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The AstaBinaryPatcher allows any 2 binary files to be compared and a "patch"
file created that can be applied to the first binary file using a small
console program (patcher.exe). A GUI program, or the
AstaBinaryPatchManager.exe is used to create and maintain the patches. Then
the console program (patcher.exe) is used to apply the patches.
The typical use of the AstaBinaryPatcher is to efficiently update remotely
deployed EXE's without have to stream down large files. There are 3rd Party
tools that integrate with the AstaBinaryPatcher to provide a transparent
autoupdate process for any application and allow the application to "check"
for an update on a remote server, get a patch and update an application in
place.
Although EXE's are normally used with the AstaBinaryPatcher to allow
for remote EXE's to be made current, any file, including streamed
database files could be used with this technology.
The AstaBinaryPatcher is part of the Zero Administration Initiative
that is part of the which also includes ASTA's Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Wireless Universe and an updated for the Palm.
ASTA is fully committed to thin client applications with zero
administration. To this end, the ASTA AutoUpdate Process allows for
remote clients, when logging onto an ASTA server to have a version
check performed on the server and if a more recent version of the
client application is available, that version can be streamed down to
remote clients, replace the existing application and relaunch the
application. This process is described with examples and screen shots
in the AstaAutoUpdate Tutorial. This same technique is available on PDA
devices also, where a updated Palm prc or WinCE EXE is made available
on ASTA SkyWire servers and then streamed down to the handheld device
when a client is authenticated at the server. For low volume servers or
over local lans, this works quite well but as user counts start to rise
into the hundreds, it could be quite common for 100 or so users to hit
a server at the same time, streaming down a 1MB + EXE to remote
clients. Quite a distraction for an ASTA server designed to serve up
database queries!
For high volume servers, or just for more efficient use of
resources, it is quite easy to use a remote Web Server like IIS
(Internet Informormation Server) to manage the most recent client
application. This technique is described in the Asta HTTP Update
tutorial complete with code examples and even includes a progress bar
and the ability to abort the download. The ultimate solution would be
to use some technology that could apply a binary patch on the original
client EXE to bring it update to date with the current version. Thus,
instead of a 1MB client application a 200K patch file could be sent to
clients. Combining this with the HTTP download technique you have the
best of both worlds: no resources used from the ASTA server and a much
smaller file streaming down to remote clients. The ASTA Binary Patcher
allows any 2 binary files to be compared and a "patch" file created
that can be applied to the first binary file using a small console
program (patcher.exe). A GUI program, or the AstaBinaryPatchManager.exe
is used to create the patches. Then the console program (patcher.exe)
is used to apply the patches. Screen shots of the AstaBinaryPatch
Manager are available.
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