Installation without Frustration

[Archie]

There are many methods of deploying your completed project. The one I recommend and use myself is to copy the complete solution to the PC and create a shortcut to the EXE found in the \bin  folder (debug or release depending on how you have Visual Studio setup). I will then move the shortcut to the Startup menu. This is commonly referred to as XCOPY deployment.

This solves the biggest problem to the next person that must maintain or modify the HMI by keeping the full source code with the executable easy at hand. Nothing more frustrating than wanting to make a simple modification and not being able to find the source code.

[Archie]

An additional benefit to this method of deployment is that it fully complies with the licensing.

[georgegraz]

Archie,
This is exactly what I want to do. Right now I over write the previous one. What doo you mean by Complete solution? Is this a folder?
Thanks
George

[Archie]

What do you mean by Complete solution? Is this a folder?

The .sln file and the 4 folders (AdvancedHMI, AdvancedHMIControls, AdvancedHMIDrivers, AdvancedHMIcs)

[needhmi]

The app loads up fine and looks fine graphically when I do an XCOPY deployment as described in this thread, but it seems to prevent the datalogger21 function from working.  It does not create a .csv data log file in the folder it is programmed for.  This function does work somewhat when I install it (creates a .csv file at least). 

I'm making sure the "FileFolder" value is set correctly for the computer I am deploying to, and the ModbusRTUCom1 driver seems to be working fine.

[Archie]

The app loads up fine and looks fine graphically when I do an XCOPY deployment as described in this thread, but it seems to prevent the datalogger21 function from working.  It does not create a .csv data log file in the folder it is programmed for.  This function does work somewhat when I install it (creates a .csv file at least). 

I'm making sure the "FileFolder" value is set correctly for the computer I am deploying to, and the ModbusRTUCom1 driver seems to be working fine.

It sounds like you are trying to log to a directory the application does not have access to. Try putting ".\" in file folder and see if it creates a file in the same directory as the executable.

[needhmi]

Yes that works Archie, thank you very much!   The "\" doesn't stay in there, just the "." (without the quotes).  A little buried for some to find but a solid work around until I can figure out if I can build a menu to change the default save location.