Hi Don: The only option I have ever seen is the ClickOnce method in the Express modules. I am pretty sure some of the guys have used third party stand-alone installers but I am clueless beyond this point. Usually they use them with non managed code, the few posts I have seen. Check with Jamal since he has used an installer of some type to install VBS Scripts for Windoweyes users and I think he prefers to work outside the MS IDE environment.
Rick USA----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald Marang" <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 1:43 PM Subject: Re: Deployment with Visual Studio 2008
My Express edition does not have the "Other Project Types" node. There are 5 templates available:Visual Studio installed templates 1. Windows Forms Application 2. Class Library 3. WPF Application 4. WPF Browser Application 5. Console ApplicationI guess the Express editions do not provide this capability. The Setup process must be one of the selling points for the paid edition. I am not a professional and have not decided whether I would use Visual Studio if I were. Perhaps I will consider a slim, stand-alone application that does not need to be installed. I might even prefer that in this case. I am assuming that the Microsoft Installer Setup packager is not free. If I decide to use installation packager from someone else, does anyone have a recommendation that is free?Don Marang -------------------------------------------------- From: "Varun Khosla" <varun.lists@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 10:14 AM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Deployment with Visual Studio 2008Hi, You can confirm by opening the add new project dialog (ctrl+shift+n). In the Project Types pane, open the Other Project Types node and select Setup and Deployment Projects. If this node is available, I think the associated templates must also be available; choose Windows Setup in such case. On 3/26/10, Donald Marang <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Is this available in Express editions? Don Marang -------------------------------------------------- From: "Varun Khosla" <varun.lists@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 3:43 AM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Deployment with Visual Studio 2008Personally I like Windows Installation package which can be built right from VS 2008 because it is highly accessible (as I find it) and it provides a wealth of features like registry editing, custom desktop and start menu shortcuts, custom application program structure, launch conditions and custom actions and a decent set of dialogs to customize setup user interface. With custom actions, you can run a script or even an executable (behind the seen) during installation to configure something that cannot be done with features the package provides. The minimum prerequisite for an application is .NET framework. Beyond that, you have full control what to specify as a prerequisite; in case of an optional prerequisite, just don't specify anything for it in the installation, instead, when the application runs, at appropriate place, determine whether or not it is available and take action based on that. HTH! On 3/25/10, Donald Marang <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Can you create a Windows Installation package within Visual Studio 2008or is it an external tool? Do most of you developers use a MicrosoftInstallation packager tool or do you prefer a different tool, like InnoSetup? What would a installation packager do in the case of the MODIprerequisites on a computer that does not have Microsoft Office 2003 or2007? Would it still fail if my application had an option to select between multiple OCR Engines, thus making MODI not a true prerequisite? Don Marang -------------------------------------------------- From: "Varun Khosla" <varun.lists@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 6:06 AM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Deployment with Visual Studio 2008Hi, The publish command you have seen is for creating click once installation for applications that are downloaded and installed in a special subdirectory under documents and settings and are subject to real-time updates as and when they are available. The other type of installation is windows installation in which a package file (.msi) and a bootstrapper file (setup.exe) are created and can be distributed offline and never look for update — although you can achieve the same with click once — but it's not ment to be used that way. Well, you can run an executable file from anywhere in your computer and on any other machine if the specified system has all the dependencies installed. The foremost one (as you mentioned) is the .NET framework (the version must be greater than or equal to the one used to build the application). As you mentioned, you are using Office Imaging app for your application, so the same must also be available on the host system. Yes if you have all the dependencies present on a system, you do not need to install the application; however, installation helps in caseswhere you are distributing the application and you do not know whetherthe potential user's system satisfy all the dependency requirements and thus you do not want such users to see "fail to run theapplication because ..." or "it's not a valid win32 application ....".Instead, the installer automatically installs the required dependencies. HTH! On 3/25/10, Donald Marang <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:I have an alpha version of my QuickOCR application ready to post to apersonal website. It was written in Visual Basic .Net using Visual Studio 2008. It is meant to be a quick and dirty method to efficiently OCR screen snapshots and files. Currently it relies on the Microsoft Office Document Imageing (MODI) tools in Office 2003 and 2007. It does more than Iexpected, like MODI officially only supports MDI and some TIFF files.In practice, it handles many others. I would appreciate feedback and I have a few design and deployment questions. The source is at: http://mysite.verizon.net/marangs/QuickOCR.html There is an "QuickOCREnhancements.rtf" file that lists the known deficiencies and expresses my future ideas for this application. I have not figured out the strange Publish options in Visual Studio. It clearly provides for deployment from a CD or an IIS web server. The mostcommon deployment, a single executable setup file copied or downloadedfrom anywhere is not so clear. Could someone give me some pointers or direction?I have not created Windows applications in over a decade. What are theadvantages to having the application installed and involved in the registry fiasco vs just a stand-alone application? Is it possible to have a simple Windows application with a Graphical User Interface which does not require installation? How is this done? Is the executable in the Debug directory useable elsewhere on my computer? Can it be distributed to other computers?I assume at the least, .Net 3.5 must be installed on their computer.Would this be different if the application had no interface, just command line options?I have a design layout question as well, but perhaps that should be aseparate message. 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