Another month has gone by in 2011, soon we will be basking in the warm sun. I now have more free time to develop and improve Seven Update as I now have to find a new job, anyone looking to hire a c# dev? I will use this time to create the much needed documentation, if you want to help me with that, just ask.

So you may have noticed new updates release today, they are very minor, in fact I was saving these changes for a bigger update, but I figured I wouldn’t have one ready for a while so I release them. I added a privacy statement to Seven Update, it can be found on the settings page and updated the about windows to give it a cleaner look.

I have added help cursors to labels that have help tool-tips and improved some input validation. I also added a sort of hidden feature which I found myself needing when creating updates. When I needed to add files that I wanted it to have %InstallDir%\myfile.ext instead of the real filepath, I used to just copy the files over to that path to save myself editing each install directory. This feature will be useful if you have your files in another location than your install directory, such as your VS project bin folder. So to force %InstallDir% to be used when adding files instead of the real file’s location, simply hold your shift key before pressing the “add file(s)”. “add folder”, or “browse” button. Once you click it and are presented the file dialog box you release the shift button.

Incase I just confused you here is an example

I got a file located %DESKTOP%\SevenUpdate.exe and it’s install location is %InstallDir%\SevenUpdate.exe. Now normally if I add that file, the default Install location used will be %DESKTOP%\SevenUpdate.exe, because that is where the file exists and the SDK assumes the files are in the correct installed place. However to save time and make it easier, you can hold the shift key and instead of %DESKTOP%\SevenUpdate.exe, it will be %InstallDir%\SevenUpdate.exe in the textbox. Of course you can still manually edit the location using the textbox if neccessary.

I am also still considering a better way to create and distribute updates and I don’t think doing a diff will make much a difference and just zipping everything up defeats one of Seven Update’s main goals. I do have another idea which I am going to borrow from Steam, Valve’s gaming platform. Steam uses GCF files which is basically a compressed archive that can be updated easily while only downloading the needed bits. Any files in the GCF that are outdated are downloaded and then copied to the GCF. I been trying to find some documentation on how it actually does it so I can implement a similar method. I assume it involves doing client side calculations and sending it to their servers, then the server sends the files needed (much like Windows Update). Seven Update doesn’t send anything to the server, the client downloads the list of all installed apps and does everything client side. This may have an impact if 50 or more apps are installed and updated through Seven Update.

I will keep finding ways to simplify the process and if you have any ideas, please let me know.