DG Kernel Documentation

The deployment method described below is flexible, but more involved, a manual kind of way to redistribute DG Kernel. You might find a simpler method described in Redistribution

This tutorial demonstrates steps required to distribute an application which uses DG Kernel components. The tutorial is based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The project can be opened with an automatic upgrade with later versios of Visual Studio. With adjustments for different user interface the same steps are required when using different installer creation software like Install Shield.

The installer will install MiniCAD.exe from the MiniCAD sample. It is a native C++ application. If an application uses .NET version of components KerCADe.ocx below must be replaced with KerCADne.ocx with relevant adjustments of names in registry etc.

A copy of the completed project is available in Samples\Deploy folder. The completed project is based on 32 bit DG Kernel product.

File System

In Microsoft Visual Studio select File > New > Project. In the New Project dialog expand "Other Project types" in the left panel and select "Setup and Deployment"
In the right-hand side panel select "Setup Project". Select location for the project at the bottom and type "Deploy" for the name.
When the project is created Visual Studio opens File System window. It can be closed and re-opened using icons on top of the Solution Explorer.
Select "Application Folder" in the File System window and select Action > Add > File in menu. Browse to the installation folder of DG Kernel, which is C:\Projects\DgKernel_6_0 by default
Select MiniCAD.exe. Press Open. The MiniCAD.exe will appear in the right hand side panel of the File System window.
In the same manner add all files, except the ones with .exe extension from DgKernel_6_0\Bin folder of the DG Kernel installation directory to the Application Folder. Use Ctrl+a to select all files. Hold the control key and deselect any files which need to be excluded.
Add RegAll.exe located in DgKernel_6_0\Bin directory to the Application Folder
The whole "data" subfolder of DgKernel_6_0\Bin has to be added to the installation too without any change. Use right-click > Add > Folder option to create data folder and its subfolders. Add its contents.
Right-click the added KerCADe.ocx and select "Properties Window". Make sure that Register property in Property Window is vsdrfDoNotRegister. Repeat the same for KerCADne.ocx
If there are two copies of KerCADne.ocx (a duplicate can be automatically incorrectly added by Visual Studio) select one of them and delete. If deletion does not work select the file and its properties change Exclude to true
Select Application Folder in the left hand pane of the File System window and in context menu select Add > Folder. Change name of the folder to Models. The name can also be changed using the Properties Window. Add new Samples sub folder to the Models folder in the same manner.
Add MiniCAD.mdg from Models\Samples folder of DG Kernel directory to the Models\Samples folder of the target directory
Add Gen.ico file located in DgKernel_6_0 to the Application Folder
In the Solution Explorer of the Visual Studio select the Deploy top item. If the properties window (View > Properties Window) click at the end of the AddRemoveProgramIcon line and in the appeared dialog browse to the Gen.ico
If you are using 64 bit DG Kernel change TargetPlatform property of the project to x64
Change the remaining properties of the project as appropriate
Select User's Programs Menu folder in File System window. Right-click into right hand pane and select "Create New Shortcut". Select MiniCAD.exe in the dialog and press OK. Change name of the shortcut to MiniCAD. In the properties window change the Icon property to Gen.ico similar to the above
Make sure that the active configuration is Release (Builld > Configuration Manager). Select Build > Rebuild solution. The files located in the Deploy\Release folder are the files to be deployed to the target computer

Registration And DirectX

To register the installed controls on the target machine:

Select the Deploy project in Solution Explorer of Visual Studio and press Custom Actions editor icon on top of the Solution Explorer window
In the opened Custom Actions editor right-click on the Install stage and select Add Custom Action.
In the opened dialog browse and select RegAll.exe. Rename the appeared item to RegAll
With the RegAll item selected open properties window and replace contents of the Arguments property with KerCADne.xreg KerCADe.xreg
In the same manner add UnRegAll custom step to Uninstall stage. The action should use the same RegAll.exe. The Arguments property should be the same, apart from the /u switch: /u KerCADne.xreg KerCADe.xreg
In the Custom Actions Editor add another custom action to the Install stage. When prompted Browse to the Application Folder\Bin\DirectX9_43 and select DXSETUP.exe. Name the action DirectXSetup. Set /silent as its Arguments property

Locating model on target computer

Enabling EmbeddedModel property of the control allows bundling the required model into compiled executable file. With this option there is no need for adding MiniCAD.mdg and Models folder to the target file system.

Another method to point an installed application to required model file is the <EXEPATH> modifier of the ModelPath. In our case MiniCAD application would have to be recompiled with ModelPath changed to <EXEPATH>Models\Samples\MiniCAD.mdg. In this case <EXEPATH> would be interpreted on the target machine as location of MiniCAD.exe, which is the target folder

In this particular case ModelPath of the control in MiniCAD sample is set to Models\Samples\MiniCAD.mdg, so by default the MiniCAD application looks for the MiniCAD.mdg model in Models\Samples folder of DG Kernel installation directory, which is not expected to be installed on the target computer.

To avoid recompilation of MiniCAD we will demonstrate yet another method:

Select Deploy node in Solution Explorer and click on Registry Editor icon on the top of the window
In the opened Registry window Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key. and select Software key. Select New > Key from background menu. Change name of the key to DInsight. Continue in the same manner to create HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DInsight\KerCADe\5.2
Select the added 5.2 key and in context menu select New > String Value. Change name of the value to InstallDir. Select the InstallDir node and in Properties window change Value property to [TARGETDIR] with the brackets included.

Above will store the installation path of your application chosen by the user into InstallDir string and the control will find it there at runtime.

C++ Runtime libraries

To add Microsoft's C++ dependencies:

Download DgRedist_6_0.zip (DgRedist_x64_6_0.zip for 64 bit installer) from download page and extract it into DgRedist_6_0 folder in a temporary location
Right-click DeployModule project in Solution Explorer of Visual Studio and select Add>Merge Module. Browse and select the two Microsoft*.msm files in the DgRedist_6_0 folder. They will appear in Solution Explorer of Visual Studio

Installer titles and properties

Select Deploy node in solution explorer and change ProductName property in Properties Window to "MiniCAD v1.0"
Change Title property to "MiniCAD v1.0 Setup"

Building and testing

Make sure that the active configuration is Release via Build > "Configuration Manager" menu option of Visual Studio
Build the project with Build > Build Solution. Make sure that there are no errors in the output window
The Deploy.msi and setup.exe created in Release folder is the output of the project. To make sure the application works without DG Kernel it is recommended to copy the two files to another machine or uninstall DG Kernel temporary
Run setup.exe to install the application. Select MiniCAD in Start menu to test the application.
Uninstall the MiniCAD application using "Add or Remove Programs" from Control Panel