I have this problem. I want to build an installer for my c# solution, that will be placed in a folder with other installation folders and files that are needed to be copied to the installed folder. So that is easy, I just copy them to the folder I create using the folder structure I want.
Now, I want also to install another program and run a .exe file I've created to unzip some files for me. For that I need to copy 2 .exe files and 2 dlls (for the exes) to the folder to which I am installing and create 2 custom actions that will use them. That I've managed to do.
After that I want to delete those 4 extra files, as the user does not need them and shouldn't even be aware they are there. How to do so? I couldn't find a way in the built in setup project preferences + I do not know how to make a custom installer class.
A bonus question, is how to make the other installer (one of the .exe files is just a plain installer) install quietly to any path? I do not want the user to see an installer pop out of my program installer.
Thanks!
Some commercial setup authoring tools support temporary files. They are extracted when the installation starts and automatically removed when the installation ends. They are never registered with Windows Installer.
You can find a list of setup tools here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_installation_software
Regarding the prerequisite, it depends on its setup package. You can install it silently only if it supports this through its command line.
Don't. You will get a ton of problems with Windows Installer trying to automatically repair your applications and such things. You might be able to solve the problem with a more advanced installer creator, such as WiX.
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 wrote a fairly simple application with C#/.NET and can't figure out a good way to publish it. It's a sort of a "tool" that users would only run once, or run every few months. Because of this, I'm hoping that there is a way I could deploy it where it wouldn't need installing to run (it could just be run by double-clicking an EXE file straight after downloading).
However, it still needs (somehow) to include the correct version of .NET, libraries, etc. so it will run correctly. I know this is included when using ClickOnce, but that still installs the application onto the user's computer.
Is there a way this can be done?
EDIT - \bin\Debug
myAppName.application
myAppName.exe
myAppName.exe.config
myAppName.exe.manifest
myAppName.pdb
myAppName.vshost.application
myAppName.vshost.exe
myAppName.vshost.exe.config
myAppName.vshost.exe.manifest
extraLibrary.dll
as well as two folders
app.publish
Resources
It is possible and is deceptively easy:
"Publish" the application (to, say, some folder on drive C), either from menu Build or from the project's properties → Publish. This will create an installer for a ClickOnce application.
But instead of using the produced installer, find the produced files (the EXE file and the .config, .manifest, and .application files, along with any DLL files, etc.) - they are all in the same folder and typically in the bin\Debug folder below the project file (.csproj).
Zip that folder (leave out any *.vhost.* files and the app.publish folder (they are not needed), and the .pdb files unless you foresee debugging directly on your user's system (for example, by remote control)), and provide it to the users.
An added advantage is that, as a ClickOnce application, it does not require administrative privileges to run (if your application follows the normal guidelines for which folders to use for application data, etc.).
As for .NET, you can check for the minimum required version of .NET being installed (or at all) in the application (most users will already have it installed) and present a dialog with a link to the download page on the Microsoft website (or point to one of your pages that could redirect to the Microsoft page - this makes it more robust if the Microsoft URL change). As it is a small utility, you could target .NET 2.0 to reduce a user's probability to install .NET.
It works. We use this method during development and test to avoid constantly uninstalling and installing the application and still being quite close to how the final application will run.
First, you need to publish the file by:
BUILD -> PUBLISH or by right clicking project on Solution Explorer -> properties -> publish or select project in Solution Explorer and press Alt + Enter
NOTE: if you are using Visual Studio 2013 then in properties you have to go to BUILD and then you have to disable define DEBUG constant and define TRACE constant and you are ready to go.
Save your file to a particular folder.
Find the produced files (the EXE file and the .config, .manifest, and .application files, along with any DLL files, etc.) - they are all in the same folder and type in the bin\Debug folder below the project file (.csproj).
In Visual Studio they are in the Application Files folder and inside that, you just need the .exe and dll files.
(You have to delete ClickOnce and other files and then make this folder a zip file and distribute it.)
NOTE: The ClickOnce application does install the project to the system, but it has one advantage. You DO NOT require administrative privileges here to run (if your application follows the normal guidelines for which folders to use for application data, etc.).
I am making an installer using NSIS and my gameplan was to
Build the startup project
Copy the Files created from the bin/(x86) or bin/x64 folder and embed them in the installer
The problem is that some files do not get included. From what I have seen, these files are exclusively Microsoft dlls. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can include them?
