260 Project 1 CREATING A CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE PROJECT

In the preceding chapters, you created the Customer Maintenance project for CareKar, Inc. However, until now, you have not deployed the project at the client site. Visual Studio .NET provides you with the functionality to deploy the application that you have created on any other computer. You can also distribute your application on another computer in the form of a program that can be easily installed on the computer. In this chapter, you will learn to deploy a Windows

application.

Introduction to Deploying a Windows Application

In real-life situations, you often need to execute a Windows application that you have created on a computer other than the computer on which you created the application. This is called deploying a Windows application. Deploying a Windows application in Visual Studio .NET can be as simple as compiling the application in the form of an .exe file. You can then execute the application by copying the

.exe file of the application on another computer.

However, for huge applications, like the one that you have created for CareKar, Inc., compiling the application as an .exe file may not guarantee the successful deployment of the application. In such cases, you need to create an installation program to deploy your application on another computer. The user can then run the installation program that copies the installation files to the user’s computer. In addition, the user is not required to explicitly make changes to the registry of the computer. The installation program modifies the registry, enabling the application to run on the user’s computer.

To execute an application in Visual Studio .NET, the application is first converted to managed code that is managed by the CLR (common language runtime). To do so, the installation program makes the CLR files, which are required for the execution of the application, available to the application.

262 Project 1 CREATING A CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE PROJECT

The CAB Project

The simplest way to deploy a Windows application is to convert the application to a CAB (cabinet) file. A CAB file is a compressed form of your project. This implies that a CAB file compresses the application into smaller files that occupy less memory on the user’s computer. Therefore, converting an application to a CAB project enables the user to store the application in a compressed and organized manner. In addition, the CAB files that you create for your project can be easily transported and deployed on the user’s machine.

A CAB file can be used to package the ActiveX controls. Packaging an ActiveX control involves signing the ActiveX control or the application that contains the control. This process is called Authenticode signing. This enables the user to identify the source of the application and verify its authenticity. In addition, users can easily download and then install these files on their machines. You will learn about packaging Web applications that can be downloaded from a Web server in Chapter 26, “Deploying the Application.”

To enable you to convert your application into a CAB file, Visual Studio .NET provides the Cab Project template. To access the Cab Project template, perform the following steps:

1.On the File menu, point to the Add Project option.

2.From the list that is displayed, select the New Project option. The Add New Project dialog box is displayed.

3.In the Project Types: pane of the Add New Project dialog box, select the Setup and Deployment Projects option.

Various options of deployment projects available in Visual Studio .NET are displayed in the Templates: pane.

4.Select the Cab Project option.

Figure 12-2 shows the Cab Project option.

FIGURE 12-2 The Cab Project option in the Add New Project dialog box

5. In the Name: text box, type the name of the Cab Project as Customer-

MaintenanceCabProject.

6.Browse for the location where you want to save CustomerMaintenanceCabProject by using the Browse button.

7.Click on the OK button to close the Add New Project dialog box.

CustomerMaintenanceCabProject is added to the Solution Explorer window. Figure 12-3 shows CustomerMaintenanceCabProject added to the Solution Explorer window.

264 Project 1 CREATING A CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE PROJECT

FIGURE 12-3 CustomerMaintenanceCabProject in the Solution Explorer window

The Properties window of the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject project displays information about the project,such as the name, version number, and Web dependencies of the project.

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Visual Studio .NET does not specify any Web dependencies of the CAB projects. However, you can create references to any Web dependencies by changing the Web dependencies property of the CAB project. If Web dependencies property is set, all dependencies are automatically downloaded and installed when the CAB file is run.

You can also implement Authenticode signing by checking the Authenticode signing: check box in CustomerMaintenanceCabProject Property Pages. To access CustomerMaintenanceCabProject Property Pages, perform the following step:

1.Click on the View menu and select the Property Pages option. Alternatively, you can press the Shift+F4 keys.

CustomerMaintenanceCabProject Property Pages is displayed. Figure 12-4 shows CustomerMaintenanceCabProject Property Pages.

