For the Author and Users: solution to a fe...
palisade
25 May 2008
SOLUTIONS
1) USERS: I just want to say thanks for a great product, and to all the people complaining about problems running apup or getting updates, need to delete their apup directory, upgrade to windows to sp3 and then install a fresh copy of apup, and rerun. And, in the future if you happen to find apup is no longer working again, the same rinse/repeat cycle works wonders. The only disadvantage is that you have to redownload updates. Maybe there's another solution to this, but this has worked for me.
2) USERS: Also, I figured out why autopatcher updater would sometimes freeze when trying to download patches and I would have to re-run it. It only ever happens when apup loses focus, e.g. if I click another window or another window happens to popup and steal focus. It seems like the network thread (maybe it is a vb.net timer and/or relies on wndproc window messages and/or only fires in the onpaint event?) stops and fails to restart when focus from the window is lost. Basically, the solution for most users until the author patches autopatcher, is to make sure you don't use your computer, and close down all background processes before running apup so they don't popup anything. If you do this, you'll get a perfect autopatcher update every time. Note: AutoPatcher itself does not suffer from losing focus, this is only the updater.
3) THE PROGRAMMER ONLY: My suggestion is to write your own network thread WITHOUT using timers or whatever you're using (onpaint?) for downloading updates/updating progress bar. I'm pretty certain this is the root of the problem. I know you're a busy man, and I really appreciate the hard work you've put into the product. And, with all the people complaining it may not seem like it, but a lot of other people appreciate it too.
p.s. I love autopatcher, thank you so much for writing/maintaining it. I've suggested it to all my friends.
I hope this helps everyone. This thing has really helped me keep my system up to date, and I don't know what I would do without it.
Edited by palisade, 25 May 2008 - 05:30 PM.
1) USERS: I just want to say thanks for a great product, and to all the people complaining about problems running apup or getting updates, need to delete their apup directory, upgrade to windows to sp3 and then install a fresh copy of apup, and rerun. And, in the future if you happen to find apup is no longer working again, the same rinse/repeat cycle works wonders. The only disadvantage is that you have to redownload updates. Maybe there's another solution to this, but this has worked for me.
2) USERS: Also, I figured out why autopatcher updater would sometimes freeze when trying to download patches and I would have to re-run it. It only ever happens when apup loses focus, e.g. if I click another window or another window happens to popup and steal focus. It seems like the network thread (maybe it is a vb.net timer and/or relies on wndproc window messages and/or only fires in the onpaint event?) stops and fails to restart when focus from the window is lost. Basically, the solution for most users until the author patches autopatcher, is to make sure you don't use your computer, and close down all background processes before running apup so they don't popup anything. If you do this, you'll get a perfect autopatcher update every time. Note: AutoPatcher itself does not suffer from losing focus, this is only the updater.
3) THE PROGRAMMER ONLY: My suggestion is to write your own network thread WITHOUT using timers or whatever you're using (onpaint?) for downloading updates/updating progress bar. I'm pretty certain this is the root of the problem. I know you're a busy man, and I really appreciate the hard work you've put into the product. And, with all the people complaining it may not seem like it, but a lot of other people appreciate it too.
p.s. I love autopatcher, thank you so much for writing/maintaining it. I've suggested it to all my friends.
I hope this helps everyone. This thing has really helped me keep my system up to date, and I don't know what I would do without it.
Edited by palisade, 25 May 2008 - 05:30 PM.
