Example Use of CDEveryWhere's Features
This small example will show you how easy it is to createg a cross-platform CD image. Not all of the features of CDEverywWhere are shown, but it will give you an idea of the operation of the software. This example uses features of the professional version of the software not available in the standard or personal versions.
*Please note that this example uses the Adobe Acrobat PDF format and Acrobat software which is copyrighted by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Use of the Adobe Acrobat product does not imply Adobe Systems Incorporated endorses CDEveryWhere or this example page.
The Task
Suppose you want to distribute a large number of Adobe Acrobat PDF documents and the Acrobat Reader for users of Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh and Unix (this example only includes the Acrobat Reader for Linux and Solaris, but you may include all Unix versions if you wish).
Step 1: Prepare the documents and the reader software
First you must download all the reader software from http://www.adobe.com. If you do not have a Macintosh, you must download the Macintosh version without decoding the MacBinary. The following screen shot assumes all the PDF files are in the documents directory and all the software in the readers directory. This is simply a choice, CDEveryWhere does not require any specific directory structure.
Step 2: Drop the PDF files into the shared tab
The shared tab of the "Files on CD" pane contains files that will be available to all platforms. We want the PDF files available to all platforms so we select them and drag and drop to the "Files on CD" pane. The following figure shows what the shared portion of the CD will look like. You can navigate the image just like your local drive.
Step 3: Drop the reader software into the tab of each platform
The next step is to add all the installers to the CD. Each platform has its own tab to drop files into. When a platform tab is selected, the shared files are also shown so you can preview how the structure will look on the CD. Each installer is dropped onto its respective platform.
Step 4: Preview the CD structure
The Unix tab shows the permissions and user/group IDs for each file.
The MS-Windows tab shows what MS-Windows users will see when they use the CD.
The Macintosh tab shows the type and creator that will appear on the Macintosh volume. Notice the filename in the "Files on CD" pane is different from the name in the "Source" pane. MacBinary and BinHex files store the original Macintosh name and CDEveryWhere uses this name when creating the image. The type/creator attributes for the PDF files were determined by a database that uses the file's name and content. Only CDEveryWhere lets you assign type/creator from Windows or Unix to provide the best CD for your Macintosh users. If a user already has Adobe Acrobat installed, they can double-click a PDF file and it will open.
Step 5: Write the image
Select "Create" from the "Image" menu. Enter the filename of the image file and CDEveryWhere will create it.
Step 6: Create the CD
The image can be recorded to a CDR and used on Windows, Unix and Macintosh. Each platform will see its own installer while the other installers remain hidden. Please check the FAQ and Tips on our web site to learn more about how to record the image file to a CD.
You can see from this example that CDEveryWhere is powerful and easy to use. If you would like to try a demonstration go to our download page.