FIGURE 12-4 CustomerMaintenanceCabProject Property Pages

You can also specify the amount by which you want to compress the application in the properties of the CAB project. For example, if you compress an application by a higher amount, the file creation process takes more time compared to compressing a file by lower amounts. However, a file with higher compression level takes less time to download. In addition, the properties of a CAB project allow you to specify the location where you want to store the executable files.

However, the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject project that you have created does not contain the application files. To add the application files to the CAB project, perform the following steps:

1.Right-click on the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject project in the Solution Explorer window.

2.In the displayed list, point to the Add option. The displayed list contains the following options.

Project Output. The Project Output option displays the Add Project Output Group dialog box that provides several options of files that you can add to the CAB project. Table 12-1 displays the file options in the Add Project Output Group dialog box.

File. The File option enables you to add an arbitrary file other than the files listed in Table 12-1 of the CAB project.

After learning about the types of files that Visual Studio .NET allows you to add to the CAB project, you can continue with the steps to add files to the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject project that you have created.

3.Select the Project Output option.

The Add Project Output Group dialog box is displayed. The name of the project is displayed in the Project: list box.

4.Select the Primary Output option from the file options in the Add Project Output Group dialog box.

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The Primary Output option is a mandatory option. However, you may choose to select any other option to be deployed along with the application.

5.Click on the OK button to close the Add Project Output Group dialog box.

The Primary Output option is displayed in the Solution Explorer window. You can view the file name and the path of the executable file in the Properties window of the Primary Output option.

6.Select the Primary Output option in the Solution Explorer window to display the Properties window.

7.Click the ellipsis button of the Outputs property.

8.The Outputs dialog box is displayed, which contains information about the executable file for the Customer Maintenance project.

Figure 12-5 displays the Outputs dialog box.

9.Build the project by clicking on the F5 key.

Alternatively, you can select the Start option on the Debug menu.

FIGURE 12-5 The Outputs dialog box

To create the executable file, you need to build the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject project, as described in the previous Step 9.

Building the project creates an executable file in the location specified in the Outputs dialog box. The executable file, along with an .osd file, is created in the form of a compressed file. To access these files, you can unzip the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject.CAB file. The .osd file contains the information about the CustomerMaintenanceCabProject.CAB file in the XML format. Figure 12-6 shows the contents of the .osd file.

270 Project 1 CREATING A CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE PROJECT

The Setup Project template creates a file system editor, which is displayed by default. You can also access the file system editor from the View menu. In addition to the file system editor, the View menu provides several other editor options, such as Registry, File Types, User Interface, Custom Actions, and Launch Conditions. To access the editors provided by Visual Studio .NET, perform the following steps:

1.Right-click on CustomerMaintenanceSetupProject in the Solution Explorer window.

2.In the displayed list, point to the View menu.

The list of file editors is displayed. You can click on any of these options to display the corresponding information. You will learn more about the editors later in this chapter.

Figure 12-7 displays the file system editor as created on the user’s machine.

FIGURE 12-7 File system editor as created on the user’s machine

As you can see, the folders in the file system editor, such as Application Folder, User’s Desktop, and User ’s Program Menu, are empty. This is because you have not added the output files to the Setup project. You will learn to add the output files later in this chapter.

The Add option of CustomerMaintenanceSetupProject provides you with two options in addition to the Project Output and File options. These additional options are Folder and Assembly.

Folder. The Folder option allows you to add a new folder to the file system editor.

Assembly. The Assembly option allows you to add Visual Studio .NET components from the Component Selector dialog box. The Component Selector dialog box contains a list of components, their versions, and their locations on the hard disk, which you may need to add to the user’s machine. Figure 12-8 displays the Component Selector dialog box.

FIGURE 12-8 The Component Selector dialog box

After seeing the options available on the Add menu, you can continue with the process of creating a Setup project. In this project, you will be adding only Project Output. However, you may add the other options to your project, if required.

1.In the user interface for the file system editor, right-click Application Folder.

2.In the displayed list, point to the Add menu and then select the Folder option.

After creating the output file, you need to build the Setup project by performing the following steps:

1.Click on the Build menu.

2.From the drop-down list, select the Build CustomerMaintenanceSetupProject option.

