, buttons, music, setup programs, electronic documents, Flash files, videos, and any other kind of electronic media that you want to re-distribute or incorporate into an autorun menu.
Outputs: Autorun.exe file that can automatically start up when the CD or DVD is inserted; burn s CD/DVD automatically; creates complete, self-contained Windows applications.
Indigo Rose Software Deployment Suite
Setup Factory
Setup Factory is used to create setup programs. The self-contained setup executables it creates will reliably install software onto all Windows operating systems. It is very easy to use and includes features such as 20+ customizable screens, themes/skins, runtime modules, multilingual support, MD5 serial numbers, shortcut icons, single-file setup.exe for intern et downloads, a powerful scripting engine with 250+ functions, automatic uninstall program creation, Authenticode support and much more.
Inputs: Developer's software files; scripts and actions to create Registry entries, shortcuts, and other system changes.
Outputs: Self-contained setup executable files that can be put on CD/DVD or uploaded to the Internet.
TrueUpdate
TrueUpdate allows developers to integrate automatic update checking into their software. When run, the update client detects what version of the developer's software is install ed on the end user's system, and then checks the developer's update server (Web site, LAN, etc.) to see if a newer version of the software is available. If available, the TrueUpdate client will download and apply the necessary patch files to bring the software up to date.
Inputs: The commands needed to identify and update the software. The developer can fully script the update logic according to their specific needs.
Outputs: Update client executable that can be included with the developer's software; update data files that are uploaded to developer's server(s).
Visual Patch
Visual Patch allows developers to easily create secure binary patches for their software. It is used on an ongoing basis to create and manage patches as sub-versions and service releases of software are created. Visual Patch brings old versions of software up to date in a compact and secure fashion.
Inputs: The files from all of the versions of the software being patched, including the most recent version. Outputs: Self-contained patch executable
Deployment Workflow
The software deployment cycle really consists of two separate yet similar processes. The first is the initial deployment of a software product. The second is the ongoing maintenance of a product through updates and patches as the developer rolls out new versions.
Initial Deployment
The initial deployment consists of five basic steps as seen in the diagram below:
1. CREATE SOFTWARE: This step is normally complete or close to complete when the developer begins to use the products from the software deployment suite.
2. CREATE UPDATER: The developer uses TrueUpdate to design and configure the automatic update component to be distributed with their software. TrueUpdate creates an update executable and a data file to distribute along with the developer's software. The developer will normally incorporate a "check for update" command into their software that launches the update process.
3. CREATE INSTALLER: The developer uses Setup Factory to design and create a setup program that install s files, makes Registry changes, starts and stops services, creates shortcuts, etc. The update executable created with TrueUpdate is included in the setup along with the developer's files.
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