You start Package and Deployment Wizard by choosing it from the Add-Ins menu,
as shown earlier in Figure 21.1 in this chapter under the section titled
"Using
Package and Deployment Wizard to Create a Setup Program".
Package and Deployment Wizard’s first screen (shown in Figure 21.2) enables
you to choose what you wish to do.
-
Package. This option is the main focus of this chapter. It
enables you to create a setup package—that is, a compressed set of files
and other necessary information for your application to run in a desktop or network
environment. A setup package also includes all the auxiliary executable and information
files needed to "unpack" the package and install it correctly on another
system.
-
Deploy. This option helps you ready an already created package
for distribution. See the discussion of deployment later in this chapter under
the section titled "Deploying Your Application."
-
Manage Scripts. This option enables you to save, rename, or
delete Package and Deployment scripts. These scripts are just records of the options
that you choose when using the Package and Deployment Wizard to create a package.
Package and Deployment Wizard will manage a file with extension .PDM containing
various scripts for your project in the folder where the project’s VBP file
resides. By saving those options in a Package and Deployment script, you can use
them over again in the future to set up the same project or others like it.
FIGURE 21.2 The first screen of the Package and Deployment Wizard
To continue with packaging, you would choose the first option: Package.
NOTE - Prompts to Save and Compile : At this
point, Package and Deployment Wizard will sense whether your project has been
saved and compiled and will prompt you if you have not saved or compiled. If you
receive prompts asking you to save and compile, you may just answer "yes" to the
prompts, wait a few instants, and then proceed.
