Deploying multiple EXE's using the basic publish mechanism of the

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I posted this last week end in the MSDN forums. No luck there. Let's see what
the experts here have to say:-))))

I have a rather convoluted project. The distributable will come in eight
different flavors, each with its main program, libraries, datafiles, doco,
etc.

Each flavor will also have one or more standalone executables that can be
called as tools from within the main program.

To complicate matters I'm using VSS 2005 to track everyting and I'm trying
to use links both within the IDE and VSS to minimize the possibility of error
and to let the IDE do all the work at build time. This works great with the
datafiles, doco, etc. (Though I wish that it were possible to use the content
/ copy mechanism to copy to directories parallel or even below bin rather
than within bin. It's nice to have the readme file in the root. Anyone at MS
listening? BTW if I've overlooked something that would allow this please let
me know.)

QUESTION: Without building a setup / deployment project, i.e. with just
relying on the IDE's main build / package mechanism, how do I specify that
the tools need to be included in the distribution????

I tried linking them and the build barfed. I used add existing item to link
to the tool's exe and config file if any, I put the link in a tools folder
with the hope that it would work just like the data and doco and artwork
which is working splendly thankyou. But the build doesn't allow that.

So what should I do????? A separate setup project is out of the question!!!
I've promised installationless operation as a key selling point. And that of
course is no problem with framework. The program needs to play from a cd-rom
without installation.

--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hi Al,

Please excuse me if there is any misunderstanding here. My understanding is
that you need some tools and assemblies in this project to be copied to the
output bin folder automatically.

If this is the case, you can add the EXEs and DLLs to the project. Right
click on the file and select Properties. In the File Properties, you can
select Copy to output Directory actions. Select Copy always or Copy if
newer.

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support

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==================================================

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rights.)
 
Thanks for the prompt reply. Would that MSDN forums workeds so well!

I'm sort of back to my things crap out statement above.
1. When I added all the stuff to one project, it could no longer find main!
2. When I added one exe and its manifest to another project as a link with
content and copy if newer, i get
Warning 1 Assembly '..\..\Management\ConvertApp\bin\ConvertApp.exe' is
incorrectly specified as a file. ACESIZE

And that's what I meant in my original post by crapping out.

Please confirm that the smart thing is probably to add these at the project
level so that they can go in the bin file.

Related question: Can you suggest a file sturcture for the project such that
1. Readme goes in the root.
2. There is a bin folder with all the binaries etc.

I'm thinking this is doable. A link to someplace that suggests how it really
should be done might be helpful. (I firmy believe that programs should do
what you want without having to read the documentation or take the training.
I just might have to resort to reading the doco in this case:-)))))

3. I know that i'm larding this up with unrelated issues but they are all
related to project structuring. So here's a third question. When I set the
button on the top that reveals all files to off, all but one of the My
Project folders collapse to My Project without a + next to the icon. One does
not. Suggestions on why this might be so.

Thanks again for your patiences and help

--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hi Al,

1. What do you mean by "find main"? Does it mean could not find the main
..exe file? If so, please make sure they have been copied to the same folder
and the EXEs are searching in the current folder.
2. Could you explain a little more about how you add the exe and its
manifest to another project as a link with content? If this EXE is build in
the same solution, you can just add a reference to this EXE.

Also, the file structure to this project depends on how many files and what
kind of files are in this project. If you install your app with a setup,
the files are automatically copied to destination folder and you can create
a shortcut pointing to your main program. So, you needn't worry about the
file structure, because only the developers need to care about it.

If you're trying to distribute it by copying, generally, we put the all the
program files, like EXEs, DLLs, Readmes, and some other configuration files
in the app root directory. Then put data files in the sub-folders.

Does this answer your question? If anything is unclear, please feel free to
let me know.

