I have two VS projects. One is to install something, the other project is an installer, basically a nice neat installer with pictures that calls the first project at the end to run the setup.exe.
Now, I want to publish this so that, someone can, on their computer, not mine, they can open my folder, open the setup file and it'll install fine, without errors like my setup.exe file being on my machine and not theirs.
Is there a way in Visual Studio where I can include that setup.exe file in my resources folder or what?
I was also thinking, when you say publish, there is a server option? I just have no idea how that works. We have a sharepoint website where we keep all our information.
Please and thank you.
Have you considered bundling your executables (installer and application) in to a ZIP file and having that downloadable? It wont launch automatically but it is a neater and preferred approach (from a security standpoint). If you have a thick client application, have you considered ClickOnce as a better option for deployment?
For neater and more secure options, look at the deploying section in here for best practice.
For your set up, you need two actions:
1) Download the setup file, use WebClient.DownloadFile and store it locally.
Alternatively, include it in the project and set the copylocal attribute so that it is part of the deployed binaries. Alternatively, this post tells you how to add it to the resource.
2) Use Process.Start("{Path to your downloaded setup.exe}") to launch the set up from your installer.
Related
I've just finished my Windows Forms App project in Visual Studio using C#. I know I need to release it. To do so I need to go from Debug mode to Release above in VS and then just click on F6. After that I have a folder with an exe file in it. But in my project I use a dll library which was copied on my PC and registered by regsvr32.exe in cmd. Next in VS I went to Solution Explorer and added the library in References by writing the path to it. I also use two packages which were installed by NuGet Package Manager.
My program is developed to use it by my coworkers so I have to distribute it to them. The problem is that I don't know how to prepare my app for it.
I'm reading lots of different articles about the release step but I'm getting more confused. People usually write that I can just copy the exe file in the release folder and use it in another PC after installing .Net there. But in my project there are also the three libraries and without them my program won't work in another PC. I can copy and register the first library on other computers but what about the last two? How to set up them correctly?
About the first library, I put it in a folder created by me manually in the C directory of my computer. The release folder is in another place. And when registering this library in cmd and then adding it to References, I specified the path to it. It means if the path has been changed, it won't be possible to use the library in the project. I tried some times. It's not convenient and when placing the app in another PC without VS where I can specify the path, my program won't probably work. So it would be very convenient to place this library next to the release folder and after putting it in another PC, the path to the library wouldn't cause any problems.
To sum up, I'm looking for the way to easily and conveniently distribute my program to users. Of course, I want to put my app and the libraries together in a PC, not to set up them separately and then tune them separately to make the program work there. Might there a way to release it as an app with all the libraries connected to it?
I feel it must be easy but I'm not so experienced. I'm sorry for that.
It is recommended that you use ClickOnce deployment:
ClickOnce deployment is a Microsoft technology that allows you to easily deploy your Windows Forms App along with all its dependencies. With ClickOnce deployment, you can publish your application to a web server or a file share and users can install it by simply clicking on a link. ClickOnce will automatically download and install all the required DLLs and packages on the user's computer.
Of course, there are some third-party packaging software that I can't recommend. If ClickOnce doesn't help you, I'll think of other ways.
I've been creating winforms application for a while now, but i've never really published one to other people before.
Recently I started doing this but every time I publish my build, the user requires to de-install his current installation and install the new one.
Is there any way to remove this, so I'll only have to send a .exe file which they can use without any form of installing?
I've attempted to send the .exe file in the bin/debug/ but this only seems to work on computers where Visual Studio is installed.
Go to your solution and set the CopyLocal to true for all projects, this will ensure that the ..\Bin folder contains all the necessary assemblies for your program. Then just zip up the ..\Bin folder, get it onto the client machine, and then unzip it.
Hope this helps!
1) Change from Debug to Release in Solution Configurations
2) Right click on your project and click rebuild
3) Go to your bin=>Release=> app.publish for your exe version
4) Copy over any required .dll files,any .config files and any other resource/image files you need from bin=>Release to bin=>Release=> app.publish.
Your app.publish folder should now contain all the files required to run your form, and can be copied or zipped up and send to anyone who needs to use it !
You can try using ClickOnce as an installation method. It even has a built-in auto-update, so you can publish your application to a web server, and all existing installations will download latests version automatically.
To configure ClickOnce go to corresponding tab in your project settings.
Is there a way to publish a VS2012 App (WPF) to an .exe without any installer? I know how to use ClickOnce installers but i was wondering if it could be taken one step furthur.
Many small programs seem to come in a .rar with some app files and an .exe that runs and doesn't have to install. Is this possible in VS2012? (or 2010)
Yes, sure, it's possible. Just compile you app in Release mode and take all you have in Release folder.
This is possible with Visual Studio 2012 depending on your needs and your approach to developing your application. I'll list a couple options, but don't take this as being exhaustive as there are many ways to accomplish the same thing. I'm assuming you want a "1 click" solution for the user.
You can embed all of your application's resources into the application allowing your users to be able to simply download or copy the .exe and run it from anywhere and it "just works".
Pros: The only method that gives you what you asked for. A single .exe without the need for an installer.
Cons: You can't edit any of the embedded resources without a recompilation of the application. You also can't store user settings for this same reason (though you could silently create a settings file in App_Data or similar).
Self extracting archive. This is the WinRAR method you mentioned in your question. You embed your application into a self-extracting archive which is set to extract to the users Temp directory or App_Data (or similar) and to launch your exe upon successful extraction.
Pros: You get the ability to update your resources as they aren't embedded into your actual application.
Cons: Technically, this is still an installer; albeit a very lightweight and self-contained one.
There are more, such as click-once; etc., but this explained the general idea.
Note: The correct .NET version will need to be installed for these to work as simply as I described.
