How do I add file data to my EXE file at RunTime in delphi - delphi

Question

I have created an application that manage an embedded database
My Customer want this application to be in one file
My Task is to modify my application so it can extract database file from exe , edit it ,and include if again at run time not in compile time

Answer 1

An executable file cannot be modified while the executable is running. Which means that in order to achieve your goal you would need another process. You could do the following:
Start your process.
Extract the DB from the process image.
Make changes to the DB.
Extract another executable file from the original image.
Start a second process based on this extracted images.
Terminate the first process.
Have the second process update the disk image with the modified DB.
Frankly this is a quite terrible idea. Don't even attempt this. The complexity serves no useful purpose, and the whole concept feels brittle.
Keep the data in a file separate from the program, as nature intended.

Answer 2

This is of course a bad idea, just think of what virusscanners are going to think of this approach. Also what happens if the exe crashes, will your db now lose all of its updates?
You can have the exe create a self extracting archive containing all the files needed.
This works as follows (the steps are the same as #David above, except that the components listed do most of the work for you).
Extract self extracting zip.
this contains: the real exe to be started upon extract
the database
some files needed to recreate a new self extracting exe
Upon closing the program it will create a new zip file, including:
Itself (in readonly form)
The database
some files needed to recreate a new self extracting exe
It will then transform the zip-file into a new self-extracting exe
the new self-extracting archive will start the exe included in it's embedded zip file as per #1.
Here's some sample code from sfx-zip-delphi.
program SelfExtractingZip;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
// Add a ZipForge unit to the program
SysUtils, ZipForge, Classes;
var
archiver : TZipForge;
begin
// Create an instance of the TZipForge class
archiver := TZipForge.Create(nil);
try
with archiver do
begin
// Set the name of the archive file we want to create.
// We set extension to exe because we create a SFX archive
FileName := 'C:\test.exe';
// See SFXStub demo in ZipForge\Demos\Delphi folder
// to learn how to create a SFX stub
SFXStub := 'C:\SFXStub.exe';
// Because we create a new archive,
// we set Mode to fmCreate
OpenArchive(fmCreate);
// Set base (default) directory for all archive operations
BaseDir := 'C:\';
// Add the C:\test.txt file to the archive
AddFiles('c:\test.txt');
CloseArchive();
end;
except
on E: Exception do
begin
Writeln('Exception: ', E.Message);
// Wait for the key to be pressed
Readln;
end;
end;
end.
Solutions for self extracting exe's
Paid
If you want a paid solution: http://www.componentace.com/sfx-zip-delphi.htm
Free
Or free: http://tpabbrevia.sourceforge.net/Self-Extracting_Archives
The abbrevia docs for self-extracting files are here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/tpabbrevia/postdownload?source=dlp
See page 293.