Distributing Your Application

GEOS SDK TechDocs

1 Preparing Your Application

Once you've finished coding and testing your application, you'll want to distribute it to users. You'll need to take some time to figure out exactly what files make up your package--what files does the user need to use your product? Is it just an application geode? Perhaps an application geode plus a data file? If one or more of the files is an application, make sure it's really ready for distribution. The files that make up your software are known as a software package.

Once you've figured out what files make up your software package, there are two approaches to making your package available:

PC Download

If all users will have access to a 486 (or better) PC running MS Windows 3.1 or MS Windows 95 and a serial or IR connection, and if you have some way to get files onto that PC, you can have users install your software with the built-in Install/Remove software application.
You will provide a package description file (described in the Package Description File section, below), and will need to set up server software on the PC (described in Setting Up a PC Server ).

Web Site

You can make the files available on a web site. Users with the ability to browse the web can download your program easily, thanks to installation savvy in the built-in WWW application.
You will need to provide a package description file (described in the Package Description File section, below), and a bit more to get your server and files ready (described in Setting Up a Web Server ). You will bundle each software package into an Add-On Software file (a specially tagged archive).

No matter how you're making your software available, you'll need to create its Package Description File.

  1 Preparing Your Application
  2 Package Description File
  3 Setting Up a PC Server
  4 Setting Up a Web Server

GEOS SDK TechDocs

1 Preparing Your Application