I worked with Xenocode Virtual Application Studio several times for the Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Compare Matrix from Ruben Spruijt.
Last few days I was evaluating the latest version of Xenocode’s Virtual Application Studio(www.xenocode.com). Version 2010 to be exactly. There were lot of new features and one of them I wanted to share with you by using an application deployment issue introduced with Windows Vista.
The issue
As of Windows Vista (Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7), Microsoft doesn’t ship Winhlp32.exe with the operating system anymore, needed to display the .hlp Help files with certain legacy applications. Instead a message is displayed how to resolve the issue which requires an optional download and installation, a privilege a user typically doesn’t have (and shouldn’t have in my opinion). The download is a platform specific Winhlp32.exe from the Microsoft download site. See the issue discussed here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607
The message when trying to open a .hlp Help file in Windows 7:
Those of you skipping Windows Vista and are migrating their apps to Windows 7 might run in to this now.
By the way: 16-bit .hlp files are still supported in Vista and Windows 7.
A solution
Using application virtualization from Xenocode this time, I’ll show you how you can create ONE Xenocode virtualized application (and ONE file to distribute) supporting different operating systems. In this case I will use an application designed for Windows XP and display the help correctly on Windows XP and Windows 7.
Now, this post is not about how to virtualize with Xenocode but just to show you one of the cool new features in the 2010 version of their Virtual Application Studio.
The “How”
I found an older version of a known compression tool which uses an .hlp file for the help.
Using the Xenocode Virtual Application Studio 2010 I created two different snapshots:
- The installation of only WinRAR version 3.6 on Windows XP
- For Windows 7, I installed the same WinRAR application AND the WinHlp32 Windows Update for Windows 7. This last one is needed to view 32-bit .hlp help files on this platform.
In version 2010 of the Virtual Application Studio there is now an Advanced tab with a button Merge Platforms. When clicked, it allows for up-to five operating systems specific snapshots to be merged in to one snapshot.
When there is no need for a specific Windows 2003 configuration for example, it can just inherit it from one of the other snapshots. Windows XP in that case would be logical.
Next is to build the application into an executable and test it on Windows XP and Windows 7.
Remember that the Winhlp32.exe for Windows 7 won’t work on Windows XP and vice-versa. That’s why you would, in any other case, need two virtual applications to distribute. Using the Multi-Platform feature in Virtual Application Studio I can now use my legacy application on both Windows XP and Windows 7 with just one Xenocode executable.
The two arrows on both screenshots denote the virtualization with Xenocode Virtual Application Studio.
I used WinRAR 3.6b from RARLAB (http://www.rarlab.com), designed for the platforms Windows XP/2003. WinRar now uses a .CHM file for the Help so this is not an issue any longer, but the older version was a good test case.
Key new features in Xenocode Virtual Application Studio 2010:
- Windows 7 Compatibility
- Publish to Web
From the VAS Console you can publish virtual application to the internet, see http://spoon.net/ for more on this.
- Software Expiration
You can allow your applications to be used for a number of days or a specific date. To control this you can verify time against the system clock or a web server clock.
- Multi-platform capabilities
Merging different operating specific snapshots of an application to be distributed as a single Xenocode application
- New application templates
Application templates allow one-click virtualization of most popular software applications, including Office, OpenOffice, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
Leodesk – Jurjen van Leeuwen
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