Software development, issues linking to exe files, please help :'(

[badger face]

Hey guys, can someone please suggest a solution to this problem?

I develop software to help teach people guitar, and distribute the software as a download - but also cd-rom for people who want to have a hard copy. I've had some issues over the last few years due to web browser development - i shall explain! When the user puts the CD-ROM into their drive, an html welcome page auto-loads to greets them, and asks to select PC (for an .exe that contains all the info) or MAC (which takes them to some more html pages with screenshots of the .exe instead...) this all worked great for years. But recently, this is no longer possible. With CHROME for example, when the user clicks PC, it downloads the .exe to their downloads folder, rather than 'running' it, to keep it in it's current location with all the other content. So when they then run the .exe, they cannot launch any of the other files through it because they have become separated.

I thought maybe replace the html welcome page perhaps with just a PDF file, that i could link to the exe from, but i just tested this and it does not seem to want to link to exe files, only the mac version will work.

Can anyone please help? Is there any way around this? All i want to do is be able to run the .exe file from within the CD-ROM where all the content is. I can't use an installer, it has to run from the cd-rom. So i need some method of running the .exe from the disc. I suppose there are security risks maybe stopping this, but any thoughts/ideas appreciated

Thanks

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

For Windows anyways, you could use HTA (HTML Application). I'm not sure what solutions are available for MAC.

I couldn't find a good solution. All I can suggest is to include installation instructions.

[Eric Veteran]

XULRunner, the Chromium Embedded Framework and Adobe AIR are all similar to HTA and are "free." XULRunner is considered a tech demo, though and there isn't any support for it as far as I know.

[Calum Veteran]

GreyWolf's suggestions sound like they're worth looking into, but here's another recommendation that you use a HTA for Windows systems. A HTA will run using the Internet Explorer layout engine no matter which browser the user has set as default, so you only have to design with that engine in mind, and you can utilise the VBScript/JScript capabilities that only Internet Explorer allows.

A HTA should be great for your situation, and what's useful is that you can ensure the entire experience is designed to your liking, with no browser windows popping up (you could even hide the default Windows titlebar and create your own, if you'd like).

One thing you could probably do is hide the HTA window and have it run the EXE file; that way, the EXE file could run as soon as the CD runs, without any other windows popping up. If you see what I mean? I'm not sure exactly what you're after, but that should be possible.

I have a lot of experience with the HTA concept, so feel free to ask if you have any problems :)

[badger face]

Wow thanks for the help guys, that sounds great i'll look into it!