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
1. On Find main. For two years the program has built fine. All of a sudden it
was coming up with an error message at build time that it could not find Main
or Sub Main, even though it was clearly in the IDE explorer AND in the vbproj
file. Oh well, I used that as motivation to completely restructure the way
the program fires up to make it much more standard. (I've learned a bit since
I started. You really need to think about driving classes when you are in my
situation of having 8 slighly different end products all on the same code
base except for the top level user interface:-)

2. On file structure. Yes I understand what I see is can be very different
from what user sees, though as a practical matter the more that I see looks
like what the user sees, the easier testing is and the fewer files are
running arround to be backed up.

WITHOUT having a setup project - this has to run from cd-rom (but I'm
willing to have the cd contain Click One and more normal looking setups AND
the running version) - I'd like the root directory to look something like
Readme.html
whatever setup.exe IDE produces for regular setup
Whatever folders IDE produces for regular setup
whatever stuff IDE produces for click once setup if different
bin
autorun.inf

bin can have everything else

3. I never though of adding the other binaries as references. Brilliant but
not obvious. It worked just fine. And the initial problem is now resolved.

#1 above is also resolved unless you wan to persue it.

Re #2 above if you feel it appropriate to open an different thread for that
discussion then let me know as it is relevant but separate from my original
question.


--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hi Al,

1. Right click on the project in Solution Explorer, select properties in
the context menu. Have you selected Sub Main in the Start Object combo box?
Anyway, if you have had this issue resolved, it's great!

2. No problem, it doesn't matter if we talk about the file structure on
this thread. In my experience, in the root directory of a CD-ROM, we put
setup.exe files and .cab files and readme. You can put all the extracted
bin file in a sub-folder and let autorun.inf point to the execution file,
make your app start automatically.

Does this answer your question? If there is misunderstanding, or anything
unclear, please let me know.

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
It is absolutely essential that the non-project exe's (and any homegrown
dll's they need that are not otherwise required for the target project) be
added as references via the Browse tab on the add reference dialog. It would
be wonderful if the project tab worked, but adding them this way is buggy as
all get out.

To illustrate this I built a simple solution with two forms; I added a
reference from one to another, and published. Got an error saying the run
time system could not be found!!!!! The relevant error is covered in article
907757 published LAST NOVEMBER. (It really should be fixed by now.) It offers
the work around I mention above (and which is after all what you said but not
as explicitly:-)))

In the case of my project, when I added from the project tab rather than the
browser tab, I got assorted errors referring to documentation not being
found, and more seriously assembly.myapp.

Does anyone have the foggiest idea how this should work if the builder was
working correctly? Should you be able to add references to projects
successfully? If so will that carry everything the project needs into the
referring setup automatically or will you have to have links to doco and data
for the referred project? (That's what I'm doing.) Will the system be able
to distinguish between files with the same name like asssemply.myapp or will
the end up in differnt places on the target project or will we have to rename
things in the referred to project?

Lots of questions for something that doesn't work anyway. OR should I have
been able to make it work and just wasn't smart enough to do so??????

This last question is the most important because I'm in the final phases of
establishing project structure that needs to last 5 to 10 years! (We ain't
doin' this again in my lifetime:-)))

Finally Kevin, thanks for all your help. I think i'm there now except for
this last issue.
--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hi Al,

What error message did you get when adding reference from the project tab?
It would be better to add reference to project if you have multiple
projects in the same solution. The Browse tab is used to add reference to
some pre-built assemblies. If you just start to architect your project, you
can remove the referenced project from solution and add it again.

If you add reference to the project, it will carry everything to the
referred project. The CLR distinguishes assemblies by file name, assembly
name and version if it is not a strong named assembly. If it is strong
named, it also checks the public key token. File name is always checked if
the assembly is NOT in GAC.

If anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know.

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support

==================================================
Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to
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ications.
Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex
project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best
handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx.
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
Kevin: Thanks for the prompt reply. You are being absolutely clear!

What you recommended is precisely what I had done!

I got a variation on the error message described in the KB article I
mentioned earlier in KB article 907757, namely that it could not find files
blah blah blah. In the case of the KB article blah blah blah is the Mcrosoft
VB runtime system. in my case it was assorted documentation files, images,
and of all things Application.myapp's for the various projects. All the
projects being referenced are in the same solution.

