Visual Basic Blog

A group blog from members of the VB team

How do I deploy an application and its prerequisites? (Mary Lee)

Let me count the ways: xcopy, ClickOnce, Windows Installer (.msi), Windows Installer XML, Group Policy, Active Directory, Systems Management Service or System Center Configuration Manager, login scripts, CD, USB drive, and many more third-party software options. Despite the many options, one common requirement is that applications typically ...

Tips and Tricks for Finding Information in the MSDN Library (Mary Lee)

When you have a question about how an API works, most of you will look in the MSDN Library.  There are some tips and tricks to finding what you need in this vast resource.  First of all, there are two main ways you can read the content in the MSDN Library. You can also use the MTPS Web service at http://services.msdn....

Installing the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as a Prerequisite (Mary Lee)

By now, you have heard of all the great new features in Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.  Now that you've developed your new applications, you want to include the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as a prerequisite in your Setup project or your ClickOnce installer.  The default deployment experience in VS2008 SP1 is to ...

Looking for Setup and Deployment Project Templates? (Mary Lee)

Let's say that you've developed an application using the free Visual Studio Express Edition. Now, you want to deploy your application to the masses, and you read documentation about How to: Create or Add Deployment Projects. Here's how the topic starts: To create a new deployment project In this example, I'm using Visual Basic 2008 ...