Building the project creates a MSI file that can be easily deployed on the user’s machine. The location and other properties of the MSI file are displayed in the Properties window of the Primary Output file. Figure 12-10 shows the CustomerMaintenanceProject.msi file.

FIGURE 12-10 The CustomerMaintenanceProject.msi file

You can distribute the CustomerMaintenanceProject.msi file that you have created in several ways, such as floppy disks or compact discs. To do this, copy the MSI file that is created to the distribution medium and then run the installation program on the user’s machine.

Perform the following steps to install the Windows application on the user’s machine.

1. Copy the CustomerMaintenanceProject.msi file to the user’s machine.

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2.Double-click on the CustomerMaintenanceProject.msi file to start the installation.

The Windows Installer service prepares the user’s machine for the installation. Then, the Welcome page of the Setup wizard is displayed.

3.Click on the Next button to continue.

The Select Installation Folder page is displayed.

4.Browse for the location where you want to install the application by clicking on the Browse button.

5.Select the Everyone radio button if you want to enable all the users who log on to the machine to access the application.

By default, the Just me radio button is selected.

6.Click on the Next button to continue.

The Confirm Installation page is displayed.

7.Click on the Next button to start the installation.

A progress bar shows the progress of the installation process. When the installation process is complete, the Installation Complete page is displayed.

8.Click on the Close button to complete the installation.

The CustomerMaintenanceProject.exe file is created in the specified folder.

9.Double-click the CustomerMaintenanceProject.exe file to run the Windows application.

Having tested the application, you can distribute the application to your customer.

Merge Module

In addition to a CAB or Setup project, you can create a Merge Module project by using the templates provided by Visual Studio .NET. A Merge Module project is used to combine the application files, resource files, registry files, and Setup files in a single package.

You use the Merge Modules for projects that can be shared across applications. This implies that the components used to set up a Merge Modules project can be

shared for multiple Merge Module projects. For example, consider a situation in which you need to distribute two applications on a user’s computer. In this case, you can have a common set of setup components for both the applications.Therefore, the Merge Module projects are similar to the dynamic link library (.dll) files, which allow applications to share the code.

In addition to the setup components, you can create any component as a Merge Module that needs to be shared across multiple applications. For example, if a resource is used in more than one application, you can deploy the resource as a Merge Module and can then reuse the resource file for multiple applications. However, you cannot install a Merge Module alone. It can be added to the MSI files that you have created in the previous section.

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You can add a Merge Module component while creating a MSI file. In addition, the merge module component can be added after the MSI files are created.

Another advantage of creating a Merge Module project is that the project recognizes all the dependencies for a component and tracks the versions of the component. This prevents the user from installing the incorrect version of the component. To further avoid any version problem while installing a component, you must create a Merge Module project that contains the dependencies of the component.

You will now learn how to create a Merge Module project. You can create a Merge Module project similar to the way you created the Setup Project.However, instead of selecting the Setup Project option in the Add New Project dialog box, select the Merge Module option. After performing the required steps, build the Merge Module project to create a .msm file. Figure 12-11 shows the file system editor of the Merge Module project.

page of the Setup wizard is displayed. To create the deployment project by using the wizard, perform the following steps.

1.On the Welcome page of the wizard, click on the Next button to start the Setup wizard.

The Choose a project type page is displayed.

2.Click on the radio button to create the type of deployment project.

The wizard provides you with an option to create a Setup project for a Windows application, a Setup project for a Web application, a Merge Module for a Windows Installer, and a downloadable CAB file.

3.Click on the Next button to display the Choose project outputs to include page.

4.In the Which project output groups do you want to include? text box, check the file options that you want to include in your deployment project, and click on the Next button.

The Choose files to include page is displayed. This page allows you to add any additional file other than the files that you added in Step 4, such as .txt or .htm files. You can add a file by clicking on the Add button. Because adding additional files is optional, you may choose to proceed further without adding any additional files.

5.Click on the Next button to display the Create Project page.

The Create Project page displays the summary of the information that you have specified in the Setup wizard. Figure 12-12 displays the summary of the information specified in the Setup wizard.

6.To create the project, click on the Finish button on the Create Project page.