November 14th, 2007
Summary
Today's episode is very long overdue. We will be creating a robust Auto Update system that can plug & play with any of your current applications. The system will parse an HTML file located on a remote server (provided for you) and apply the parsed data to deliver the information to the client. The client will then be prompted to automatically download the update directly from the server.
We will be diving into the basics of a Socket to create a connection to a server containing the update information. We will also cover Classes more in-depth and the proper way to implement a Class in code. To wrap the code up, we will be using MessageDialogs and SaveAsDialogs embedded within a Window.
Show Notes
- Explain the project we are going to be creating
- Explain the benefits of implementing a Class system
- Define the basic structure of the Auto Update class
- Define the Auto Update Window and create the associating Methods
- Create the version checking method that interacts with the Socket Class
- Explain the importance of closing any unused Sockets to prevent leaks
- Define the MessageDialog and SaveDialog and determine the difference between ShowModal and ShowModalWithin
- Create the index.html file that the class will read from the web server
- Upload and configure the file and folders on the server directory
- Display the Auto Update feature working
- StaticText
- PushButton
- HTTPSocket
- Class
- MessageDialog
- SaveAsDialog
- FolderItem
- String Functions (InStr(), Mid())
- Math Functions (Divide, Multiply, Round())
Downloads
Download the rb project file (8 kB) here
Watch the tutorial on blip.tv here
Watch the tutorial (54.7 MB) as a QuickTime movie
Tip: You can download the episode and watch it fullscreen AFTER it has completly loaded by right-clicking on the movie