I need to include all the output from some of the programs projects in the installer... my question is similar to the one in this post: How to add a whole directory or project output to WiX package
However, I am afraid I don't really understand the answer given in this link. From all the reading I have done, I think I need to use Paraffin to do this. But is there a "start from the very beginning, how-to" resource for using paraffin?
I have read this page: http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/jrobbins/archive/2008/12/22/paraffin-3-0-now-with-full-wix-3-0-support.aspx
and one of the posts mentions calling paraffin from a bat file. Is this how one would "use paraffin" in their installer? If it makes a difference, I have been using Visual Studio to work on this project, and am also not sure how to use command line from within Visual Studio. Does anyone have any resources for a very new beginner? Thanks.
I ended up including each .dll and .exe manually, since they don't change very often. It was fairly easy to format them in this style:
`<File Id="WhateverId" Name="NameToDisplayAfterInstall" Source="$(var.ProjectName.TargetDir)Filename.ext" />`
I used Excel to format a list of files quickly and easily. I put all of these File tags in the <DirectoryRef Id="INSTALLLOCATION">
tag.
I did figure out how to scrape all the dlls and exes from the project output by using Heat (not paraffin) and harvesting a directory, not a project. Harvesting a project yields only the main exe and dlls. The problem with harvesting a directory, at least in my case, is that I ended up with a lot of excess files, (like .pdb and .xml) that I didn't want.
Related
I have just finished my C# Windows form program and would like to make a zip file of the binary so others can download it. I checked the bin/release folder, and while I can recognize many files which I know will be necessary, but some other files I am not sure if it is safe to exclude them.
The following files are the ones I am not so sure:
program.pdb
program.exe.manifest
program.exe.config
program.application
ExternalDLL.xml (related to
ExternalDLL.dll which I need to keep,
but is the xml important?)
P.S. I am using VS Express so I have to manually deploy my project.
The short answer is: You don't need any of those, with the possible exception of the .config file. If you didn't store any of the app's configuration in its .config file, then you don't need it either. I recommend excluding all of them and trying your app on a different machine. I expect it'll work fine.
The longer answer is: There's probably individual SO questions about each. For example, here's a manifest/application question: C# - do I need manifest files?
In the main project of my VS Solution I have a Resources folder with some required external tools. When building and publishing the solution, I get a .\Resources* with all required files there.
So far so good.
However I have to move some files to the parent directory.
My first attempt was do so with the Post Build Events. It works and does move them the correct folder.
Nevertheless in the publish output they still appear in the Resources folder and I need them in the parent one :/
Is there any way to setup the target output path for resources in Visual Studio?
After some research and experimental, I solved my problem.
Still, here's what I learned in the process.
The first attempt was adding the file to the project root and mark it as a resource. After publishing it worked. But having those files in the project root its lame.
Since I needed some *.exe files compiled in another VS solution, added them as a project reference. Gave it a try and it passed the "Publish" test. But still.. not the best way to do it.
After that, with some scripting and a post-build event, I copied the required files to the correct folder. Works.. but after publishing, they don't appear in the package.
However, there is still a possibility with the Mage tool:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/acz3y3te.aspx
This lead to some promissing experiments, however they ended up helping me realize how limited the MS ClickOnce is, so I decided to try other tools.
Here's a good start to follow:
What alternatives are there to ClickOnce?
I had a similar situation once. I found it became more trouble than it was worth to customize output paths and such in Visual Studio, to the extent that I wanted.
I ended up letting Visual Studio do its own thing with regards to file/project structure, and wrote a post-build script to copy everything that was needed into a final, 'publish-ready' directory.
I then set the execution target in Visual Studio to the new location, so I could run/debug as normal, but with the new folder that was organized how I needed it. Careful, I think this is a user project setting; so other developers will need to do this on their machines too, if they so desire.
