The Advanced Updater is a small executable tool whose role is to check for updates, inform the user of their presence and offer to download and install them. When launched, the Updater checks if a newer version of the application exists by using a predefined criteria.

When you decide to add the automatic updates capability to your application, a copy of the Updater (having the name you specify) and the INI configuration file will be inserted into the install package.

Updater options

The Updater has the following command line option:

• /checknow - The Updater is launched, pops up a dialog box, checks for updates and automatically informs the user that new updates are available. If no updates are available, the Updater will exit immediately.
• /silent - The Updater will search silently for updates at the interval specified by the user. The search interval can be specified in the Configuration dialog. By default it is the value you specified in the "Check Frequency" field (Updater). If the check frequency has not passed or there are no updates available, the Updater will exit immediately.
• /silentall - The Updater will search silently for updates and automatically install all updates. This has the has the same effect as the /silent option if the user has selected the "Check and automatically install all updates" option in the configuration dialog. If the check frequency has not passed or there are no updates available, the Updater will exit immediately.
• /silentcritical - The Updater will search silently for updates and automatically install only critical updates. This has the has the same effect as the /silent option if the user has selected the "Check and automatically install critical updates" option in the configuration dialog. If the check frequency has not passed or there are no updates available, the Updater will exit immediately.
• /justcheck - The Updater just checks if new updates are available and uses a return code to tell that (See the "Updater return codes" section). This check is silent without UI. The user is not prompted to download or install updates. Start the updater using /checknow, /silent, /silentall or /silentcritical if you want to download and install updates.
• /configure [HWND] - the Configure dialog will be displayed allowing the configuration of the Updater. In this dialog the user can specify the download folder, the check frequency, enable or disable the automatically update option. This command line could be used with an optional parameter that specifies the parent window handle (HWND) for the "Updates Options" dialog. This parameter is of unsigned integer type.

When using the /silent parameter, the Updater will check for updates at its first launch. After that, a check is performed only if the specified check frequency has passed (usually its 2 days). No matter how many times the Updater is launched in this period, it will simply exit. If the Updater is launched after the check frequency passes, it will check for updates. If it finds any updates it will prompt the user for them, otherwise it will exit.

Updater command line switches:

• -nofreqcheck - If this switch is specified in the updater's command line, the frequency check is skipped. It can be used with the /silentall and /silentcritical command line options.
• -url url_location - If this command line is used the Updates Configuration File url from the updater configuration INI file will be replaced with the one specified after this switch. It can be used with the /checknow, /silent, /silentall and /silentcritical command line options.
• -minuseractions - If this switch is specified the user interaction is minimized. The dialogs "Please Wait..." and "Error" will not be displayed. It can be used with the /checknow command line option.
• -licenseid license_id_string - Using this command line you can specify the license id string that is used for License Check directly in command line. You can not specify both the license id string directly in command line and registry path from where to extract license id.
• -licensecheckurl license_check_url - Using this command line you can specify the license check URL used for License Check directly in command line. License check URL specified in command line has priority over the one specified in Updates Configuration File.
• -dumpdetected file_path - In this file is stored the information about the detected updates. The format of the file is the same as the format of Updates Configuration File file. It can be used only with the /justcheck command line option. If the file already exists it will not be overwritten.

Examples:

• updater.exe /silentall -nofreqcheck
• updater.exe /checknow -url http://www.example.com/updates.aiu

User authentication

You can restrict the user's access to the updates configuration file or an update file using username/password authentication. The user will be prompted to enter the password. The updater can remember the password, if the user chooses to do so.

Automatically download and install some types of updates

This option is enabled by selecting the “Check and automatically download and install” option from the “Configure” dialog. You have two choices: Critical or All. An update can be marked as critical using flag Critical in Flags entry from updates configuration file.

Automatically close the updated application

The updater can automatically close the updated application. The path to the application that must be closed is specified in the updates configuration file in the "AutoCloseApplication" entry.

Using the Updater

The Updater should be launched from within your application with one of the above command line options.

For example, you could add a menu option that will launch the updater. In order to do that just execute the Updater tool with the "/checknow" command line, when that menu option is selected.

When launched, the Updater automatically downloads from the URL location specified in the "Update URL" field (Updater), the updates configuration file.

After the INI file is downloaded the Updater checks for newer versions of the application. If they exist the user is informed of their presence. Then the Updater gives you the possibility to select the files that you want to install.

After selecting the desired files, the update process begins and the files are downloaded and installed.

Updater return codes

The return codes can signal status information or errors

Status Information

• 0 - Found updates for application
• 0xE0000011 - No updates are available for the application.

Updater specific error codes:

• PATH_EXPAND_ERROR (E0000001) - Unable to expand a dynamic path.
• CONFIG_FILE_NOT_FOUND (E00000002) - Unable to find the updater configuration file. It should be located near the updater.exe.
• UNDEFINED_CONFIG_FILE_FORMAT (E00000003) - The updates configuration file format is invalid.
• UNDEFINED_FILE_VERSION (E00000004) - The updater is unable to extract a file version.
• UNABLE_TO_SAVE_FILE (E00000005) - The updater is unable to save a file.
• INVALID_COMMAND_LINE (E00000006) - The command line is not recognized.
• INVALID_CLIENT_CONFIG (E00000007) - The updater configuration file is invalid. It is required that certain entries must not be empty.
• INVALID_SERVER_CONFIG (E0000000E) - The signature of the updates configuration file is missing or is invalid.
• ERROR_INVALID_UPDATE_ENTRY (E00000014) - The updates configuration file is invalid. It is required that certain entries must not be empty

Windows error codes

• Check the Windows SDK documentation to see error description

Topics

• License Check
  Updater license check option.
• Updates Configuration File
  A presentation of the structure of the server updates configuration file.