Here are the concerns I can think of that an installer takes care of that you would need to worry about:
The correct .NET framework already exists.
Any assemblies that you reference from the GAC are already installed.
You don't need any custom registry entries or permissions to be granted.
Your app doesn't access anything that would keep it from working in a "low trust" environment when the user is not running as admin.
There are surely more, but basically if your app is self-contained and does not use any external resources and the correct .NET framework is installed, you should be able to just copy your build output and go.
I have an application I want to build and deploy via ClickOnce. But we want this to be a process that can be run outside of VS through scripts, for either test, business UAT or production environment.
Each separate environment requires a different .config file to be used and a different web server to be deployed on and for update location.
The application also has prerequisites of .NET runtime 3.5 and Crystal reports.
I have looked into using MAGE to create application and deployment manifests, and if I do a code BUILD, then use MAGE afterwards as per each environment, as well as having the script copy over the correct .config file, this creates what I think are the correct manifests for each environment at the time of running the script.
But what I'm struggling to do is include the prerequisites. If done through VS, you can specify a setup.exe package which gets built with the pre-reqs and deployed alongside the application and when you click on the download link, it installs the pre-reqs from setup.exe and then the application.
But how can I do this manually outside VS? I can build the setup.exe through VS with the right URl location but then how do I link the setup.exe to the application as a pre-req using MAGE to generate the manifests?
The problems we have are 1) The users do not have admin rights to download and install packages, only to install things via clickonce so the pre-reqs have to be installed under the click once security umbrella.
Thanks
ClickOnce and prereqs cause lots of confusion. The setup.exe that Visual Studio generates has nothing to do with ClickOnce. The only minor link between the two is that the setup.exe will launch the ClickOnce application once it finishes. That's it. So thinking users will be able to install your prereqs "under the clickonce security umbrella" is a mistake. If they are not an admin and a prereq install requires admin privileges, they won't be able to install it.
My advice would be to generate your setup.exe one time. You shouldn't need to keep doing it unless your prereqs keep changing. Use Visual Studio, generate the setup one time, then use Mage for the rest.
Edit
In general you make the setup.exe available and depend on the user to know if they need to run it or not. If they already have the prereqs and run the setup.exe, nothing bad happens. It sees that everything is installed then launches the app.
Usually you're going to direct users to run the setup.exe. The next time they want to launch the app they should use the start menu shortcut (assuming you didn't go with "Online Only"). I've found this to be the least confusing set of instructions for users.
Remember how Visual Studio does extra, non-ClickOnce stuff when you publish (like the setup.exe)? It also creates a simple html page that has links to both the ClickOnce manifest and the setup.exe and an explanation. It also has some javascript that checks the UserAgent string to determine if they have the .NET Framework installed. Again, this isn't ClickOnce. It's just something nice Visual Studio does for you. If you like it, use it. I kind of like skipping it and going with the run setup.exe to install then launch from the start menu.
codeConcussion is right, you can't ever actually have the prerequisites instill directly from ClickOnce. You should just generate it once and then you have it ready for your external ClickOnce tool.
There is an option other than Mage. You could use my companies tool, ClickOnceMore, as your ClickOnce build software. It's been designed for people who want to use ClickOnce but don't want to build with Visual Studio.
It can hook into the setup.exe generated from Visual Studio (details here) so should satisfy all your needs.
Why do you want to build setup manually if everything can be done via clickonce ?
You can select "Download pre-requisites from same location" option from prerequisites form if you want to include .netfx or crystalreports, download bootstrap packages for .netfx3.5 & crystalreports and add to folder (for windows 7) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages" . The deployment project will automatically include netfx & other packages along with setup.exe.
hope this helps.
I have a C# console application written in Visual Studio 2008.
Usually I just build the application and then copy the files from the 'Release' folder but this time trying to do it 'properly' by publishing the application.
I went through the 'Publish Wizard' and end up with a 'Setup.exe' file in the specified folder. When running this setup file on another computer the install fails and indicates via a error message that:
Cannot download the application. The Application is missing required files...
When I select the 'details' button the error log shows that the program was trying to download files from the last version directory (ie 1_0_0_4).
What am I doing wrong? (aside from being tired...)
Show I de-activate the version auto-incrementing?
Unless you have a valid reason to do so, I would abandon the publishing and just go back to the XCopy installation. (And by Valid, I mean something other than someone told you that it's the "proper" way to do it.) I base this advice on the following arguments:
We used ClickOnce for all our WinForms apps for a while, but eventually it got to be more trouble than it was worth. For one thing, you need to deal with the security certificates. We had issues when we replaced a server with a new one with a different name, then we had issues when we replaced our development machines, etc.
You said this is a console application. ClickOnce publication seems to be overkill for a simple console application unless there are third party dependencies that you need to include in your install.
Don't get me wrong, I liked using ClickOnce for the ease of putting updates out there, and we use it still when it's the best option. However, in your situation, it looks to me like XCopy deployment should be sufficient for a simple console application.
Not knowing what you choose in the wizard, web or CD, the setup.exe file needs to be able to reference it's installation files. If using the CD method, you will notice in the output directory you revision directories, e.g. 1_0_0_4, where each revision of your app is kept. I agree with #David_Stratton, and unless you really need to use one-click publishing, don't. Just use xcopy (robocopy), zipfiles, etc. It will greatly reduce your stress levels down the road.
Everything David Stratton has stated is correct. ClickOnce is overkill for what you're trying to do, and publishing through Visual Studio has always given me headaches.
I might recommend taking a look at NSIS if you're looking for generating an installer for others. It's relatively simple to generate full installers that merely grab files from your /Release/ directory, with plenty of sample code for getting an installer working quickly. Once you have your working script, making your installers are as simple as a right-click and clicking compile.