Automating VSIX deployment to Visual Studio Galleries - visual-studio

We would like to automate the upload of Visual Studio Extensions that we have written to the Visual Studio Gallery.
We currently use a combination of CruiseControl.Net, Msbuild files and Powershell scripts to automate the deployment of all the bits and pieces of our framework.
However we would like to automate the deployment of the development tools that we have created to the Visual Studio Gallery.
These tools are built using Visual Studio 2012.
Thanks for any helpful advice or pointers.

It's possible to do this with Canopy and FAKE. I just did it in https://github.com/fsprojects/Paket.VisualStudio/blob/master/build.fsx#L177

Unfortunately there is no good way to do this. There is no publicly exposed API for uploading extensions. The only way I'm aware of is to create an instance of a web browser and simply automate the process of filling out the forms and navigating through the menus.

Related

Is it possible to work on the same project in Visual Studio from several places online?

I would like to be able to do a collaborative work in Visual Studio. For now I know only how to create and access the project off-line. Is it possible to work on a project on-line?
You could use a version control system, like GitHub. Visual Studio is already integrated to work with GitHub or other VCSs.

Sharepoint template missing in Visual studio components

I have got 4 components of visual studio 2010 express
1)MS Visual Basic 2010 express
2)MS Visual C#
3)MS Visual basic
4)MS Visual Web Devoloper.
But none of them provide me Web part templates for sharepoint 2010. Which one would I need for this?
Do I need a proffessional? or even a Visual studio 12?
It looks like you need to have Visual Studio and SharePoint installed on the same machine in order to develop for SharePoint:
Chris Hopkins' Blog
I can tell you from personal experience this is true. I've always had to install Visual Studio onto a SharePoint server when I wanted to write new solutions for SharePoint.
If you are simply trying to edit a page layout or master page, or some other static type of content in SharePoint, you can use many tools to do so. I've successfully edited things with NotePad++ from my client PC. As long as you have the permission for the library where those things are kept, you can make changes.
I originally thought you meant developing SharePoint SOLUTIONS, by which I mean additional back-end functionality, site features, and the like.

Create MSI or setup project with Visual Studio 2012

I create a small application and I would like to create one MSI file.
In Visual Studio 2010 you have this project type under:
Other Project Types -> Setup and Deployment -> Visual studio Installer -> Setup Project
But the only thing you got in Visual Studio 2012 is "Enable InstallShield Limited Edition".
You can change the .NET Framework, but nothing changes.
Why is it not there any more? And how can I get it back? Is there a new way to do this?
Please see:
Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) will not ship with future versions of VS
Windows Installer Deployment
It was announced 1 1/2 years ago that the project types were being killed. Alternatives are:
Use A VS2008/2010 Solution to build your installer
Switch to another tool such as InstallShield or Windows Installer XML
To create setup projects in Visual Studio 2012 with InstallShield Limited Edition, watch this video.
The InstallShield limited edition that cannot install services.
"ISLE is by far the worst installer option and the upgraded, read -
paid for, version is cumbersome to use at best and impossible in most
situations. InnoSetup, Nullsoft, Advanced, WiX, or just about any
other installer is better. If you did a survey you would see that
nobody is using ISLE. I don't know why you guys continue to associate
with InstallShield. It damages your credibility. Any developer worth
half his weight in salt knows ISLE is worthless and when you stand
behind it we have to question Microsoft's judgment."
By Edward Miller (comments in Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension).
The WiX Toolset, which, while powerful is exceeding user-unfriendly and has a steep learning curve. There is even a downloadable template for installing Windows services (ref. VS2012: Installer for Windows services?).
For Visual Studio 2013, see blog post Creating installers with Visual Studio.
Have you tried the "Publish" method? You just right click on the project file in the solution explorer and select "Publish" from the pop-up menu. This creates an installer in a few very simple steps.
You can do more configuration of the installer from the Publish tab in the project properties window.
NB: This method only works for WPF & Windows Forms apps.
Microsoft has listened to the cry for supporting installers (MSI) in Visual Studio and released the Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension. You can now create installers in Visual Studio 2013; download the extension here from the visualstudiogallery.
ISLE (InstallShield Limited Edition) is the "replacement" of the Visual Studio Setup and Deploy project, but many users think Microsoft took wrong step with removing .vdproj support from Visual Studio 2012 (and later ones) and supporting third-party company software.
Many people asked for returning it back (Bring back the basic setup and deployment project type Visual Studio Installer), but Microsoft is deaf to our voices... really sad.
As WiX is really complicated, I think it is worth to try some free installation systems - NSIS or Inno Setup. Both are scriptable and easy to learn - but powerful as original SADP.
I have created a really nice Visual Studio extension for NSIS and Inno Setup with many features (intellisense, syntax highlighting, navigation bars, compilation directly from Visual Studio, etc.). You can try it at www.visual-installer.com (sorry for self promo :)
Download Inno Setup (jrsoftware.org/isdl.php) or NSIS (nsis.sourceforge.net/Download) and install V&I (unsigned-softworks.sk/visual-installer/downloads.html).
All installers are simple Next/Next/Next...
In Visual Studio, select menu File -> New -> Project, choose NSISProject or Inno Setup, and a new project will be created (with full sources).
There is some progress for Visual studio 2013 developers :-D woot woot! See blog post Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension.
Link and information were retrieved from Brian Harry's blog post Creating installers with Visual Studio.
Have a look at the article Visual Studio Installer Deployment. It will surely help you.
You can choose the correct version of .NET framework on the page.
So for you, make it .NET 4.5. I guess that would be there for Visual Studio 2012.
I think that Deploying an Office Solution by Using ClickOnce (MSDN) can be useful.
After creating an Outlook plugin for Office 2010 the problem was to install it on the customer's computer, without using ISLE or other complex tools (or expensive).
The solution was to use the publish instrument of the Visual Studio project, as described in the link. Just two things to be done before the setup will work:
Install the PIA (Primary Interop Assembly) of Office 2010
Install the VSTO 2010 runtime

Create setup for application

I want to create setup for my application and I want to know the differences and advantages of creating setup with Visual Studio Installer and InstallShield LE. Which of these is better?
I use visual studio 2010.
See Choosing a Windows Installer Deployment Tool for a comparison of features.
The page also cautions that Visual Studio Installer project templates will not be included in future versions.

Bug-tracking system that integrates with Visual Studio 2010 with online-support?

Where can I find a bug-tracking system that integrates with Visual Studio 2010 as an addin, and supports online support (so that anonymous people can add bugs to the buglist)?
You could use TFS and write a simple web frontend utilizing the TFS webservices. Perhaps there are bugtrackers that support TFS integration.
Unfortunately, I do not know of other solutions integrated into VS.
I ended up building my own system based on a database and a webserver. I then created a Visual Studio Package (add-in) through the Visual Studio 2010 SDK for managing bugs that were synced live from the website.
Way better for my needs, and only took 1 week of development.

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