Patch Creator

With Patch Creator you can create patches for updating registered versions of your software
With Patch Creator you can create patches for updating registered versions of your software. This is a two part application. The 'Patch Creator' is used on the developer's end to prepare the 'Patch Applicator'. Both the Creator and Applicator are easy to use GUI programs. The Applicator is self-contained GUI .EXE - the end user does not need to use complex command line syntax to apply the patch (see below screen shot).

The default 'Update' operation for a file is based on byte differences between the old and new file versions. This means that only the actual changes and not the entire file need to included in the patch. Compression can also be used to reduce further reduce patch size. Files on users' machines can be updated from a specific file version, added regardless of existing version, removed, or renamed. Multiple versions of one or more files can also be patched at once. You can mix & match settings for the different files in a patch. For example, some can be 'Update' operations, some can be 'Add', some can issue an error message if an operation cannot be completed by the applicator, other errors can be ignored.

Passwords can be required (or not) and the 'Licensed to:' message that the user sees when the Applicator runs is configurable. The Applicator can also be configured such that if a file operation cannot be completed, the entire patch is halted and no files are changed. The Applicator provides a brief error message if a given file cannot be patched (see example below) - useful for debugging if a user has a problem.

The patch can include a .reg file to be applied by the Applicator after the patch is complete. Patches can also write extra data to files at the file offset you specify. The default path the Applicator should use can be specified by reading .reg data you specify from the user's machine or by looking for a specific file you specify. Alternatively, the user can select the path to apply the patch via a path browser. Context sensitive help is available for the Patch Creator.