I do recall changing some output paths and such to make the post-build script more simple. But changing things like that can lead to annoyances when you add new projects to the solution; you might need to configure them to match. It's all a trade-off :)
Two ideas:
Maybe you could move your resources into another project - a project just for resources - and then set their Build Action to Content and Copy To Output to true. Then reference this new project and build the solution. (This may not work as you want, just an idea).
Why not make your resources embedded resources instead. Keep them all within the Resources\ directory and access them programatically?
So I see two solutions to my current problem, but I was wondering what the pros and cons are, or if there is a defacto best practices approach.
So my current project has a number of configuration files, help files, and other external content. I need this content local to run and debug the application. Currently we duplicate this content in a standard windows installer project. This clearly is a bad idea. We are moving to a new setup that uses the WiX installer, and I'm currently setting the project up next to the code project and trying to figure the best way to share resources. I see two solutions.
One is that I can put all the resources in the WiX project and then add them as links in the code project. This way I know what I'm debugging is installer.
The other option would be to leave the content in the code project and path into it in the installer using the reference variables.
Right now it seems 6 one way, half dozen the other. Any persuasive arguments for either method?
Assuming that these configuration and help files are going to be installed in the same directory as the executables then definitely put them in the code project, mark them as Content, and add a reference to the code project to the installer project. If you're using WiX 3.5 the files will be automatically included in the installer along with the executables, which makes writing simple installers much easier.
For earlier versions of WiX or more complex deployment scenarios (where the content files could be going into different directories) you would still put them in the code project but then you'd use File elements with a relative path or reference variable in the Source attribute to include the the content files from the code project directory.
I don't believe that putting the content files in the WiX installer project directory instead of the code project directory will do anything to ensure that the version you use to debug will be the same as the version installed. That can only be ensured by thinking through the process of how your application finds these content files and making sure the right versions are found.
So going back to the simple case where the content is in the code project and marked as Content, and it will be installed and loaded from the same directory as the executables, then it is only a matter of setting "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy always" or "Copy if newer" and then you can be sure the versions used in debugging and the version installed will match.
This is not a work-stopper in any way, but I thought I should ask anyway because it is a little annoying. Let's say I create a new project and start putting source files in a directory other than the default that shows up the first time. Afterwords, whenever I open the project, I have to navigate to the source directory once during that session. Like I said, not a big deal (but if solvable, then it's icing on the cake). Quite a few times I absentmindedly put the source file in the default directory and end up committing that file to the SVN and if I am lucky, going through all the files, removing them, then adding them again.
So my question is, is there any way to specify the default source directory on a per project basis?
I have run into the same nuisance. I like to put the public interface header files for a library in a separate directory, but end up with file directory typos because I forget to navigate to the correct directory when saving a new file. Unfortunately, Visual Studio does not offer a setting to change the default directory for new C++ source files.
I had the same problem when I started using build systems (CMake, Premake) which requires me to keep my project files separate from my source files, which hampered my workflow.
Although changing the default source directory seems impossible, if you aren't afraid to spend money, the workaround I found was to use the Visual Assist extension.
You can bind a shortcut of your choise to the Create File command which creates
a new file relative to the directory or your open file.
I'd also recommend to base one's workflow around the wonderful
Create from Usage command (which I think greatly boosts
productivity) which almost eliminates the need to manually create files.
The extension is great, albeit a bit costly. I would love to see Microsoft incorporate these features directly in the IDE eventually as they are found vanilla in a lot of other IDEs e.g. Eclipse, Intellij.
There might be some free extensions available that does the same thing, but I haven't found any.
Changing the Default Project Folder may help. This page demonstrates how to change the default for Visual Studio 2005, and it should be the same for later versions.
In my C# client application, I use XSLT to transform XML into HTML.
I would like to be able to edit these files in place, without having to recompile the entire solution. I'm having trouble working out how to set up Visual Studio 2008 to allow this.