I just now added a new Windows application in the project with an empty
form. Added via the project tab a reference to an existing project in the
solution, BM. BM has a folder in it called doco.

The compile failed with "Could not find Doco\BM.htm referenced by assebmly
in <full path>\BM.EXE.Mahnifest." (Would that MS had assigned and displayed
unique error numbers to these messages like IBM did in the bad old days. Then
referring to them and googling on them would be trivial!!!)

doco has images as a folder with a gif file in it and got the corresponding
message for the gif file.

-----------------------


MS LURKERS: Kevin seems to imply that this should work. Have I just managed
to screw up the SLN or vbproj file or something else bad enough to cause
this? If so I'll cheerfully ship all or part of it off to interested parties
(with appropriate assurances that you'll eat the listings and then kill
yourselves after reading it:-))))

Alternatively, I'd just love to have someone post a solution that works. Two
projects with plain forms. Have one project reference the other via the
project tab NOT the browse Tab of the add reference dialog. I challenge you
to make that work!

Thanks again, Kevin, for the continuing dialog.

--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hello,

AS I understand, the final target to deploy the application with a CD/DVD,
so the application can be executed from that. ( If I am out of base, please
feel free to correct me). I think a setup project may still be helpful
here. For example, you can create a setup project to deply your applictions
to a special folder on your side, then copy/burn the files in the folder on
a CD. There is only one addtional step, but make thing more clear and easy.
Can this help on this issue?

Sincerely,

Luke Zhang

Microsoft Online Community Support
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Thanks for the reply Luke (and please let Kevin know that I received it.)

I may have to look at the setup project just to see if it would make life
easier for me. It might, in fact be a work around to the grief that we have
been discussing.

HOWEVER, In the absence of that I still do not have precise working
directions on how to add one project's exe (and its supporting files if
possible) to another one.

I have found that adding a reference fails miserably if you add from the
projects tab but works fine from the browse tab. (However, with the browse
tab you have to link the extra pieces such as documentation yourself.)

I'm still looking for an example that works of the following

Project A
An exe
Some doco

Project B
An exe that internally calls project A and internally displays project A's
doco
Some more doco.
Referencess
Project A from the Projects Tab

This gets Cannot find file messages referening to Some Doco.

WHAT WORKS for me is

Project A
An exe
Some doco

Project B
An exe that internally calls project A and internally displays project A's
doco
Some more doco.
Links to Some doco
Referencess
Project A from the Browse tab

This works.

Is there an approved method that does not require setup projects????

My solution has eight flavors. Each would require a separate setup project.
It is a hallmark of this solution that I have absolutely avoided such
nonsense as far as possible. Originally the eight flavors had a sub main that
was identical in each and called a common main in a library. I've replaced
that with a form that inherits from a library and is linked into all the
flavors as its main. That just gives you a sense of the extremes I go to
share things.

So how do I do this without a setup and in an approved fashioni that will
work for the long haul?

Are the big boys in development aware that adding projects through the
references browse tab falls on its face? (They should be since one case - but
a limited case - is doucmented in the article cited previously)

Regards,
Al






--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
I forgot to mention in my last reply that the flavors are distributed one
flavor per cd-rom but also via the web. To make it worse the web
distributions of three of the flavors are completely outside my control, and
one of those webdistributions was in the hands of folk I wouldn't hire the
last I knew:-(((

I'm going to do ClickOnce (i hope) for both media, plus though I'm trying my
hardest to avoid it, a standard c:\program files install from the cd-rom to
keep the IT folk who like to control everything happy.

Oh yes and one of the absolute must haves is that the exe must run without
setup directly from the CD-ROM:-)))

All of which is doable.

The only thing that I have not been able to make work, and you might address
this question if you care to, is that I'd like to have HTML be displayed by
the autorun.inf on the cd-rom. That's no problem. The HTML would
+ Link to the read me - no problem
+ Link to the click once set up - no problem
+ Link to the standard set up if I allow for it rathr than just giving
directions to the IT folk for an XCOPY install. - don't know if it is a
problem
+ Link to the program - BIG TIME PROBLEM BECAUSE OF SECURITY!!!!! And all
that zone nonsense and permissions nonsense.

