Redistribution

See also: Deploy Tutorial

Applications developed using KernelCAD ActiveX Controls will run on other machines without requiring DInsight license. The license is needed on the application development stage, when the in a dialog or form containing the control is opened.

Determine which KerCAD*.ocx your application uses and add it to your setup project. The easiest way to do that in Mocrosoft Visual Studio is to run the application in debug mode and search the Output window for .ocx name. For .NET application most likely it will be KerCADn*.ocx . Use the Dependency Walker utility on your applications exe file if the previous method is not appropriate. The utility can also help identifying any missing dlls.

KernelCAD components depend on a number of Dynamic Link Libraries from Microsoft and KernelCAD Runtime files. They all must be present on the target machine for the component to work. When some of the files are missing the application, which uses KernelCAD quite often will not start without any messages. Installation process which redistributes KernelCAD components may also fail because the component registration will not be possible.

To redistribute KernelCAD Runtime files add all content of the Bin folder of the KernelCAD installation directory, excluding .exe files, to your setup project.

KernelCAD depends on: C++ Runtime librarries and MFC library for Visual Studio 2008. It is importatnt to install this particular version of the librraies.

There are several ways to create an installer for KernelCAD components:

Redistributing via Precompiled Installer

This is the easiest approach. To install KernelCAD components execute KernelCAD_Runtime_4_2.exe provided in Redist folder of the installation directory on the target computer prior installation of your application. It can be added as a prerequsite and automatically executed by the application's installer.

Specific to Microsoft Vusual Studio: If you are using a Visual Studio Setup and Deployment project, to create a single-step installer add  KernelCAD_Runtime_4_2.exe to the list of installed files and in the Custom Actions Editor add a custom action using the .exe to the Install step.

Redistributing via KCRedist.msi

This method is slightly more flexible, but requires some preparation. Briefly, to install the runtime this way copy whole contents of Redist\DISK1 folder to the target computer and execute the setup.exe. Various third party utilities provide means to convert contents of the folder into an easy downloadable self-extracting executable.

Note: DISK1 folder is a copy of the Release folder created during compilation of the Samples\Deployment\VisualStudio\KCRedist Microsoft Visual Studio setup and deployment  project. This provides a way to further customise the installer. Notice the Visual C++ prerequisite added to the project. (Project node in project explorer > Properties > Prerequisites in Visual Studio). Samples\Deployment\KCRedist contains similar project for InstallShield installer creation software.

Note: When redistributing a .NET application, which uses kernelCAD, you might get an error "Failed to register KernCADne.ocx" or similar. This often happens with Visual Studio Setup and Deployment projects because Visual Studio automatically adds KernCADne.ocx next to the executable which uses it. In addition to that KernCADne.ocx is instaled by the runtime. So there is a duplication. The solution is to remove the automatically added KernCADne.ocx from the deployment project. Visual Studio does not allow doing it directly. To bypass this select the file and in properties panel select "Exclude".

Generic installation

To install the librraies execute vcredist_x86.exe provided in the Redist\vcredist_x86_VS08 folder of the KernelCAD installation directory on the target computer before installing and registering KernelCAD components. It is recommended to add this step as a prerequisite for the installation process. It can be aded automatically in Visual Studio Setup and Deployment projects or Install Shield projects. See below for details. Other installer creation software should have similar facility.

Redistributing using Microsoft Visual Studio

Visual Studio Setup and Deployment projects allow simple way of adding prerequisite step for the installer: Select the setup project in the solution explorer. In the context menu (right click) select Properties. Click Prerequsites button The dialog displays prerequisites available for this version of Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2008

As KernelCAD is built using Visual Studio 2008 just turn on the "Visual C++ Runtime Libraries (x86)" check box and click OK.

Visual Studio other than 2008

To make the correct prerequisite available in the prereqisites window close Visual Studio. Copy vcredist_x86_VS08 folder from Redist subdirectory of the KernelCAD installation directory to the folder where Visual Studio searches for installed bootstrapper packages. For Visual Studio 2005 it is the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\ folder. For Visual Studio 2010 it is the  C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages folder. For other versions of Visual Studio location of bootstrapped packages directory can be determined on a 32 bit operating systems from Path value under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\GenericBootstrapper\ key in the registry. On a 64 bit systems look at the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\GenericBootstrapper key.

After the above, the prereqisites window should have "Visual C++ 2008 Runtime Library (x86)" option. Select it. Clear any other "Visual C++ Runtime .." options if your application does not depend on it.

Redistributing using InstallShield

The prerequisite will appear in the Application Data > Redistributables view. Turn on the check box next to it to add to the current installer