I'm creating a GUI in order to launch a batch file which then kicks off a Powershell script. The GUI compiles fine and everything works great, however when I go to deploy the file it doesn't actually include any of the empty directories my script relies on.
How can I add empty directories to be included in my published VB form during install?
I don't think you can. Why don't you just do
If Not Directory.Exists(dir) Then
Directory.Create(dir)
End If
for each directory? I would create a list of directories over which to enumerate and run this each time the application is run.
You can always use the post build step to either create the directories you need or do other logic that your program may need such as run a batch file or power-shell script
See the example below. It will create a directory Test in the output directory where the .exe is placed.
Related
I’m setting up an automated build in VSTS that will FTP the published files to my server.
I have this working but the way I’ve achieved it, I feel is hacky and non-sustainable.
the process as you can see from the screenshots will publish the artefact which consists of a readme, cmd file and a zip containing all my publish files and then I extract the ZIP with the very explicit location below.
$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)\temp\Content\d_C\a\1\s\IntermittentBug\IntermittentBug\obj\Release_EukHosts\Package\PackageTmp
I’m using a hosted build server in VSTS but as the path contains
d_C\a\1\s\
I assume this will change in time. What I need is a variable to cater for this path so it will always succeed.
How can I update this to make it more efficient and sustainable?
First, as jessehouwing said that the variable is called Build.SourcesDirectory.
Regarding the path structure, the simple way is specifying /p:PackageTempRootDir="" msbuild argument in Visual Studio Build task to remove the source path structure, then the path will be like Content\D_C\PackageTmp.
On the other hand, you also can publish the web app through File System mode.
This variable is caught in a predefined variable called Build.SourcesDirectory. see the complete list of predefined variables here.
In your batch or powershell scripts this variable is available as a environment variable called %BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY% / $env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY.
I'm trying to create an updater for my app in VB.NET, No, I do not want to use clickonce, it sucks because I have to deal with managing self signed certs etc.
I know the code to check for new update files:
http://pastebin.com/ZjYBWABu
I also know the code for specifying where those files download to, the issue is I dont want to just download 1 .exe...I want to download all the latest build files which I would have uploaded to my server, which i would have taken from my Bin\release folder of my project.
Then when the updater downloads the files to a directory, it would go to the directory of the application, and somehow overwrite/replace all the files that have changed...maybe by using a hash or something?
I do not know how to proceed with this. What I do know is this.
The updater and the main app would have to be separate so that the updater could do the replacing while the app is closed so it doesn't get file in use errors. After the updater app has finished it would then start up the main app from the new exe.
Would appreciate help here thank you guys.
I am currently working on a project for which I have to implement a similar approach for updates. The project is lengthy, it would take some time to finish. But this is how I have planned to apply the updates:
There will be two main parts of the application Launcher (main application program) and Updater (To download files from server and replace them with the new ones and then launch the new file)
The application will have the option to manually check for update and also to check for update on startup.
If an update is available, it asks the user to apply the update now or later.
If the user selects to apply the update now then Updater application is executed in a separate process and then Launcher application is closed from within the code in Launcher. I have following approaches in my mind to launch another program from within first one and then exit:
Execute the Updater directly from within the Launcher using Process.Start
If that causes problem then as second approach launch command prompt from Process.Start, execute another program (Updater) from command prompt, close the command prompt and then exit the Launcher.
The Updater application then downloads all the relevant files from the server and upon completion old application files are replaced with the new ones.
Update availability information from server will include the new Version_No of application. For the purpose of providing all files for update, I will compress (zip) all of them in a single file named as Application.Version_No (as given by the server).
Upon download completion decompress (unzip) them to a folder named as the same Application.Version_No.
After decompressing all the files in this (Application.Version_No) folder will be copied to the Bin folder of application.
The new application Launcher file is executed in a separate process and Updater application is closed from within the code in Updater.
I have NOT yet tried this scenario as currently my focus is on completing the main application, but surely this must work.
UPDATE:
Another approach to check for updates is to use a bootstrap like application startup. It will be the main entry point of the program. Upon execution it will check for the updates and if there is none the Launcher is executed otherwise it will download the files, replace the old ones and then execute the new / updated Launcher.
For copying / overriding the files
One approach is to include only those files in the compressed (zip) file which are required to be replaced with the old ones and then after the download completes, either directly decompress them to the Bin folder or decompress them to a designated folder and then copy all of them to the Bin folder.
As another approach which seems somewhat lengthy, an additional helper file (XML, text or any other format) could be prepared for the download.
This helper file contains information of updated files like version number of each file, location where these are to be copied etc.
The files may be downloaded to a specific folder named as the new application version.
After downloading all the required files to a specific folder process each file mentioned in the helper file. Compare version of every old file with the new downloaded file. If it is latest then replace it in the folder mentioned in the helper file.
As another step in between all the downloads may be verified prior to copying and replacing.
Built an updater that ships with a daemon. Main project here:
https://github.com/UVLabs/dotNetUpdatify
There should be a way to eliminate the use of the daemon, if i figure it out i will update.
I have a project that need to run in a pen drive, the content is updated daily, and i need a automated way to generate a single file (.exe) to be downloaded by users.
I use this tool https://github.com/mllrsohn/node-webkit-builder, but when build for windows, the build generate multiple files ( dlls, dat ,exe ).
This break my automation because the content need to be downloaded (single file).
Any help?
As far as I know, it can't. You could try making a 7zip SFX archive and running your own program instead of an installer.
This needs to create temporal files when run (which are deleted when the program quits) and I don't think you can remove the initial prompt. If you're okay with that, it might be what you need.
Edit: You can get the necessary SFX modules here.
I am trying to zip the contents of a Folder in SSIS, there are files and folders in the source folder and I need to zip them all individually. I can get the files to zip fine my problem is the folders.
I have to use 7.zip to create the zipped packages.
Can anyone point me to a good tutorial. I haven't been able to implement any of the samples that I have found.
Thanks
This is how I have configured it.
Its easy to configure but the trick is in constructing the Arguments. Though you see the Arguments as static in the screenshot, its actually coming from a variable and that variable is set in the Arguments expression of Execute Process Task.
I presume you will have this Execute Process task in a For Each File Ennumerator with Traverse SubFolders checked.
Once you have this basic setup in place, all you need to do is work on building the arguments to do the zipping, how you want them. A good place to find all the command line arguments is here.
Finally, the only issue I ran into was not providing a working directory in the command line arguments for 7zip. The package used to run fine on my dev environment but used to fail when running on the server via a SQL job. This was because 7zip didn't have access to the 'Temp' folder on the SQL Server, which it uses by default as the 'working directory'. I got round this problem by specifying the 'working directory as follows at the end of the command line arguments, using the -ws switch:
For e.g:
a -t7z DestinationFile.7z SourceFile -wS:YourTempDirectoryToWhichTheSQLAgentHasRights
I am writing an application in VB.NET. In the app, I have a function which calls a Powershell script and places the resulting information in a text box.
I have two issues:
How to I ensure that when my app is published, the powershell script is included?
How do I reference the script in my code?
Currently, I simply give my function the full path to the script, which is in a folder on my Desktop. Obviously, this will not work once I deploy the app to other computers.
You will need to create a Setup project to get your script in place on your target system.
A first step is to change the Build Action to Content and Copy to Output Directory to Copy always.
Your Setup project can pick up the script from the VB app build result and put it in place when installing your app.
As for your question concerning the user configurable install path: The easiest way to handle this would be to add registry entry containing the selected program file path and have your app read the path from there.