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Create set up of the windows application using visual studio 2010

In this tutorial I will explain how to create set up of the windows application using visual studio 2010. This topic contains following sections

   1. Software requirement

   2. Technical knowledge

   3. Create a new windows application

   4. Add a set up project in the solution

   5. Modify set up project

   6. Install set up

   7. Output

Software requirement

Before you start reading this tutorial you should make sure that Visual studio 2010 is installed on your machine.

Technical knowledge

In order to understand this tutorial you should have knowledge of following concepts

   1. How to create projects using visual studio?

   2. How to add a new project in a solution using visual studio?

   3. What is the purpose of set up file?

   4. Basics of windows application.

   5. Basics of C#.

Create a new windows application

Create a new windows application and perform following actions

1. Add a button inside the form.

2. Write a code for message popup on button click

Now run the application and you will get a message popup on click of button (See the screen shot below)

Picture showing the message box appeared on click of the button

Click to Enlarge

Add a set up project in the solution

Add the project of type ‘Setup Project’ in the existing solution

Picture showing adding the set up project in the solution

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Once you click ‘Ok’ the project will be added (see the screen shot below)

Picture showing the screen for copying the required files in the setup

Click to Enlarge

Modify set up project

As you can see in the figure above there are 3 folders

   1. Application folder

   2. User’s desktop – Once the application is installed a short cut gets added on desktop

   3. User’s Program Menu – Once the application is installed a short cut gets added in the start menu.

First of all we will right click on ‘Application Folder’ and click on Add – Project Output as shown in figure below

Picture showing adding a folder Project Output...

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A popup appears as shown in figure below. Select ‘Primary output’ and click ok

Click to Enlarge

Once you click on ‘OK’ you could see the primary output gets added in the ‘Application Folder’

Picture showing the primary output added in the application folder

Click to Enlarge

Once the project out is added, add a short cut icon in the application folder as well. You will come to know about the purpose when we discuss about other 2 folders i.e. ‘User’s Desktop’ and ‘User’s Program Menu’.

For adding an icon, right click on the right hand side window and click on Add – File..

Picture showing the context menu for adding the application icon

Click to Enlarge

Once you click on ‘File..’ a window appears to select the icon file. Select any icon file and click on Ok. A short icon will be added as shown in figure below

Picture showing the application icon added in the application folder

Click to Enlarge

Now click on the next folder i.e. ‘User’s Desktop’. Right click on the right hand side window and click on ‘Create New Shortcut’.

Picture showing the context menu for adding the application icon shortcut on desktop

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A window appears as shown in figure below

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Click on ‘Application Folder’ and select primary output which we have just added.

Picture showing selecting the primary output from the application folder

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Once you click on ‘OK’ you could see the added short cut

Picture showing the user desktop shortcut in the visual studio project

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Rename it

Picture showing the shortcut file after rename

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As mentioned earlier a short cut will be added on the desktop once the application will be installed. We can also give icon to this short cut. For that click on the shortcut and press F4. A property window will appear as shown in figure below

Picture showing the properties window for setting the icon of the shortcut

Click to Enlarge

In the ‘Icon’ property click on the dropdown and click on ‘(Browse..)’

Picture showing setting up the Icon property of the shortcut

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A window appears as shown in figure below

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Click on ‘Browse..’ and select the shortcut icon which we have added in ‘Application Folder’

Picture showing selecting the icon file when clicks on the Browse button

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Once you select ‘favicon.ico’ and click on ‘Ok’ you could see the original image

Click to Enlarge

Click Ok to add it as an icon.

Repeat the same steps for ‘User’s Program Menu’ folder as we have done for ‘User’s Desktop’ folder.

Now build the setup project and ensure there is no error. Once the build has been completed successfully you could see 2 files has been created in the debug folder of the set up project

Picture showing the setup files created when set up project is compiled and build

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Install set up

To install set up double click on the ‘setup.exe’ file a window appears as shown in figure below

Picture showing the first window of the wizard when user clicks on the setup file for installation

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Click on ‘Next’ a window appears as shown in figure below

Picture showing the second step of the installation wizard where installation path is specified

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Once you click on ‘Next’ the installation will start

Picture showing the progress of the installation

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Once the installation is complete click on ‘Close’

Picture showing the last screen of the installation wizard which shows that installation is completed

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Output

Once the installation is done you could see the icons on desktop as well as on start menu.

Picture showing the desktop icon and the start menu icon of the installed software

Click to Enlarge

Posted By -	Karan Gupta

Posted On -	Tuesday, August 5, 2014

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