"Robert E. Flaherty" <RobertEFlaherty@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:8FB997C5-B4B0-4026-AF11-A45E26F31ED3@microsoft.com...
[quoted text, click to view] > I'm in the process of converting a VB6.0 collection of programs to C# 3.5.
> The new applications use Crystal Reports 2008, FarPoint spread and some
> Telerilk controls.
>
> The suite of applications are used by both my local client plus a few
> other
> client in other parts of the country. Therefore, the ablitiy to provide a
> reliable method to upgrade and bug fixs is important.
>
> My current thinking (or maybe just hope) is to have a Widows installer to
> install the Crystal Reports, FarPoint spread and Telerik assemblies to a
> client's GAC. The frequency of updating any of these assemblies would be
> much less than the upgrading of my applicaiton assemblies.
>
> I trust if this is possbile, than I could use ClickOnce as a deployment
> method for my assemblies.
>
> My first question is: Is this approach doable and reasonable?
>
> My second question is: If the answer to the first question 'Yes", than how
> does one create a Windows Installer to the GAC for these third-party
> assemblies? Is it possible to include the vendor's product key in the
> Windows Installer? (When a run the Crystal Report distribution run-time
> on a
> client machine, it asks for my product key. I am just not comformable
> passing out my product keys to clients.)
>
The answer to the first question is "Yes". But are you are certain the dll's
need to be installed in the GAC? You might try to deploy them locally (on
the references, set copy to always) and see if they work that way. If they
do, then that's one less headache.
We thought we were going to have to install DirectX in the GAC, but found we
can install it locally. The advantage of it is that you know exactly what
version you are using; if you want to upgrade it, you can; and the user can
not mess up YOUR software by installing some program that upgrades the
version of those in the GAC (and you can't mess up somebody else's
software).
I don't know how you would create a Windows Installer for these (not my
field of expertise). You *can* do that with Visual Studio, though. If the
original vendors have a redistributable package, you can deploy that as a
prerequisite.
You can add prerequisites to the list in VIsual Studio by running the
Bootstrap Manifest Generator on the installation package you want added as a
prerequisite. You can find that software on CodePlex. After you do that,
then you can select your prerequisite, and the bootstrapper will run it
before running the ClickOnce installation.
RobinS.
GoldMail.com
