How to: Deploy Solution Files Manually (2003 System)

  • Article

Applies to

The information in this topic applies only to the specified Visual Studio Tools for Office projects and versions of Microsoft Office.

Project type

  • Document-level projects

Microsoft Office version

  • Microsoft Office 2003

For more information, see Features Available by Application and Project Type.

If you choose not to use the Publish Wizard, or if the person doing the deployment does not have access to the Publish Wizard, you can copy all of your Visual Studio Tools for the Office system 3.0 document-level customization files to the deployment destination manually.

For information about deploying application-level add-ins, see Deploying Application-Level Add-Ins (2003 System).

There are two main models for manually deploying document-level customizations:

  • You can enable versioning by duplicating the method that the Publish Wizard uses. This method uses deployment manifests and application manifests on a server to identify current versions of the solution, and downloads updated assemblies to each end user automatically. Older versions of the solution can be kept on the server and used as necessary.

  • You can simply copy the document and assembly to their deployment locations without the manifests, and update the document to point to the assembly. To update an assembly, you replace the existing version with the updated one.

Deployment Using Manifests on a Server

Using this method, you must create an application manifest and deployment manifest for the solution manually. If you use the Publish Wizard, the manifest files are created for you. For more information, see How to: Deploy Solution Files Using the Publish Wizard (2003 System).

To deploy solution files with manifests

  1. Build the release version of your solution.

  2. At the deployment destination, create one directory folder to hold the document and the deployment manifest.

  3. Create another folder inside the document folder to hold the assemblies and the application manifest. Include the version number of the main project assembly in the name of the folder so that you can keep track of code updates, for example \ExcelApplication1_1.0.0.0. Whenever you update the assembly code, you should create a new assembly folder with the new version number.

  4. Create an application manifest for the solution, and place it in the assembly folder at the deployment destination. For more information, see Application Manifests for Office Solutions (2003 System).

  5. Create a deployment manifest, and place it in the document folder at the deployment destination. For more information, see Deployment Manifests for Office Solutions (2003 System).

  6. Copy the assemblies from the project's output folder to the assembly folder at the deployment destination.

  7. Update the application manifest that is embedded in the solution document to point to the deployment manifest location. For more information, see How to: Change the Path to the Deployment Manifest Programmatically (2003 System).

  8. Copy the solution document from the project's output folder to the document folder at the deployment destination.

  9. Grant full trust to the main project assembly, and grant the appropriate level of permissions to all referenced assemblies. Depending on your deployment model, you might also need to grant full trust to the document. For more information, see Deployment Models (2003 System) and Security Requirements to Run Office Solutions (2003 System).

Deployment without Manifests

To deploy solution files without manifests

  1. Build the release version of your solution.

  2. Modify the application manifest that is embedded in the document so that it points to the final deployment location of the assembly. By default, the application manifest uses a relative path to point to the directory that the document is in. For more information, see How to: Update Application Manifest Assembly Paths Programmatically (2003 System).

  3. Copy the document and the assembly to their deployment destinations on end user computers or on servers. For more information, see Deployment Models (2003 System).

  4. Grant full trust to the main project assembly, and grant the appropriate level of permissions to all referenced assemblies. Depending on your deployment model, you might also need to grant full trust to the document. For more information, see Deployment Models (2003 System) and Security Requirements to Run Office Solutions (2003 System).

See Also

Tasks

How to: Deploy Office Solutions (2003 System)

How to: Deploy for Offline Use of Documents (2003 System)

Concepts

Deploying Office Solutions (2003 System)

Secure Deployment (2003 System)

Deployment Models (2003 System)

Deploying Document-Level Customizations (2003 System)

Deploying Application-Level Add-Ins (2003 System)