I may take the approach of the MSDN cd rom's and just go the folder and let
the user press setup or flavor.exe OR i write a small DELPHI program to do a
win32 welcome screen, check for framework etc etc. If I use my old version of
DELPHI i get by with install free operation that deson't rely on framework
and If i get reall smart can check on the presence of framework 2.0

The point is that I need at least 16 different outputs. The web ones will
end in .deploy. The CD-ROM ones will end in .exe or whatever.

And what the standard install would look like I still don't know. (I'd like
it to be just an XCOPY install of the ClickOnce exe's. Doable???)

So any suggestions on how to do all this would be much appreciated,
especially on how to structure an autorun.inf process so that i plays on Win
98 boxes and tells them to buy a new Vista PC:-) (The folk paying the bills
are still on Win 2000:-((

Oh yes and just to make life complicated, I'm tryint to figure out how to
rename a domain on an sbs server so that i can recover EFS encrypted stuff on
some PC's

And trying to figure out how to make WebDAV work on one of my enterprise
serves (whose domain name is unfortunately the same as the SBS box which
becomes a Vista box as soon as I get the security done.)

And trying to figure out how to get VSS to work on the enterprise server.

Well you get the idea. Don't worry about the last bunch of issues. But they
let you know why this member of the Three Bears family might be growling.

--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hello,

It seems a lot of question here. Can we just focus on one of them and take
care of others after this one is done? For example, is the priority one
question is how to deploy your solution in both CD and Web?

ClickOnce seems to be only way to satisfy both of them. Here are a
complete document about it:

ClickOnce Deployment
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t71a733d.aspx

Sometime, it is more easy than setup an application c:\program files.

And, here is an article about how to create the autorun.inf files for .NET
application:

HOW TO: Create an Autorun CD-ROM for Applications That You Create by Using
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;818804

Sincerely,

Luke Zhang

Microsoft Online Community Support
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Hi Al,

I agree with Luke on creating a ClickOnce deployment or use setup project
to deploy your projects.

In your email, I think you are still having problem about when to use the
project reference tab and browse tab.

Generally, when you got 2 projects in your whole solution, for example,
project A is the Business Object and Project B is the Data Access tier.
This time you use the project reference tab to reference B from A. Because
these two projects are all developed by you, and you have all the source
code.

If the Data Access tier is developed by a vendor, and you don't have the
source code. All you have is the built DLL. This time, you have to use
Browse tab to reference to that DLL directly.

Is that clear?

The above process is just for development period. However, when you need to
ship the business object and the data access tiers to your customer, you
will need some other technologies.

1. Yes, XCOPY is fine for such a .NET app. You can put all the files in a
folder, put it into a CDROM/DVD-ROM. A user can copy everything to his
local path and run your EXE.
2. If you need a grace interface for installation, you can create a setup
project to deploy all your assemblies to the user's machine. After that you
can put the setup files on that CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.
3. If you need your customer to use this app directly from the network. You
can use a ClickOnce Depolyment. For how to do that, Luke has given us the
link.

If you need a working example, could you let me know if the problem is now
at the development period or deployment perod?

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
Thanks for your prompt reply and continued engagement with me.

Somehow or another VSTS completely ate my solution this morning. That gave
me an excuse to rebuild it from the pieces. Remember this solution has a long
history of grief so I don't regret having to rebuild it. It only has 28
projects.

What I have done so far:
1) Returned all the solution folder stuff - art, data files, documentation
2) Added in one Tool - Brand Manager.
3) Added in the libraries that BM depends upon (2) and a couple of other
small libraries.
4) Added a one form project.
5) Used the Project tab to add a refernce to BM in the one form project.
5) Made the new project the start up project.
6) Hit the little green arrow head.

