I have a multiple file slide show presentation with auto script that displays pictures of new homes. Can anyone tell me if this can run from the CD, or does it have to be loaded to HD?

P.S. Sorry about the unclear request for info. What I mean is this "Can a run-time version of a FMP Devel. 7 file, be burned to a CD and then run from that CD without it having to be loaded on the hard drive?"

Hi -

A solution cannot be run from a CD because the CD Rom is classed by the computer as read only medium. You will have to copy the files onto your computer hard drive.

Note that if on a pc you will want to then make sure the files do not remain read only by selecting all the files and right clicking, choose properties and make sure the read only box is not checked.

Suppose you only want to show records and not add records, nor use any tricks that require writing to the file(s), is it still not possible to run a solution (runtime or not) from a CD?

Sorry Ano, FM won't let you. The program checks for Read-only status before it runs; thus it never even gets into the question of whether write permission is necessary.

Jerry

Hmm. I just made a file write-protected (Windows XP. Right-click, properties, read-only). FM7 opens it OK. Of course, it complains that it can't modify records if I try that, but for the rest it's fine.

Then I created a runtime from that file. Write-protected all the files in the folder and subfolders. The .exe runs just fine and shows me the USR file, of course again without the possibility to modify records.

Put both (file and also the runtime) on a USB stick and write-protected the stick. Same result: both run fine.

Don't have a burner handy, but I suspect, in the light of aforementioned experiments, that things would run OK from a CD/DVD, too

Really? I had never seen that before.

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I just tried setting an fp5 to read-only and opening it in FMD6, and it worked. I guess i must have tried it in an earlier version where it didn't work and just gave up on it. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea MAGNA culpa. Thanks, Ano.

J

In fact it can be run from a cd, but as mentioned it would be read only. Would work ok if you were distributing something that was intended for read only to begin with.

Been this way since v4.0, IIRC.

I see this read only dialog a lot because I tend to lock my files when I am done with a research project so that I can open them later (for reference) and NOT have the darned file mod date change. I am not really a developer yet, but I use FMP ALL THE TIME for research data. Actually, I am a developer, but so far, I develop for my own use. But enough about me! :-)