Run In zip folder (Windows)

[collectordave]

I have an application available to users as a .zip file.

This contains just a single .exe file.

One user has reported that after extracting the zip file the application runs but then disappears after he closes it.

My first thoughts are that he is running the application from within the .zip folder.

Is there anyway to prevent this or check it has been attempted?

Regards

CD

[netmaestro]

First thing your app should do is check for the presence of any accompanying files that get expanded with it. If they're not there, show a message and quit.

[infratec]

Maybe you can check ProgramFilename() against GetTemporaryDirectory()
If windos unzip a file on the fly, it stores it in the temp directory of the user.

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Debug GetTemporaryDirectory()
Debug GetPathPart(ProgramFilename())

Or simply: if the ProgramFilename() contains 'AppData\Local\Temp' than something is wrong.

[BarryG]

Different unzipping tools will extract the files into different directories. PeaZip, for example, extracts to the same folder as the zip file (not to the system temp folder), so checking for %TEMP% or %APPDATA% in the path is not going to be reliable.

Netmaestro's answer is the correct solution.

[Marc56us]

It also depends on how they received the .zip: if it was attached to an email and they opened it directly, then it disappears when the email is closed.

Advise your users never to work in an archive or in an attachment, but always extract to a folder before use.

[collectordave]

Tried these and the checking for a temp folder seems to work ok.

Maybe best to create a self extracting zip for windows?

Windows and anti virus do seem to moan if you download an EXE file though.

Regards CD

[BarryG]

Tried these and the checking for a temp folder seems to work ok.

Definitely not for PeaZip. Here's the path returned by PeaZip when running my exe inside it without extraction, when the zip file is on my desktop:

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C:\Users\<name>\Desktop\.ptmp505719\

You don't know which archiver the user will be running at any time, so checking for a temp path is not ideal, and prone to failure.

[collectordave]

Hi

Yes, just to be sure, I am writing a small install program to download individual files and put them where they belong.

Seems easiest.

CD