Got:
Error 1 Could not find file 'Doco\BrandManager.htm' referenced by assembly
'C:\V7 Root\V7\Management\Brand
Manager\bin\BrandManager.exe.manifest'. WindowsApplication1
Error 2 Could not find file 'Doco\Images\BrandManager.gif' referenced by
assembly 'C:\V7 Root\V7\Management\Brand
Manager\bin\BrandManager.exe.manifest'. WindowsApplication1

This are precisely the error messages that I've been complaining about. They
don't occur if i stop hitting my head against the wall and do two things:
1. Use the browse tab to load the exe.
2. Add support piece to the target app as a link.

#2 is what I gather will be avoided if I ever get the Project Tab to work.

Everything is having its manifest signed. Nothing is having its assembly
signed. Security is clickOnce. And the error was indpendent of whether
publication would have been to a web site, a unc, or a disk location. (The KB
article seemed to hint that it was publish site dependent. However, since i
can't get the build to work I don't see how publishing will make a
difference.)

I'm doing all this with a standalone VSTS 2005.

This is what I've been griping about since post #1.
I think the ball is now firmly in MS's court to tell me what I'm doing wrong.

I strongly suggest that the folk giving the advice try to reproduce the
problem by following their own suggestions. Once that blows - up and it will,
i've built the two project solution - see the KB i've cited in previous
posts - then add a support document to the referenced project. You will get
an error similar to the one that I get.

Holler when you are ready to fly me and a thumb drive out to Redmond:-)))

--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hi Al,

So, I assume that Brand Manager is a project that you have all the source
code(with .csproj or .vbproj project files?). If so, since I cannot
reproduce on my own machine with a project I created myself, could you
email me the whole project for BM for a test? I will delete it immediately
after testing.

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
Because I was rebuilding everyting after VSTS ate my sln, I decided to do a
couple of things.
1. Build it gradually.
2. Pull all the html and images out of the tools (the projects being linked)
and add them to my central data repository.

So at this point all i have is
1. 5 libraries
2. 2 Tool projects with no extra files
3. 1 Main Application with assorted doco, image, and html files that are
native to it.

I build and run just fine. In fact i've added a few features and refactored
an old one while i'm at it:-)

Now I add one of the tools to the main application and I get precisely what
is described in KB article 907757 which I keep referring to. To quote at some
length.

You may receive a "Could not find file
'Microsoft.Windows.CommonLanguageRuntime" error message when you build a
solution of a Visual Basic 2005 Windows Application project in Visual Studio
2005
Article ID : 907757
Last Review : November 3, 2005
Revision : 1.0


Steps to reproduce the problem
SYMPTOMS
When you build a solution of a Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Windows
Application project in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, you may receive an error
message that is similar to the following:
error MSB3113: Could not find file 'Microsoft.Windows.CommonLanguageRuntime,
Version=2.0.50727.0'.

CAUSE
This problem may occur if all the following conditions are true:• The
solution contains an application that has a reference to another application
in the same solution.
• You publish the referenced application to a UNC share or to a Web page.

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use a file reference instead of a project
reference in the solution of the Visual Basic 2005 Windows Application
project.
Back to the top

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products
that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

I can only add it also happens when you publish to a hard drive.

I can also add that if you have stuff in the referenced project like
documentation, you won't get this error but the cannot find something or
antoher error that i've been mentioning. The precise message depends on
where in the folder tree you do the addition. I merely linked in a file to
one of the tools - didn't even worry about its properties - and I got
Could not find file 'BrandManager.htm' referenced by assembly 'C:\V7
Root\V7\Management\Brand Manager\bin\BrandManager.exe.manifest'. Ace Access


Since you have been so adamant that this should work, I iterate, what do I
have to do to make it so i.e. be able to use the project tab rather than the
file tab.

The ability to use the project tab will pay off tremendously over the life
of this project. (I'd project 5 years.) I want to do it right now.

Are we absolutely clear about the scope and annoyance of this problem?????

