Installing DP4 Using the DP4 Install Program

For installation you need the following to hand:

• The DP4 issue CD-ROM which contains DP4 Windows programs & System and Base Dictionary databases, or Zip files for the DP4 release you plan to use and the DP4 documentation.
• Licence file disk (only needed for an initial installation)

Follow this procedure to install the DP4 software:

1. Either:

   1. Insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. The CD-ROM should start automatically, but its behaviour will depend on when the CD was created.

      • From release 4.621 (Feb 2004) the DP4 CD-ROM the auto-install program will run an HTML application that allows you to select which release of DP4 to install, or access documentation relating to DP4 installation. If this application is unable to run for some reason (for example because Internet Explorer 5 is not installed), but a web browser is installed a web page with similar functionality is launched, though some web browsers will not allow you to run applications from a web page. If all else fails the install program for the latest DP4 release will be started.

      • For older CDs, containing releases up to 4.620 the CD will usually default to installing the latest fully tested version of DP4 on the CD. The install program is available for other any other releases of DP4 on the CD as well and can be accessed by right clicking on the icon for your CD ROM drive in "My Computer", or by launching the install program from the appropriate directory.

   or:
   2. Unzip the Zip file for the release of DP4 you plan to install (e.g. 623.zip) and the DP4 documentation (docs.zip) into the same directory, but preserving the pathnames stored in the Zip files. If you have done this correctly, the directory you have unzipped the files to will contain setup.exe, a directory called Docs_DP4, and a directory with the same name as the ZIP file you downloaded and various subdirectories within this such as win32 or win64, src. Then start setup.exe, or navigate to the directory containing the install.exe program and start that. If

   If you have multiple copies of DP4 installed already on the machine you are installing onto, then you may prefer to start the install program from a command prompt which is logged to the directory containing the DP4 installation to be upgraded.

2. The DP4 Windows Installation screen displays details about the version that will be installed. Read this information about the base system installation. The screen also contains three buttons:

   Install	Clicking on the Install button takes you to dialogs that allow you to choose the DP4 components to be installed. Different screens are presented depending on whether or not an existing DP4 installation is detected.
   Help	Accesses this installation manual
   Abort	Returns you to Windows if you decide not to proceed with the installation. Note, that this initial screen is redisplayed after installation of one or more DP4 components has completed. In this case, from release 4.620, the Abort button is replaced by an Exit button.With older releases the button is still labelled Abort, but it functions as an Exit button.

   
   

3. Click on the Install button.

   • If DP4 is not already installed, or is not detected, a dialog box appears specifying the default names of the base system directories:
     
     

     Windows directory	Up to release 4.619 the DP4 configuration file (then called DATAFIT.INI) was always installed in the Windows directory, (usually C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT or similar). You cannot change this directory. No DP4 components are installed in any Windows directories any more.
     C:\DP4\WIN	DP4 Windows NT programs and the DP4 licence file (DP4.SYS). After installation, you may change the location of the DP4 licence file, DP4 utilities and your own DP4 programs, but you cannot move the other files without reinstalling DP4.
     C:\DP4\DB	Database data files (System and Base Dictionary)
     C:\DP4\DB	Database index files (System and Base Dictionary)

     You may specify your own directories for all except for the first. If they do not already exist, the install program will create them for you.

     If you want to move the DP4 licence file to a separate directory after running the installation, you can do so as described in the DP4 Licence File

   • If DP4 is already installed, and is sucessfully recognised, you will instead be offered a list of products that can be installed. (See Installing additional products). To update the base DP4 set select the following components:

     • For release 4.619 or earlier: Ini files,Windows 95 & NT Programs, Base Dictionary database, System database.
     • For release 4.620: configuration files,Windows 9x/NT or later Programs, Base Dictionary database, System database.

     • for release 4.621: Base DP4 for Windows 9x/NT or later. (In fact you can usually accept the default options, which will install the most commonly used DP4 components)

     If you are attempting to install additional products, and have already installed DP4, but it is not detected, try running the install program from a command prompt logged to the directory where your DP4 programs are installed. In this case you will need to specify the full path to the install program, for example d:\620\win32\install

4. Click on the OK button to install the software in the specified directories.

5. When all the files have copied, the install program will ask you some questions which vary depending on your version of Windows:

   • Do you want Install to set up the DP4 environment? This installs the "DP4" database service in the Control Panel's list of services (Windows NT only) and defines the required environment variables in the registry editor.

   • Create DP4 group? or, from release 4.621 on computers with HTML Application support, a DP4 Start Menu dialog. This dialog allows you to choose a name for the DP4 gruop in the sart menu and how it is created. If you choose to create the DP4 start menu or DP4 group, icons for DP4 programs are placed in the start menu. You may copy icons to the desktop subsequently if you wish. Although you may be warned that this may take a long time, it is very unlikely to do so. The DP4 Start Menu dialog included with 4.621 arranges icons for DP4 into appropriate sub-menus and includes links to several new facilities.

   We recommend that you allow the install program to do both of the above because it takes more time to do these tasks yourself. You can still change your configuration later, as described in Configuration of DP4 on Windows.

6. A window of information is displayed describing your installation. Read this carefully, checking that the installation matches your requirements, then click on the OK button to continue.
   
   
7. The install program may then remind you that: "You must reboot your machine for the DP4 server to work correctly". In fact this message can usually be ignored unless you are installing on Windows 95/98/Me and want to run programs from a command prompt.
   
   
8. If you chose to create a DP4 group, its window becomes active and displays the DP4 program icons.
   
   
9. If you are installing DP4 for the first time, you should now follow the steps outlined in Configuration of DP4 on Windows to customise your DP4 installation as required.