My idea is to parse through the csProj file and loop through every file on the Item-Group -> PublishFile node, check if it is in the bin subfolder, if it is not,embed the file in the installer.
Is there a simpler/better way to do this? If not, is there atleast a class(perhaps a DTE class) that represents the contents of the csProj file so I wouldn't need to parse xml? I have looked around and I couldn't find any.
From your original post what I can understand is that, you are building some sort of C# application and want to build a installer for the same.
Now why do you need to pack Microsoft Dlls?
Microsoft do provide every redistributable packages to be installed on end-user computer. You need to analyze what are the packages you need when running your application on a computer that doesn't have Visual Studio installed.
I think you only need .Net Framework and SQL redist packages. And these things can be installed silent during installation. And this is the proer approach.
So I made a C# program, and its great and all (its a Windows Form Application). The issue with it, is I don't know how to use it outside of the debug mode form. How do I publish it? My target goal is to create a two folders, put a shortcut to the application in one, along with the other folder which will contain the application and all outside programs (some of the buttons link to batch files). Then I'd want to be able to put it in a RAR compressed file, and upload it online for others to download it.
How do I publish it so that happens? How do I take it out of debug mode?
Go into your project folder, then navigate to /bin/Release. If there's an EXE file with the title of your project in there, copy it somewhere (along with any DLLs that you may have linked) and there's your program. If it's not there, first try Build -> Compile Solution in Visual Studio. If it's still not there, navigate instead to /bin/Debug and do the same thing. Then, copy all your batch files into another folder, put them into the same folder, and RAR it.
P.S. Try not to use RAR, few people can extract them. Use ZIP or SEA (self-extracting archive) if at all possible.
First off, you need to build your application in Release mode, in Visual Studio simply change the drop down near the top of the window to "Release." This will create a bin/Release directory where your sources are located. The folder will contain an EXE for your application and DLLs you need to include. It could (and probably will) include some debugging *.PDB files that you do not want to include -- as those include debugging information.
Copy the contents of that directory somewhere and RAR it up.
Building in x86 Mode
(You should only do this if you have a specific reason to)
If your application uses 3rd party DLLs that are not 64-bit compatible, you may need to do a release build in x86 mode. To do that, click the "Any CPU" drop down and click "New Configuration" (or something like that) and follow the steps to add x86. Then build with the x86 -- Release setting. That will output x86 binaries to a bin/x86/Release folder where your sources are located.
The Preferred Soltuion
Most users are going to prefer some form of automatic installer instead of a simple RAR or ZIP. Visual Studio (Standard/Pro) can create self installing MSIs that do all the work for you. A basic overview is here. You can add shortcuts/etc using the wizards Visual Studio provides.
If you need an even more robust installer you could check out solutions such as InnoSetup or NSIS
To build your application in Release mode instead of Debug, go to the Build menu and select Configuration Manager.
Change the Active soluction configuration to Release. Now, when you build your solution, it will put the executable in the /bin/Release folder.
If you need to automatically perform certain actions once the solution is built, like packaging into a RAR or ZIP archive and copying the distributable to another folder, then check out post-build actions.
After Visual Studio 2010 , Microsoft remove Make setup utility facility from the visual studio and,we have to downlorad that plugin seperatly from
Get InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio
You Have to fill the application
After intalation, goto
Visual Studio-->New Project-->Other Project type-->Setup and Development
You will see follwing screen
Now you can goto InstallShield setup utility and change the things as you requirement.
add all file in debug folder of your project in follwing interface and build solution,
Final setup will locate in your setup folder-->Express\CD_ROM\DiskImages\DISK1**
hope this will help you
My app needs to open an Access mdb file and an xml file (which are stored in bin\Release) to read and write data. The question is, if I am to publish it, how should I include them so that the setup file will install them into the same folder that the exe will run from (Local Settings\Apps\2.0(...))?
I already tried adding them to the project but then they ended up in the next folder to the one containing the exe.
Alternatively:
If I can't with vc# express, is there another way to do this (through a 3rd party software maybe)?
Thanks :)
http://wix.sourceforge.net/
WiX - Windows Installer XML is an OS tool you can use to build an installer you can tell it where to put each file and create folders, etc.
Visual Studio Standard Edition and up also include a built-in designer for creating installation files that can do what you're asking for. If you want to stick with Express, WiX is probably the better choice, though.
Try using InnoSetup. Its great for Access application installers .