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Figure 34-15
This screen tells you what you are installing (the Default Web Site) as well as the name of the virtual
directory created for the deployed Web application. The consumer can feel free to change the name of
the virtual directory in the provided text box. A button in t his dialog allows for an estimation of the disk
cost (space required) for the installed application. In .NET 3.5, the installer also allows the end user to
choose the application pool he or she is interested in using for the application. The next series of screens
install the
WebSetup1
application (shown in Figure 34-17).
After the application is installed, you can find the
WebSetup1
folder and application files located in the
C:
\
Inetpub
\
wwwroot
folder (within IIS). The application can now be run on the server from this location.
Uninstalling the Application
To uninstall the application, the consumer has a couple of options. First, he can relaunch the
.msi
file and
use the option to either repair the current installation or to remove the installation altogether (as shown
in Figure 34-18).
The other option is to pull up the Add/Remove Programs dialog from the server’s Control Panel. On the
Control Panel, you see
WebSetup1
listed (as shown in Figure 34-19).
This dialog holds information about the size of the installed application and, if you are using Windows

XP, it will also show you how often the application is used. Also, if you are using Windows XP, clicking
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Chapter 34: Packaging and Deploying ASP.NET Applications
Figure 34-16
the support link pulls up the Support Info dialog, whichshowstheproject’spropertiesthatyouentered
a little earlier (see Figure 34-20).
However, if you are using Windows Vista, you can get at the same information by right-clicking on the
column headers and selecting the More option from the provided menu. This gives you a list of options
(shown here in Figure 34-21), providing the same information as what you can see in Windows XP.
From the Add/Remove Programs dialog, you can remove the installation by clicking the Remove button
of the selected program.
Looking More Closely at Installer Options
The Windows Installer service easily installs a simple ASP.NET Web application. The installer takes care
of packaging the files into a nice
.msi
file from which it can then be distributed. Next, the
.msi
file takes
care of creating a virtual directory and installing the application files. The installer also makes it just as
easy to uninstall the application from the server. All these great services are provided with very little
work on the user’s part.
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Figure 34-17
Figure 34-18
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Figure 34-19
Figure 34-20
Even though this approach addresses almost everything needed for an ASP.NET installer program, the
setup and deployment project for Web applications provided by Visual Studio really provides much
more in the way of options and customizations. This next section looks at the various ways you can work
with modifying the installer program.
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Figure 34-21
Working with the Deployment Project Properties
You can work with the project properties of the installer from Visual Studio in several ways. The first
way is by right-clicking the installer project from the Solution Explorer of Visual Studio and selecting
Properties from the menu. This pulls up the WebSetup1 Properties Pages dialog shown in Figure 34-22.
This dialog has some important settings for your installer application. Notice that, like other typical
projects, this setup and deployment project allows for different active build configuration settings. For
instance, you can have the active build configuration set to either Release or Debug. You can also click on
the Configuration Manager button to get access to configuration settings for all the projects involved. In
addition, this dialog enables you to add or remove build configurations from the project.
The Output File Name
The Output File Name setting lets you set the name of the
.msi
file that is generated. By default, it is the
name of the project, but you can change this value to anything you want. This section also allows you t o
modify the location where the built
.msi
is placed on the system after the build process occurs.
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Figure 34-22
Package Files
The Package files section of this properties page e nables you to specify how the application files are
packaged in the
.msi
file. The available options include the following:
❑ As loose, uncompressed files: This option builds the project so that a resulting
.msi
file is
created without the required application files. Instead, these application files are kept separate
from the
.msi
file but copied to the same location as the
.msi
file. With this type of structure, you
must distribute both the
.msi
file and the associated application files.
❑ In setup file: This option (which is the default option) packages the application files inside the
.msi
file. This makes distribution an easy task because only a single file is distributed.
❑ In cabinet file(s): This option packages all the application files into a number of cabinet files. T he
size of the cabinet files can be controlled through this same dialog (discussed shortly). This is an
ideal type of installation process to use if you have to spread the installation application over a
number of DVDs, CDs, or floppy disks.
Installation URL
Invariably, the ASP.NET applications you build have some component dependencies. In most cases, your
application depends on some version of the .NET Framework. The installation of these dependencies,
or components, can be made part of the overall installation process. This process is also referred to as
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bootstrapping. Clicking the Prerequisites button next to the Installation URL text box gives you a short list
of available components that are built into Visual Studio in order to bootstrap to the installation program
you are constructing (see Figure 34-23).
Figure 34-23
As you can see from when you first enter this settings dialog, the .NET Framework 3.5 and the Windows
Installer 3.1 options are enabled by default, and you check the other components (thereby enabling them)
only if your Web application has some kind of dependency on them.
From this dialog, you can also set how the dependent components are downloaded to the server where
the installation is occurring. The options include downloading from Microsoft, from the server where the
application originated, or from a defined location (URL) specified in the provided text box.
Compression
The Windows Installer service can work with the compression of the application files included in the
build process so that they are optimized for either speed or size. You also have the option to turn off all
compression optimizations. The default setting is Optimized for Speed.
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CAB Size
The CAB Size section of the properties page is enabled only if you select In Cabinet File(s) from the
Package Files drop-down list, as explained earlier. If this is selected, it is enabled with the
Unlimited
radio button selected. As you can see from this section, the two settings are
Unlimited
and
Custom
:
❑
Unlimited

