Project conversion questions

[pbsdis]

HI,

I need to convert a very old IS (5.5) project to IS2010 Basic MSI.

The project is relatively simple, but there are bunch of DAO(35)/ODBC/RDO/OLE DB files in the original project, for example, it has the following files:

Msjint35.dll
msjter35.dll
Msvcrt.dll
Msvcrt40.dll
dao350.dll
Dao2535.tlb
msexcl35.dll
msjet35.dll
msltus35.dll
mspdox35.dll
msrd2x35.dll
mstext35.dll
msxbse35.dll
msrepl35.dll
vb5db.dll
vbajet32.dll
vbar332.dll
oddbse32.dll
msxbse35.dll
odbccp32.dll
odbcjet.cnt
odbcjet.hlp
odbcji32.dll
odbcjt32.dll
odbcjtnw.cnt
odbcjtnw.hlp
odbctl32.dll
odexl32.dll
odfox32.dll
12520437.cpx
12520850.cpx
mscpxl32
ds16gt.dll
ds32gt.dll
mtxdm.dll
odbc16gt.dll
odbc32.dll
odbccr32.dll
odbccu32.dll
odbcinst.cnt
odbcinst.hlp
odbcint.dll
odbctrac.dll
msorcl10.dll
odpdx32.dll
dbnmpntw.dll
drvssrvr.hlp
sqlsrv32.dll
_UNODBC.dll
_unodbc.log
msrdo20.dll
rdocurs.dll
msdadc.dll
msdaenum.dll
msdaer.dll
msdaps.dll
msdasql.dll
msdatt.dll
msdatl.dll

plus some other system files.

You can see that the application is using pretty old stuff. My first step is to convert the installer to IS2010, make it build, then install it. I would expect the old applications won't work with the installation though, then I can contact developers to update their applications.

My questions are:
1) Most of the listed files are from IS5.5 TemplateData\ODBC-DAO-RDO Template Data\.. according to the original project. Any idea what objects/components/MSM should I include in my IS2010 Basic MSI project?
2) If I want to upgrade the project to support newer OSs (including Windows 2008 Server and Windows 7), what are the proper equivalents should I have in the new (IS2010 Basic MSI) project?
3) Any idea if the old applications (VB5, JET35, etc.) can run on the newer OSs? The existing product supports up to Win2000 (some WinXP seems also work with it).


Thanks,
PB

[Christopher_Pai]

You can probably leave all of that safely out of your install. All modern versions of Windows come with MDAC/ODBC already installed. All you will have to do is install any custom drivers and/or DSN's if you have any.

Switching from script driven IS5 to Windows Installer is a big change. You might want to hire a consultant to assist you.

[Marwan]

Note that IS2010 setups support Win2K and up only.

[Christopher_Pai]

That is an over simplification of the support. It's still possible to make a basic MSI that doesn't leverage certain capabilities that will work all the way back to Win 95.

I believe this has been officially documented somewhere; either in the help or in a kb article.

[DebbieL]

I think this is the documentation that you're referring to:

Setup.exe No Longer Runs on Windows 9x, Windows NT 4, or Windows Me Systems
Setup.exe installations that are created in InstallShield can no longer be run on Windows 9x, Windows NT 4, or Windows Me. If an end user tries to launch Setup.exe on a Windows 9x or Windows Me system, Windows displays a message box with the following error: “The FullSetup.exePathAndFileName file expects a newer version of Windows. Upgrade your Windows version.” On Windows NT 4 systems, Windows displays a message box with the following error: “FullSetup.exePathAndFileName is not a valid Windows NT application.”

InstallShield no longer lists these legacy operating systems in any of the areas where target operating systems can be selected. For example, the Installation Requirements tab of the Project Assistant in Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects no longer lists these operating systems. In InstallScript projects, the Platforms tab on the Project Settings dialog box no longer lists these operating systems.

If you upgrade an InstallScript project that was created in InstallShield 2009 or earlier to InstallShield 2010, and if the operating system settings in the earlier project contained references to only these legacy operating systems, InstallShield replaces the legacy operating system options with the option for targeting all supported platforms.

(That text is listed in places such as KB Q200330, which is a copy of the "Project Upgrade Alerts" section of the release notes, and the "Upgrading Projects from InstallShield 2009 or Earlier" help topic, which is basically a copy of the KB article.)

So, yes, you might be able to create an .msi release (but no Setup.exe bootstrapper) through a Basic MSI project in InstallShield 2010, and then run that on pre-Windows 2000 systems.