cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

shermans
Pro
Posts: 1,303
Thanks: 101
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎07-09-2007

Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

Can anyone tell me if this is the sort of thing I am looking for ?  I am working on a private project for which I have built a website with very simple HTML code.  The structure is a series of Menus and sub-menus which link to about 100 pdf files.  It is very simple and works very well online using FTP to upload to my hosting service on to my own https:// website.  It uses about 150 mb of webspace.

However, it is not ideal to be able use offline on say a USB sticks to share with others without having to load all the html code onto the stick.  What I would like to do, maybe naively, would be to compile an .exe programme from the html code.  Is that possible for a novice without much difficulty ? 

I have downloaded Microsoft Visual Installer but when I opened it up, my eyes glazed over !  Is this the sort of software I need to achieve this and is it difficult ?  Any suggestions would be appreciated from someone who has more knowledge than I do - my level of html is very rudimentary, dating from from pre-retirement days ! 

Thanks.

 

6 REPLIES 6
Mook
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,266
Thanks: 870
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎27-12-2019

Re: Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

@shermans Have a look at XAMPP I think you'll find this will do what you need.

shermans
Pro
Posts: 1,303
Thanks: 101
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎07-09-2007

Re: Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

Mook

Thanks for that.  I looked briefkly at XAMPP but not sure I understand what it does ?  Is it going to be easy enough for me to download and then use  or will it need higher skills than I have ?  My only coding skills are really just 20 year old HTML !

So the situation is this.  I have created a website consisting of tiered indexes.  Each index is effectively a menu with hyperlinks to other sub-menus - max. three levels.  The bottom level is again a menu with hyperlinks  to about 100  PDF files.  It works brilliantly for my purposes on line and offline.  However, I need to be able to provide it to a Judge in a very simple package on a USB stick, because he will not go online.   The ideal would be something like a PDF file, but that is not a practicality.  So want I am trying to do is to create a very simple stand-alone package that will work in the same way as the HTML files. It would be no good trying to convince the judge to use an offline version of the website in HTML because he would take one look at all the html files and throw it out - he is not practical.  But if he had a single single only on the USB stick, like an .exe file, it should overcome his reluctance.

So that in the nutshell is the problem.  I want some way of consolidating everything into an easy to use offline vehicle that even a luddite will use.  Judges are these days accepting individual PDF files, but in my case they need to be indexed like they are on the website.

Again thanks for your advice.

ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

How can opening an index.html file be any more difficult than opening an .exe file? If it's really just simple HTML code, there's no need for a locally running HTTP server or php or anything like that, it should work the same over the file:// protocol as it does over the http:// protocol - as in, it works just the same when accessed as a local file as it does accessed over the Internet.

 

If clicking the right html file out of 150 files is the difficult part, put the 150 files in a directory and create another html file containing a link to the right one.

shermans
Pro
Posts: 1,303
Thanks: 101
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎07-09-2007

Re: Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

Thanks.  I have just edited my reply to Mook.  The problem is the reader is a luddite !  When I suggested using the website, he just rolled his eyes and said "PDF" and that was all.  I would happily let you see the website in question to make things clearer but it would have to be by PM for sensitivity.

 

Thnaks.

ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

Then I think the solution is for you to create a PDF file containing relative links to all the other PDF files. This can be done in LibreOffice.

I would forget about the idea of compiling a website into a Windows .exe, maybe they might want to open it on an Apple machine.

Mook
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,266
Thanks: 870
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎27-12-2019

Re: Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

@shermans, the XAMPP does what you were looking for and that was to generate a stand alone web service from your USB device. But if you skill set is limited to 20 year old HTML then maybe another approach is best.

 

@ejs is right, you can use the file protocol to serve the HTML and PDFs but success with this isn't guaranteed as assumptions need to be made.

 

From what you have said above the best option is to produce a single PDF file as suggested, so I've sent you a PM on this.