Developed a program sometime ago to track Brisket, Pulled Pork, Ribs & . . . joints. Thought it was ready to go but it lacked an icon. So I spent the last couple of days trying to not only add an icon but also understanding the Setup Wizard in VS 2008. Thought that I exhausted all possibilities to find the way to deploy my little app by Googling just about every angle. Or so it seemed.
Here is what I learned:
Open the application that is to be deployed. Next click File, Add, New Project. On the left side of the user interface, open Other Project Types, click on Setup and Deployment. On the right side click Setup Wizard. When Next is clicked the user is presented with four radio buttons. I chose the top, default, choice 'Create a Setup for a Windows Application'.
The next window will present many choices, but the main one to be chosen is 'Primary Output for {project name}'. Click next. Now is the time to add any additional files such as a help file, database, icon or any other file that is needed for the application to be deployed. Once the wizard is completed additional files can be added by right clicking Application Folder on the left panel, Add, File. Find the file.
Next the icon that has been added to the project needs to be attached. I added two shortcuts with icons, one under 'Users Desktop' and the other in a separate folder under 'User's Programs Menu'.
Highlight 'User's Desktop' in the left panel. Go to the Properties Window, double click on AlwaysCreate to change the value to True. Next highlight 'User's Program Menu', right click and Add Folder. Name the folder. While the folder is highlighted, go to the Properties Window and change the value for AlwaysCreate.
Highlight 'Application Folder' in the left panel. The files that were added using the wizard appear in the right panel. Highlight and right click 'Primary Output from {project name} (active)' and choose 'Create shortcut . . .'. Hit Enter. Now is the time to rename the shortcut. No need for a suffix. Just 'Abc Program'.
After renaming the shortcut, go to the properties window and find Icon. On the right side, click on the down arrow, Browse. In the Select Item in Project, Look In, click the down arrow and select Application Folder. Double click on the icon. Click OK. Now, in the right panel of the File System folder, highlight the icon and drag it to the 'Users Desktop' folder.
Next, go through the same process for 'Users Programs Menu'.
Hope this has helped. If you need to ask questions, click here, fill in the boxes and I'll get back to you.
