Part 3: Deploying Progams

A SheerPower deployed program turns an .SPSRC file into an .SPRUN file. The SPRUN file is an encrypted version of the original source code, in plain text. Additionally, you can password-protect this file for more security when distributing.

A SheerPower 4GL License is required to use the Deploy feature. All downloads include the free hobbyist and non-profit organization license key information. Businesses and commercial users should enter in their own purchased license key when using SheerPower.

1. Once you have a clean build of your SPSRC program, you can deploy it by clicking on the "Deploy" icon in the toolbar. The "Enter License Key" dialog box will open.

   

2. SheerPower 4GL comes with a default free license key for hobbyist and non-profit organization use. If you are using SheerPower for commercial or business use, you must purchase a SheerPower License. If the free license key is not already entered for you, just copy and paste the key information below into the Enter License Key dialog box.

             Key:    F0CE-2E43-7583-3130-3030-3030-3131-0003-873F-000A
             Name:   non-commercial
             Email:  non-commercial
           

   Note: During each session in SPDEV you are only prompted one time to enter in the license key information. If you close and restart SPDEV, then choose to Deploy a program, you will be prompted for the license key again. However, once you have it entered in, it will remain in.

3. Click on the "OK" button to continue. The "Deployment Password" will open next. You have four options:
   • If you want to password-protect the .SPRUN file, enter a password into the input field and click on the "OK" button.
   • If you do not want to put a password on the .SPRUN file, leave the password field blank, and click on the "OK" button.
   • If you are certain that you will not want to password protect the .SPRUN files ever, leave the input field blank, and check the box beside "Never show this dialog box again". Then click on the "OK" button.
   • Click on the "Cancel" button to cancel deploying the program.

   

   Note: You will be prompted to enter in a new password for each file you want to deploy.

4. Click on the "OK" button to continue. You will now see in the Results Window that deploying the program also compiled it. You will also see the number of lines of code, the new file name (now an .SPRUN file) file size, and whether or not it was a clean build or if there were any compile errors.

   

5. Take a look inside your SheerPower folder (c:\sheerpower is the default location). You will see that the deployed file named menu.sprun has been created.

   

6. This .SPRUN file allows you to distribute applications without the recipients ever being able to see the source code. Open menu.sprun inside SPDEV (click on the Open icon, and browse for the file). You will see the plain text that makes up the file. This text can be put into any file and distributed. As long as it is copied and pasted into an .SPRUN file on the recipient's computer, they will be able to run the program. If any text is altered in this file, it will not run.

   

7. The final Part 4 of this basic tutorial will cover the ways to distribute SheerPower programs and run them on other computers.

   Part 4: Distributing (Sharing) SheerPower Programs >>>>>

Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome!

Copyright (c) 2003-2010 Touch Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Parts of the SheerPower technology are U.S. patented and patent pending.