efficacious Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 hello everyone, is it possible to create executable archives with php? I have a real need for this ability. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated thanks, eff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 (bump) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 What exactly do you meen by executable archives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 well i guess executable archive could be a confusing term to use.. I spose i'm just looking for executables.. basically I have an update system on our website that runs a check on our clients software to see if we have a newer version of any of the software modules.. If we do then I wrap JUST the files they need into a zip file for them to download. While this system took ALOT of weight off our shoulders for updates.. I feel like it could be better still.. Better by instead of creating a .zip file I create a .exe file that clients can either save to their pc and simply run it or run it strait from the website.. The goal here is to make updates as brainless as they can be. thanks, eff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 There are projects around for creating executables in php, I wouldn't use them for such a trivial task as installing updates however. And no, php does not natively support the compilation of code into a binary format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 could you suggest a better way of running our update system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 I don't see whats wrong with the zip file approuch. Is this client software a php application or what is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 the software is not web based at all, Its an MSAccess based software program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 most of our clients that use the software, are the very definition of computer eliterate. They know how to turn it on (some of them). And they know how to use our software thats about it. Directory, file extensions, ect.. this is all jibberish to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Now Im lost as to why this relates to php at all. How is your application developed? Surely once its updated you already end up with an executable? Send the client that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 Ok heres how this works man.. The entire software program works in MS Access. In order to get updates we have installed a "Check for Updates" button in the software. This button opens up the users browser and points them to our update page. The link has version #s attached to it. I pull in the version #s with php using the $_GET method. We have a specific directory structure setup with the names of each module+version #. I read through the folders in the directory and pull in all of the version #s in the name. I cross ref the folder version #s with the version #s sent with the user. If the users version is a lower version then the version we have as current. I pull the file that needs to be given to the user out of its respective folder and zip it up in a .zip file. Then I create a link to that file and serve it the users along with a read out of which modules are being updated and to what version. The user now has a .zip file that ONLY contains the files they need to be fully updated. In order to get this installed the user must download and extract the .zip file to the directory in which our application files reside. Which is fine. HOWEVER, Like I said our users are not the best or even the second best when it comes to operating a computer. We are talking 90% elderly women. While the zip is fine. The users don't know what to do with it. So while we think right click extract to this path is easy. To them its an epic journey. Thats why I want to create .exe files so that the installation can be run directly from the website. Or by simply double clicking on the file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSkyIS Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 imo, PHP is not the right direction for this. if i had to do this (deal with .exe's, that is), i'd drop PHP and go to Visual Basic or similar. it hurts just typing it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Perhaps try to find a zip CLI that allows creating self-extracting archives? Hmm... No... That would in most cases extract their files onto their desktops... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 well I already know I can do this I've been talking with another person on another forum and this can be done easily with winzip extensions and windows command line by using php. Being that I do not know any visual basic.. I wouldn't suggest dropping what I'm doing and go and learn another language and program. Hell if I was gonna do that I'd just go learn C and be done with it. If it were up to me I'd even drop MS Access compeletly. But it's not and we must work with what we've got. So I'll most likely just be using the winzip solution.. I was just trying to probe for more solutions. In reality... PHP works very well for this aside from not being able to create .exe's through native php functions. When in a business the free solution is generally the best one. Visual Studio is an expensive program. Just trying to talk my boss into purchasing it would be a harder issue to deal with then this current one. Especially considering we'd only be using it for the updates. If you can imagine the the old way they did this. OMG.. horrible.. they literally zipped up files on this our end manually. Then used front page or something to put it on their site.. Making update .zips file sizes massive and updating 1 clients software took literally half a day or more. This webapp i built to handle all this has cut that down to almost 2min or less. It used to take the software programmers 30min or more just to get the download on the page. Now it takes them secs. All they have to do is drop the new files in the folder. Thats it. So I would say PHP has proved a worthy solution. I do appreciate all of your suggestions however, thanks for you time everyone, eff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 How about this. Create an 'updater' program that will be shipped with your product. Once the client is notified of update available, he/she runs the 'updater' and it will download the zip packet and unzip the files into proper folders. Perhaps it could even be coded with MS Access built in VB scripts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efficacious Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 well that was my first idea aswell but the programmer seems to think he can't do that.. Thats what lead me to this solution.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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