Windows Setup And Deployement Using Visual Studio - PART 1

Windows Setup and Deployment

Abstract: In this article, I am going to explain setup and deployment procedure in windows project by using visual studio.

To demonstrate this article I took small Merlin.acs [.acs=Agent character structured storage file] COM Component and teddy Bear Database Manips in my Windows Project. Finally I will give total roundtrip for Setting up and deployment of windows Project. I divided this article into two Parts.

PART-1) In this part, I explained total development procedure in windows and C# by utilizing COM Components and Database Manipulations Using msaccess.

PART-2) In Second part, I totally focused on Set Up and Deployment Procedure by using PART-1 developed Code and Their dependencies.

 PART-1: Developing Windows Application Using C#

              Here I developed three windows forms one is MDI FORM (ParentForm.cs)-which is always visible until user explicitly Quits, Second One Is Login Form (Form1.cs) with Merlin COM Component-which checks weather the user exits or not and finally third form (ParentForm.cs) loads after Successful Login Credentials entered by the user-which displays some data from the database.

 Assume that, just this is a Case study for our deployment activity like a small Mickey Mouse Type of Project to understand the article effectively.

 To do this project –Open Visual Studio-File-New-Project-Visual C#-Windows Application-Name as your choice.

 ParentForm.cs[Design]

 1)     Choose any Background Image According To your Choice and assign property IsMDIContainer=true

2)     Place One Picture BOX for Login Image-assign property cursor=hand to picture box, One Label to Display today’s Date and Time and Place one Button to Exit the Application.

3)     Finally, the out put Screen looks as the follows

ParentForm.cs[Code]:

private void pictureBox2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{           
//Creatinf New Instance to open Another Form           
frmlogin F = new
frmlogin();           
F.Show();        
}       
private void ParentForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

          //Displaying Curent Date And Time 
           label3.Text = System.DateTime.Now.ToString();   
       
}       
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)       
{           
//To Quit The Application           
Application.Exit();       
}

Form1.cs(Login-Design)
Choose any Background as your Choice and Place Label assign  Property Text= Windows Setup and Deployement and Font size=14.25

  Design login Form By placing two text boxes , two Labels ,two buttons and one GroupBox as Shown below

3)     Place Merlin COM  Component

       Open Tool Box->Right Click On It->select Add Tab->Type tab Name as Merlin Component->Right Click on the tab and Click on Choose Items -> Choose Tool Box Opens ->In That Dialog Box Select COM Component.-> In That Components List Select Microsoft Agent Control 2.0-> Click OK->Finally our toolbox customized as Follows

Drag and Drop MicrosoftAgent Control On To The Form

Open C:\WINDOWS\msagent\chars  -> Copy merlin.acs component  and Paste it into our application root as Bin\Debug folder,why because it is easy to identify that component path in programatical fasion using Application.StartUpPath.ToString() Method.

 6)     Write Code In Form_Load as Follows

private void frmlogin_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)       
{
   //Geting Merlin Path Programatically Using String    
string merlinPath = Application.StartupPath.ToString() + "\\merlin.acs";      
//Loading Merlin Charecter Using Load Method   
axAgent1.Characters.Load("Merlin",merlinPath);   
//In Order To Store Merlin Use Show() Method     
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Show(null);
//At First It Displays at the Left top Corner of The Screen
//So I Moved 270,270 Pixels Backword and DownWord From Top
and Left Posistions of The Screen   
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].MoveTo(270, 270, null);
    /* Some Of Animations I Remembered -Search Google For More
Animations*/    
/*Acknowledge, Blink ,Congratulate ,DoMagic2 ,Explain,Greet , 
Hearing_1,Idle1_1,LookUp ,MoveUp,Pleased ,Read ,Sad ,Think,Uncertain,Wave*/
   //Just I Used Merlin Animation Charecter   
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("Read");   
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("Announce");   
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Speak("Third Annual Celebrations www.dotnetfunda.com",null );      
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("DoMagic1");  
}

7)     If The Form Is Loaded The Following Character Displays First by Showing Some Animation Tricks

Open Ms access->Create Database Name as “myDataBase” and Save it into our application root as Bin\Debug folder,why because it is easy to identify that component path in programmatic fashion using Application.StartUpPath.ToString() Method.

Design Simple  Login Table and Enter Data as Follows

              Table Design:

         Table Data:

11)     Import Oledb Namespace and Mention The OledbConnection() Provider In Global Declarations

 using System.Data.OleDb; 

 OleDbConnection strcon = new OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=myDataBase.mdb");

 12)     Write Code Under login Button and Cancel Button As Follows

 private void btnlogin_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)       
{            
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("Search");           
string uname=txtuserName.Text;           
OleDbDataAdapter da = new
OleDbDataAdapter("select username,password from login where username='"+txtuserName.Text +"' and password='"+txtpassword.Text +"' ",strcon );           
DataSet ds = new DataSet();           
da.Fill(ds);            
/* Do-Some Actions If User Is Authenticated*/            
if (ds.Tables[0].Rows.Count > 0)           
{                
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("Read");               
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("Announce");               
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Speak("Welcome:: " + uname, null);               
this.Hide();                
MainForm mf = new MainForm();               
mf.Show();               
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Hide(null);               
}            
else           
{             
/* Do-Some Actions If User Is Anonymus*/                
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Play("Announce");               
axAgent1.Characters["Merlin"].Speak("Sorry  You are Not Authorised
User::   "+ uname, null);            
}        
}
 private void btncancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)       
{           
txtpassword.Text = "";           
txtuserName.Text = "";       
}

Finally The Form Looks As Follows

After Succesful Login it displays MainForm.cs

 MainForm.cs

Place One DataGridview and LinkLabel (assign  Property Text=Logout )On The Form

Design Table and Fill Some Data As Follows

3)     Filll The Data As Follows

Write Code as Follows In Global Declarations and Form_Load Event as Well As LinkLabel_Click Event and Import Oledb Namespace

 

//Import Namespace

  using System.Data.OleDb;

 //Blobal Declarations
OleDbConnection strcon = new OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data
Source=myDataBase.mdb");
 //Form_Load 
 private void MainForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)       
{          
 OleDbDataAdapter da = new OleDbDataAdapter("select * from dept",strcon );           
DataSet ds = new DataSet();           
da.Fill(ds);           
dataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables[0] ;           
}
 //Under Logout Button
 private void linkLabel1_LinkClicked(object sender, LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs e)       
{           
this.Hide();        
}

 5)     Finally The Screen Looks as Follows

6)     Please Make Sure That Place Project Code In A separate Folder [MyFolderName=”MerlinSetUpProject”]

Part - 2 of this article can be read from http://www.dotnetfunda.com/articles/article927-windows-setup-and-deployement-using-visual-studio--part--2-.aspx

Thank you