07 Sep 2008

CREATE PORTABLE APPLICATIONS WITH EASE

BoxedApp SDK 2.0, a DLL library from Softanics enables developers to take advantage of the next generation technology - application virtualization to create a portable application with zero installation that relies on the virtual environment to run.

Saint Petersburg, Russia - August 6, 2008: Softanics today announces a new version of the application virtualization library - BoxedApp SDK 2.0. Using the library, developers can create a portable, self-contained application that relies on the virtual registry and file system to run on the machine. Application virtualization using BoxedApp offers several benefits, including portability, protection of exclusive content from theft and improved system stability.

Application virtualization allows creating portable applications that run from a USB flash drive, CD-ROM or a computer, even when the user does not have administrator rights to install software on the hard drive. Another benefit lies in the opportunity to hide exclusive content - graphics, animation, audio from illegal copying and re-use. Files are packaged into a single EXE file and streamed from memory, rather than copied to the hard disk where anyone can find and copy them. BoxedApp SDK also speeds up the time to market because there's no need for regression tests with other applications. Traditionally lengthy QA testing is reduced considerably.

Using BoxedApp SDK, the developer can embed DLL, ActiveX/OCX components, content files, and even .NET runtime, which an application uses, into a single EXE file that runs as an isolated application, without any changes to the file system or registry of the computer. The embedded data is unpacked to memory, rather than the hard disk and registered in virtual registry. Following the "best practices" recommendations from Microsoft, BoxedApp SDK is made to run completely in user mode, which results in many benefits related to system stability and security.

Implementing the library is easy. Just add a few lines of code to an application and all is set.

Sample of using BoxedApp SDK:

Let's say, for example, the application needs a Flash ActiveX player to play a Flash movie but the developer cannot rely on users to have this component installed. BoxedApp may save the day. Simply create a virtual file that contains the Flash movie, another virtual file that contains the Flash player ActiveX DLL, and virtual registry entries that point to that virtual file. That's it. Now the application "thinks" that the Flash player ActiveX is actually installed and the Flash player runs just as if the movie file was actually on the hard disk drive.

"We are excited to be releasing new BoxedApp SDK," says Artem A. Razin, CTO, Softanics. "The requests for virtualization technologies are growing rapidly today. I think our solution will help many to make applications virtual with ease and at an affordable price."

Available now, BoxedApp SDK 2.0 starts at 299 EUR. A free trial is available.

Read more at: http://boxedapp.com/. The website offers many examples how to" virtualize" .NET assembly, FlashPlayer ActiveX, DLLs. Examples are available for most programming languages.