The problem is that the XSLT files must get copied to the output directory somehow. Currently this happens during the build process. (My XSLT files are set to "copy if newer".) The build process can take a few minutes, which seems excessive for making small tweaks to the HTML.
I could make my XSLT edits in the output directory itself, but the output directory is not under source control. I have accidentally wiped out my quick edits several times by building my solution.
I'd like to reduce the cycle time for debugging XSLT, while keeping my XSLT files under source control and preventing accidental overwrites.
Summary of Responses: It appears that the most practical approach for solving this problem -- given that Visual Studio doesn't have a nice way of doing it out of the box -- is to create a separate project that contains the content files. These files get copied to the output location when the project gets built. That way I don't have to compile the whole solution, just the one project with all the static information like XSLT, CSS, images, etc.
Several folks suggested using sync or batch copy tools, but while this would work for me personally, setting it up for the other members of the team too would be a lot of extra work.
I am not entirely clear about your question, but you can instruct Visual Studio to copy the file from the solution to the output folder every time that you build.
Let me try to understand your scenario:
You have the XSLT files checked into source control along with your C# code. For example, if your project is in a folder called MyProj, then the XSLT files reside in MyProj/Templates
You want to be able to edit the xslt files in the Templates folder and submit those changes to source control just like you do with .cs or other files in your project.
You want a copy of your xslt files in the bin/Debug or bin/Release folder along with your executable.
If that is the case, add the XSLT files to your Visual Studio project. Then right click on them, open Properties, and set "Build Action" = "Content" and "Copy to Output Directory" = "Always". Whenever you build your project, the latest copy of the XSLT files will be placed in your bin/Debug or bin/Release directory.
One approach is to include a C# Preprocessor Directive to point my XSLT load function to the solution directory when in debug mode, but the output directory when doing a release build.
Something like:
string viewFolder = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
#if DEBUG
// Move up from /bin/debug
viewFolder = viewFolder + #"..\..\";
#endif
But that feels like a hack.
Apparently you're managing two concerns in one project. The first concern is your business logic (instantiating an XSLT transform, calling it to transform some XML content, outputting the HTML result....). The second concern is the Transformation itself.
So why not create a separate project for your xslt sheets? "Building" this project would consist of copying the sheets to the output folder. Changing xslt will not influence the other project, hence reduce the build time.
Separation of Concerns at project level, that is :)
You can edit the file directly in the output folder.
On another note, a lot of people don't know that rich tools are built into VS to allow debugging xslts.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms255605(VS.80).aspx
One solution that might work for you is to setup a junction to your Templates in your output folder. This would allow you to use the XSLTs directly without copying them to the output folder. A good idea is to ensure (create) the junction as a build action.
Prerequisites:
NTFS
A tool to create junctions (e.g. junction)
Create a batch file that copies your xslt's from their source-controlled location to all your bin directories (bin/debug bin/release or whatever ones you have defined)
Add the batch file as an External Tool, optionally assigning a keystroke (or chord) to execute the batch file
Edit, run tool (I'd assign a keystroke to this to make this easy), then check your webpage.
Could you use a file synchronization program (e.g. Microsoft SyncToy "is a free application that synchronizes files and folders between locations") to copy the files? This would allow you to avoid the "copy on build" step because the files are automatically copied after saved. Also, if you edited them in the output directory, the changes could be copied back into your source controled directory. Not what the best real time sync program is for this scenario is, but that could be another question.
I have exactly the same issue. I have bought a program called ViceVersa (http://www.tgrmn.com/) in which I have setup sync profiles so that my css, layout and xslt folders are synced from my machine to my dev server as soon as any changes are made. If I make any code changes then I just publish as normal.
I understand this is an older post but I found a different solution to basically the same problem.
Visual Studio allows you to 'link' files.
Right click on the folder in the solution where you want the file link to be located.
Click
'Add'
'Existing Item..'
(select the file)
Go the 'Add' Drop down and select 'Add as Link'