--
Regards,
Al Christoph
Senior Consultant
Three Bears Software, LLC
just right software @ just right prices @ 3bears.biz
Microsoft Certified Partner (ISV)
Coming soon: Windows Mail for Vista.
 
Hi Al,

As you can see from the KB article, this is a known issue in VB.NET 2005.
Currently I have no better idea than the workaround provided by the KB
article.

If this has business impact to you, I suggest you contact Microsoft PSS on
this issue. You can give them the KB article and state the business impact
to see if they can workout a hotfix for you. Here are their contact info.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=gp;en-us;offer
prophone

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
Thanks for your patience and responses. Sorry for the delay in getting back
to you.

I finally pinned down what I could do to at least get the build to work (if
not the publish)

I unchecked Enable clickonce security in all the projects that I wanted to
reference in the man project. This allowed things to build perfectly.

Now I've got another problem!

If I try to do a build, even one to a local drive, I get a cannot find file
error - sound familiar?

This time, it's for a referenced project manifest.

Of course it doesn't exist, unless somebody creates it. And I have no
intention of separately publishing the referenced projects.

Besides that, when I did attempt to publish a referenced project publishing
turned the Enable click once security option back on! So I can't even build
to run in debug mode until I go through and uncheck them all.

And just to be sure, I went through and made sure that all the projects were
published to a local hard drive (which according to the KB article from Last
December that I keep referencing is the way to do it.) HASN'T MS COME UP
WITH A FIX YET for the problem described on that page?

And all of this is all the more painful because some ridiculous design
decision and or bug disables the publish now button on the main project
every time problems arise. I have to close that window and reopen the
project. Not nice.

EUREKA!

Steps to reproduce the problem

1. Create a blank solution
2. Add two VB windows apps.
3. Set APP 1 to start
4. Reference APP 2 in APP1 via the project tab, not the browse tab.
5. Run - it works
6. Click on enable click once security settings in the Project Security tab
for APP 2.
7. Attempt to run - APP 1 won't build. Gets error discussed in the KB
article I keep mentioning.
8. Go through and set publish site to a local hard drive.
9. Remove enable check marks on security tab.
10. Publish.
11. Observe that the check marks come back - MS WHAT THE (&I^(*&^( DOES
CLICK ONCE SECURITY HAVE TO DO WITH PUBLISHING TO A HARD DRIVE?????
(Deadlines are getting closer, tempers are getting shorter!-))))
12. Oh yes and notice that you can't publish successfully because the
manifest is missing.. Yeah right.
13. Take check marks off and try to run. THings will work.

I've been doing all this in debug configuration. On the oft chance that it
made a difference, i changed to release configuration. No difference.

On the oft chance that the refactor add in was screwing things up (it's the
only add in.) I unchecked it. Made no difference. Microsoft Update shows no
updates. I'm using VSTS for Developers 2005 as issued through MSDN to
Certified Partners / ISV Competency.

I can get by for a few days with the fix that allows me to build. HOWEVER,
I"m trying to convince the powers to be that publishing via ClickOnce is the
way to go. That's a bit difficult when the tools don't work correctly.

There is a work around involving using the browse tab to make the references
and linking in all the doco and data by hand, but given the number of
different deliverable top level projects that gets old in a hurray. You folk
continue to insist that it should work using the projects tab. Let's see
that that happens.

Suggestions on what to do will be most appreciated. Not using ClickOnce is
not acceptable. I've premised a whole bunch of stuff on it working
correctlly.

One other possibility occurs to me. I wasted a huge amount of time trying to
track down why I didn't see Configuration Manager in VSTS. Turned out there
was an obscure, at leat to me, option set the wrong way. Is there a
possibility of that here???

Regards,
Al Christoph
 
Hi Al,

Do you mean that you don't want these options to be checked? If you are
using ClickOne to deploy your app, you have to do the following:

1. Signing ClickOnce Manifests.
2. Enable ClickOnce Security Settings.

So the two options in app properties must be checked. You can check the
following 2 documents about this issue.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1sfbfyk0.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zfz60ccf.aspx

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================

(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)
 
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