: This selection means that only a single cabinet file is created. The size of this file is
dependent on the size of the collection of application files in the Web application and the type of
compression selected.
❑
Custom
: This selection allows you t o break up the installation across multiple cabinet files. If the
Custom
radio button is selected, you can enter the maximum size of the cabinet files allowed
in the provided text box. The measure of the number you place in the text box is in kilobytes
(KB).
Additional Properties
You learned one place where you can apply settings to the installer program; however, at another place in
Visual Studio you can find even more properties pertaining to the entire installer program. By selecting
the
WebSetup1
installer program in the Solution Explorer, you can work with the installer properties
directly from the Properties window of Visual Studio. The following table lists the properties that appear
in the Properties window.
Property Description
AddRemoveProgramsIcon
Defines the location of the icon used in the Add/Remove
Programs dialog found through the system’s Control Panel.
Author
The author of the installer. This could be the name of a
company or individual.
Description
Allows for a textual description of the installer program.
DetectNewerInstalledVersion
Instructs the installer to make a check on the installation server
if a newer version of the application is present. If one is

present, the installation is aborted. The default setting is
True
(meaning that the check will be made).
Keywords
Defines the keywords used when a search is made for an
installer.
Localization
Defines the locale for any string resources and the runtime user
interface. An example setting is
English (United States)
.
Manufacturer
Defines the name of the company that built or provided the
installer program.
ManufacturerUrl
Defines the URL of the company that built or provided the
installer program.
PostBuildEvent
Specifies a command line executed after the build ends.
PreBuildEvent
Specifies a command line executed before the build begins.
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Property Description
ProductCode
Defines a string value that is the unique identifier for the
application. An example value is
{885D2E86-6247-4624-
9DB1-50790E3856B4}

.
ProductName
Defines the name of the program being installed.
RemovePreviousVersions
Specifies as a
Boolean
value whether any previous versions of
the application should be uninstalled prior to installing the
fresh version. The default setting is
False
.
RestartWWWService
Specifies as a
Boolean
value whether or not IIS should be
stopped and restarted for the installation process. The default
value is
False
.
RunPostBuildEvent
Defines when to run the post-build event. The default setting
is
On successful build
. The other possible value is
Always
.
SearchPath
Defines the path to use to search for any files, assemblies,
merge modules on the development machine.
Subject

Allows you to provide additional descriptions for the
application.
SupportPhone
Specifies the support telephone number for the installed
program.
SupportUrl
Specifies the URL by which the end user can get support for
the installed a pplication.
TargetPlatform
Defines the target platform of the installer. Possible values
include
x86
,
x64
,and
Itanium
.
Title
Defines the title of the installer program.
UpgradeCode
Defines a shared identifier that can be used from build to
build. An example value is
{A71833C7-3B76-4083-9D34-
F074A4FFF544}
.
Version
Specifies the version number of the installer, cabinet file, or
merge module. An example value is
1.0.1
.

The following sections look at the various editors provided to help you build and customize the construc-
tion of the installer. You can get at these editors by clicking the appropriate icon in the Solution Explorer
in Visual Studio or by choosing View ➪ Editor in the Visual Studio menu. These editors are explained
next.
The File System Editor
The first editor that comes up when you create your installer program is the File System Editor. The File
System Editor enables you to add folders and files that are to be installed on the destination server. In
addition to installing folders and files, it also facilitates the creation of shortcuts. This editor is shown
in Figure 34-24.
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Figure 34-24
The File System Editor has two sections. The left section is the list of folders to be installed during the
installation process. By default, only the Web Application Folder is shown. Highlighting this folder, or
one of the other folders, gives you a list of properties for that folder in the Properties window of Visual
Studio. The following table details some of the properties you might find in the Properties window.
Property Description
AllowDirectoryBrowsing
Allows browsing of the selected directory in IIS. The default
value is
False
.
AllowReadAccess
Specifies whether the selected folder should have Read access.
The default value is
True
.
AllowScriptSourceAccess
Specifies the script source access of the selected folder. The

default value is
False
.
AllowWriteAccess
Specifies whether the selected folder should have Write access.
The default value is
False
.
ApplicationProtection
Defines the IIS Application Protection property for the selected
folder. Possible values include
vsdapLow
,
vsdapMedium
,and
vsdapHigh
. The default value is
vsdapMedium
.
AppMappings
Enables you to define the IIS application mappings for the
selected folder.
DefaultDocument
Defines the default document of the selected folder. The
default value is
Default.aspx
.
ExecutePermissions
Defines the IIS Execute Permissions property. Possible values
include

vsdepNone
,
vsdepScriptsOnly
,
vsdepScriptsAnd-
Executables
. The default value is
vsdepScriptsOnly
.
Index
Specifies the IIS Index of this resource property for the selected
folder. The default value is
True
.
IsApplication
Specifies whether an IIS application root is created for the
installed application. The default value is
True
.
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