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VB.NET 2005Table of Contents
Customizing Setup Project in Visual Studio.NET 2005
Customizing Setup Project in Visual Studio.NET 2005 - Page 2Customizing Setup Project in Visual Studio.NET 2005
VIB.NET 2005 Tutorials : Customizing a Setup Project
Deployment projects in Visual Studio.NET allow the specification of where and how the application will be deployed on the user system. Each of the setup editors contain a file system configuration editor. The setup can sometimes include Registry configuration options and options to check special conditions. This ability to customize the installer’s user interface is a handy tool. The number of editors which can be accessed through the view menu are:
File System Editor—Adds files and shortcuts, such as Start menu items, to the installation package
Registry Editor—Manipulate Registry entries on the target computer
File Types Editor—Associates file extensions with applications; useful in cases when your application uses custom file extensions and you want to associate a specific application with that file extension
User Interface Editor—Configures the dialogs that are shown during the installation
Custom Actions Editor—Starts external programs during installs and uninstalls
Launch Conditions Editor—Specifies the requirements for your application to be installed on the target computer
File System Editor
This editor is automatically displayed for your VS.NET’s document Window when the Setup Project is created. Though, this editor and the other editors available via the View-Editor menu option in the VS.NET IDE, the File System Editor is used to manage all the file system aspects of the installation including:
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Creating folders on the user’s machine
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Adding files to the folders defined
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Creating shortcuts
Basically, this is the editor is used to define what files need to installed and where they are installed on the use’s machine.
The File System split into two panes in the Document Window. The left hand pane shows a list of folders that have been created automatically for the project. When a folder is selected in the left pane, two things happen: firstly, the right-hand of the editor displays a list of the files that are to installed into the selected folder, and secondly, the properties windows will change to show the properties of the currently selected folder.
Adding Items to a folder
To add item that needs to be installed to a folder, right-click the folder in the left-hand pane and choose Add from the popup menu. Four options are available:
- Project output
- File
- Assembly
- Folder
The fourth option (Folder) allows the addition of a subfolder to the currently selected folder. This subfolder becomes a standard folder that can be used to add files. If any .NET component or executable is added, the dependencies of these components will also be added to the installation automatically.
Adding Special Folders
When we create a new deployment project, a set of standard folders will be created for us (listed in the desktop application section). if the folders created do not match our requirements, we can also use the File System to add special folders.
To add a special folder, right-click any where in the left-hand pane (other than on a folder) and you will be presented with a popup menu that has one item: AddSpecialFolder. Alternatively, it’s also available through the Action -> Add Special Folder menu option. This menu item expands to show you a list of folders that you can add to the installation (folder already added to the project will be grayed out).

(Sample screenshot from older version)
VB.NET 2005
- VB.NET 2005 Free Training
- The .NET Framework Architecture Part 1
- The .NET Framework Architecture Part 2
- Application Class and Message Class
- Implementing Class Library Object
- Visual Studio.NET Namespaces
- .NET Assemblies
- Differences between VB.NET 1.0 and VB.NET 2.0
- Introducing VB.NET Windows Forms
- Visual Studio Windows Forms Designer
- Exploring the Forms Designer generated code
- Setting and Adding Properties to Windows Form
- Implementing Inheritance
- Event Handling In Visual Basic .NET
- Building Graphical Interface elements
- .NET Common Windows Forms Controls Part 1
- .NET Common Windows Forms Controls Part 2
- Common Controls and Handling Control Events
- DomainUpDown and NumericUpDown Controls
- Dialog Boxes in Visual Basic .NET
- Visual Studio Adding Controls to Windows Form
- VB.NET Validation Controls
- Working with Menu Controls
- VB.NET MDI Applications
- .NET Exceptions
- VB.NET Creating and Managing Components Part 1
- VB.NET Creating and Managing Components Part 2
- Simple Data Binding
- .NET Complex Data Binding
- .NET Data Form Wizard
- Data Manipulation with ADO.NET
- SQL Server Stored Procedures
- SQL Server Ad Hoc Queries
- Finding and Sorting Data in DataSets
- ADO.NET Object Model
- Working with DataSets
- Using XML Data
- Working with File System in .NET
- Creating Web Service
- Instantiating - Invoking Web Services, Creating Proxy Classes with WSDL
- Web Reference and Web Services
- Web Services - SOAP, WSDL, Disco and UDDI
- Web Application Testing in VB.NET 2005
- Web Application Tracing and Debugging
- Working with Legacy Code and COM Components
- ActiveX Controls and Legacy Code
- Windows Application Testing
- VB.NET Windows Application Testing
- Tracing VB.NET Windows Application
- Debugging Windows Applications In Visual Studio.NET 2005
- Deploying Windows Applications In Visual Studio.NET 2005
- Customizing Setup Project in Visual Studio.NET 2005
- Shared Assembly
- Microsoft .NET Creating Installation Components
- The Registry Editor in Visual Studio.NET 2005
- The File Types Editor







