LiveUpdate improvement

**In this Visual Basic 6 project, you will make my “LiveUpdate?? program a bit faster and cleaner and add a few features. This is not a tough project, but you should have experience with VB6 + the Internet before attempting it. the number of changes I have requested may seem large until you realize that liveupdate is really a short and simple program, so it’s not so bad.** Hello! I write some software called “GroundSchool?? which you can see at www.dauntless-soft.com. This is test preparation software for pilots ??" it asks them questions that they need to learn. The list of questions changes every few months. Additionally, I often make changes to the software itself (.exe file), and so forth. So that users can always be up-to-date, I provide a built-in “LiveUpdate?? program. This program connects to the internet, checks against a master list of file versions, and then updates the main program as necessary. “LiveUpdate?? currently works fine. The problem is that it’s quite slow and inefficient. Sure, the downloading will take time (some of the files are very large!) but just going through the wizard and so forth is too slow. LiveUpdate is currently launched from GroundSchool. A menu item is clicked on GroundSchool, GroundSchool shuts down, and LiveUpdate [login to view URL] is a separate vb6.exe. ## Deliverables What I’d like from the LiveUpdate you build is as follows; 1. faster and more elegant. Right now it is a wizard structure, which is ok, but it really could be made into just one screen or something??"you be the designer! 2. better reliability ??" it currently does not connect to the internet for some reason 100% on the first time??"the internet connection bit needs to be looked at and made better 3. faster ??" even after it downloads the update list, it takes way too long to determine what files need to be updated. This should not be hard to fix 4. code cleanup ??" liveupdate was built on top of two previous versions of LiveUpdate and as a result there is a bunch of extra code that can be gotten rid of and some junk that is not used. 5. multiple-servers ??" currently, it downloads files from [login to view URL], including the main “what file is current??? file called gsv5_updatelist.html. Id like to change this so that the index file is at [login to view URL](updatefile) and then this index file tells the LiveUpdate where the actual files to download are. If necessary, I will give you access to the server(s). the reason is that GetAFile is an expensive and slow server. Even better would be if it tries servers “in order?? so that if the first one doesn’t work it goes to the second, etc. 6. it should continue to support LiveUpdate of LiveUpdate.. which means that it recognizes if a new version of LiveUpdate comes out it will shut itself down and restart appropriately so that it can overwrite itself. 7. Multiple programs: I said that LiveUpdate works with my GroundSchool test prep software. This is true. However, the GroundSchool software comes in two “flavors??: USA (FAA) and Canada (TC). They have different art and color schemes. Ideally, I’d like to have better support in LiveUpdate for updating many programs ??" I would just compile it differently for each one or it would use some external file as its source of information. Currently, the Canada stuff is in there, but it is a bit of a mishmash- I compiled it once as Canada and then moved stuff around. Complicating things slightly is that the FAA GroundSchool has several different versions ??" Private Pilot, IFR, etc. that a user can optionally update (or install new). Canada has just one. 8. Better progress bar movement ??" the current one is too jerky. 9. Changing of things from bytes (ie 1202022 bytes) to megabytes (1.2 mb) everywhere in the program because bytes is too hard to read. 10. cancel should work correctly.. currently it does not work 100%.. if a user aborts a download, it will cancel nicely and provide appropriate messages (including a "are you sure you want to cancel liveupdating?" message box) Now, here are two new pieces of functionality. I’d like to in GroundSchool to provide a small message on the main menu that says “an updated version is available.. click here to get it?? that launches LiveUpdate. This means that when GroundSchool launches I want to make some call to LiveUpdate which will simply return a value whether to display the “an updated version…?? message. Nothing complicated, please! [login to view URL] is guaranteed to be in the main program folder, and I don’t mind simply doing a shell [login to view URL] /silent which then writes to a file that I can read or something! Provide me with sample code that would go into the form_activate (or something) in GroundSchool to prove that this works. (continued) ## Platform I will provide you: 1. the current LiveUpdate code 2. access to the servers, as necessary You will: 1. download GroundSchool to see how it works and for testing (you don’t need the registered / unlocked version ??" LiveUpdate works just the same in the unlocked version) 2. provide me with good LiveUpdate source code 3. regularly communicate with me on status, etc. VB6 **If you want to win the bid, make me a good case as to what you could do. show me that you have looked into and understand the project, such as by having downloaded groundschoool and looking at the LiveUpdate. **thank you and happy bidding!