# VerCheck

©1996-2010 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products

This program will let you quickly check if there are new versions of any of your apps. Read the precis to understand how it works. Or just click Check For New Versions to see if there are any new versions for any of the default set of applications. The results are summarised at the utilities entry in plain HTML.

I update the code for Vercheck frequently, sometimes several times a day. The means the downloaded version will soon be out of date. Download it primarily if you want to study or modify it yourself. The easiest way to use it to monitor the standard list of application or your own applications is to run it as an Applet getting its jar each time from the http://mindprod.com/applet directory.

This program is an implementation of the VerCheck student project outline. Reading it will help you understand how this program works. If you are a Java programmer curious how the program works, you can either download the source or view source code in JDisplay format.

When you add apps by configuring defaults.csv, make sure you prepend the match string with regex: when your match string is a regex.
Sorry, you need Java 1.6 or later to run this Applet.

Icons Used in VerCheck to Describe Applications
Icon | Meaning
--- | ---
| empty row
| invalid, e.g. bad date, bad/missing URL
| status not yet determined
| In the process of contacting and checking this website
| Could not contact website, or possibly the page is missing. Could indicate a version change.
| Unchanged, released over a year ago
| Unchanged, released in last year
| Unchanged, released in last month
| Unchanged, released in last week
| Version has recently changed. A new version is available. The marker is out of date.
Icons Used on VerCheck Command Buttons
Icon | Meaning
--- | ---
| add application at the spot selected
| remove selected application
| Check all websites for new versions

The sound like a golf ball falling into a hole is what VerCheck makes when it has finished checking all the applications and it is saving the results in the registry.

## If, vercheck, the above Version Checker signed Java Applet does not work…

1. This signed Java Applet needs at least 32-bit (not 64-bit) Java 1.6. For best results use the latest 1.6.0_18. and a recent browser.
2. Firefox 3.6 requires Java 1.6.0_10 or later.
3. If you have Windows 7 64-bit and Internet Explorer 64-bit, you can use 64-bit Java.
4. You should see the Applet above looking much like the screenshot. If you don’t, the following should help you get it working:
5. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, try another browser. Seriously. Microsoft has taken great pains, over and over, to screw up Java and every other multi-platform standardisation.
6. If you are using Internet Explorer 7 or 8, you must allow blocked content permission for Active X to run. This also gives permission to Java to run. Click the Information bar, and then click Allow blocked content. Unfortunately, this also allows dangerous ActiveX code to run. However, you must do this in order to get access to perfectly-safe Java Applets running in a sandbox. This is part of Microsoft’s war on Java. Don’t put up with it! Use a different browser.
7. For this Applet to work, you must click grant/accept to give it permission to probe various websites to see if new versions of software are available.
8. Optionally, you may permanently install the Canadian Mind Products code-signing certificate so you don’t have to grant each time.
9. If the above Applet appears to freeze-up, click Alt-Esc repeatedly to check for any buried permission dialog box.
10. If you have certificate troubles, check the installed certificates and remove or update any obsolete or suspected defective certificates. The only certificate used by this program is mindprodcert2010dsa.cer.
11. Especially if this Applet has worked before, try clearing the browser cache and rebooting.
12. To ensure your Java is up to date, check with Wassup. First, download it and run it as an application independent of your browser, then run it online as an Applet to add the complication of your browser.
13. If the above Applet does not work, check the Java console for error messages.
14. If the above Applet does not work, you might have better luck with the downloadable version.
15. If you are using Mac OS X and would like an improved Look and Feel, download the QuaQua look & feel from randelshofer.ch/quaqua. UnZip the contained quaqua.jar and install it in ~/Library/Java/Extensions or one of the other ext dirs.
16. If you still can’t get the program working click HELP for more detail.
17. If you can’t get the above Applet working after trying the advice above and from the HELP button below, have bugs to report or ideas to improve the program or its documentation, please send me an email at.

Package | Version | Released | Licence | Language | Notes |
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
VerCheck | 4.2 | 2010-03-24 | free | Java | ❘ PAD facts ❘ screenshot ❘ browse source repository for the current version of VerCheck. Checks applications to see if new versions are available. zip for VerCheck Java source and compiled class files to run on your own machine as an application or Applet. First install the most recent Java. To install, extract the zip download with WinZip, (or similar unzip utility) into any directory you please, often J:\ — ticking off the “user folder names” option. To check out the corresponding source from the Subversion repository, use the TortoiseSVN repo-browser to access vercheck source in repository with [Tortoise] Subversion client on wush.net/svn/mindprod/com/mindprod/vercheck/. After you have installed the jar, you can run it as an application. Type: java -jar J:\com\mindprod\vercheck\vercheck.jar adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is. download ASP PAD XML program description for the current version of VerCheck. VerCheck is free. Full source included. You may even include the source code, modified or unmodified in commercial programs that you write and distribute. Non-military use only. |  |

FileHippo
recommended utilities

| You can get the freshest copy of this page from: | or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)
http://mindprod.com/applet/vercheck.html | J:\mindprod\applet\vercheck.html
| Please email your feedback for publication, errors, omissions, typos, formatting errors, ambiguities, unclear wording, broken/redirected link reports, suggestions to improve this page or comments to Roedy Green :
Canadian Mind Products |
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Feedback | You are visitor number . | The information on this page is for non-military use only. Military use includes use by defence contractors.