COM system files

ARK requires that up-to-date versions of the following COM system files be installed on target systems:

• Oleaut32.dll *
• Olepro32.dll *
• Stdole2.tlb
• Asycfilt.dll
• Comcat.dll *

All of these files should be installed in the target machine's OS\System directory (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM). An asterisk indicates that the file also needs to be registered using Regsvr32.exe (PC), RegsvrCE.exe (PDA) or using a similar method. Care needs to be taken to ensure that older versions of files do not overwrite newer versions. Setup programs must first compare the version numbers between the existing and new files, then the date/time stamps if the version numbers are identical. Programs such as InstallShield correctly determine if a file is newer using both the Windows version APIs and file APIs. Microsoft also has C++ source code available that shows how this can be done.

These files are included along with the VB run-time DLL in the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 SP4 runtime package, available from the ARK web site More information on the runtime package is available from the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Important Note: ARK components do not work properly with the version of COM that was included with the original version of Windows 95. This means that users with this version of Windows must have their COM DLLs updated in one of the following ways:

• By installing Internet Explorer 3 or newer.
• By installing the latest version of DCOM95 (not DCOM98) from the Microsoft web site, at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q235/4/20.ASP.

Users can see if their system needs to be updated by right clicking on the My Computer icon, selecting Properties, and looking for the version number that starts with 4.00.950. If there is a B or a C after 4.00.950, the user does not need to install IE or DCOM95.

ARK components provided by Gennum

The ARK Core Component, ARK.dll, needs to be installed in the OS\System directory by all ARK-based applications and must be registered using Regsvr32.exe or by equivalent means. Applications that use ConfTree structures to load and save XML files must install and register ConfTree.dll and CTXML.dll into OS\System. This file is included in ARKbase 1.9.16 and later. As with the COM system files, version-checking these two files is essential. Please read the previous section in this article for information on how to do this.

Other ARK components and supporting files that are provided by Gennum in ARKbase should be installed into the OS\ARK directory (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\ARK). Because this directory is central, it may be used by multiple applications; however, because it is ARK-specific, installing and uninstalling shared files from this directory will not affect applications that are not ARK-based but still use some of the same shared files. The HiPro DLLs are a prime example of shared files that are used by applications that are not ARK-based, but also by the GenHiPro ARK controller component.

For reference, the files that are included in ARKbase that a developer may wish to redistribute are listed below. If an X appears in the Register? column, the file also needs to be registered using Regsvr32.exe or using a similar method.