I am running VB.NEt(2003). I have a solution with 2 projects - the True project and the Setup project. User documentation is in a Help directory which contains 29 htm, bmp, and ico files. A year ago, both projects were fine and Setup project successfully deployed to several computers. I've completed some maintenance to the True project, which compiles and tests OK in Debug mode. When I change to Release mode, the Setup project will not compile. It seems to make no difference whether I click Build or Rebuild for either the Setup project or the Solution. Sometimes I get this error message C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO_Setup\VAQSO_Setup.vdproj Could not find file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Tools\Deployment\.\MsiRedist\1033\MsiLoadr.Bin' 'Interface not registered' Note the \.\ in the middle. The file & path (without the period) exist. Usually I get this error message C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO_Setup\VAQSO_Setup.vdproj Could not find file 'C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO\bin\Help\Clear.ico' 'Interface not registered' This file and path also exist. This file is in the Setup project in a directory under the Application Folder. I can make this error go away in three steps. 1-Delete the entry from the Setup project. 2-Rename the file on my hard drive. 3-Add the renamed file back into the Setup project. Usually this works on this file, but then another file in the same folder will come up missing the next build. I figure I've busted a setting someplace, but I have no idea which one. This is the only VB project I maintain so I'm on thin ice here. Any ideas why the compiler is behaving this way? Thanks --HamCoder

I am running VB.NEt(2003). I have a solution with 2 projects - the True project and the Setup project. User documentation is in a Help directory which contains 29 htm, bmp, and ico files. A year ago, both projects were fine and Setup project successfully deployed to several computers. I've completed some maintenance to the True project, which compiles and tests OK in Debug mode. When I change to Release mode, the Setup project will not compile. It seems to make no difference whether I click Build or Rebuild for either the Setup project or the Solution. Sometimes I get this error message C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO_Setup\VAQSO_Setup.vdproj Could not find file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Tools\Deployment\.\MsiRedist\1033\MsiLoadr.Bin' 'Interface not registered' Note the \.\ in the middle. The file & path (without the period) exist. Usually I get this error message C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO_Setup\VAQSO_Setup.vdproj Could not find file 'C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO\bin\Help\Clear.ico' 'Interface not registered' This file and path also exist. This file is in the Setup project in a directory under the Application Folder. I can make this error go away in three steps. 1-Delete the entry from the Setup project. 2-Rename the file on my hard drive. 3-Add the renamed file back into the Setup project. Usually this works on this file, but another file in the same folder will come up missing the next build. I figure I've busted a setting someplace, but I have no idea which one. This is the only VB project I maintain so I'm on thin ice here. Any ideas why the compiler is behaving this way? Thanks --HamCoder

I found that Pen/Pencil/Paper was the most flexible in class or the lab. I could jump all over the page and correct an item or add something I had missed when the professor went off on a tangent. Every afternoon/evening I would type my class notes on to cheap yellow paper and add any formulas by hand. (I was a math and econ major.) My typed notes were significantly better than the class notes because I was able to expand my notes to include much more detail (from memory) than I had had time to write. I was typing on a Smith-Corona portable typewriter. The computer we used was an IBM 1620 with 16K of core (ram). Good luck in school. HamCoder

Does Jordon have an archive of her daily missives? I found the Newsletter archives and Jordon's Staff Page/Blog. Specifically, I need the links from yesterday to the CSS/PHP/etc site that sounds like 'proselytize'. Thanks HamCoder

Back in the good ol' days (dark ages) when real programmers used punched cards, all printout was mono-spaced. We didn't use proportional fonts; we didn't even HAVE proportional fonts. It was easy to make a report mock-up, convert it to fixed positions on the page, and convert that to code (COBOL, Fortran, ASM, whatever). Now, I'm trying to put together a report with vanilla VB.Net code, not Crystal Reports or anything like that. Now, everything is trial-and-error. I add a couple of items to the page, and run a test. Then I add a couple more and repeat the cycle. I'm thinking that there has to be an easier way. I've found lots of code that writes to the printer. But I've not found any references that explain how to shorten the trial-and-error cycle. I am using PrintPreview, so I'm not taking the time and trees to actually print the report. But the testing cycles are still too time-consuming. When the boss brings you a sheet of paper with a report scribbled on it, how do you make a pretty report with a minimum of fuss. Thanks for the help. This is definitely in the category of teaching an old dog a new trick. HamCoder

Thanks. I thought I had checked that. It turned out to be the Upgrade GUID that was identical. Once I had the IDE generate a new one, it worked just fine. --HamCoder

I started with a solution with two projects. 1=VAQSO (the true project) and 2=VAQSO_Setup (the deployment project). It took a while to get the deployment project correct, but help from Code Project finally got it working. By the time the production cycle finished, VAQSO was at release 06.12.03 Next I cloned the solution. I copied the entire solution directory to a new directory and changed all the code so that VA became WV. Now I have WVQSO and WVQSO_Setup. Both programs and both installers run well, with one exception. Both programs will not install on the same PC. If VAQSO is installed on a PC, then WVQSO will not install. I get an error message about a prior version existing. If I uninstall VAQSO, the WVQSO will install without error. Obviously, I've still got a VA reference in the WV clone. How do I find it? I've run a scan on all the text files in the solution and nothing shows up. Thanks for the help. --HamCoder

I have a Solution (Sol_1) in its own directory with a regular project (Proj_1) and a deployment project(Proj_1_Setup). Each of the projects in its own directory and the directory name is the same as the project name. Then I needed to create a copy of the entire solution, rename the projects and the directories. I copied the Sol_1 directory to Sol_2. Then I started the VS IDE and used the Solution Explorer to rename the solution (Sol_2) and both projects (Proj_2 and Proj_2_Setup). That left me with a Sol_2 directory containing a Proj_1 sub-directory which contains a Proj_2 project. I also have a Proj_1_Setup sub-directory which contains a Proj_2_Setup project How do I safely rename the Proj_1 and Proj_1_Setup sub-directories without fouling up all internal places where the VS IDE keeps track of this stuff? FWIW, I'm using Visual Studio 2003 and the application uses VB.Net. Thanks. --Andy, WV8AA

Thanks for the help guys. The links from ProgLoad were great. I re-built the installer last night in just over an hour. Johnny, the install isn't too complicated. A single EXE in a sub-directory under Program Files with the Help files in a sub-directory under that. The data files are in two directories (Data and Backup) under Documents & Settings. One of my problems was managing the project properties, which aren't where I expected them. --HamCoder

Can someone please point me to some good references that will tell me how to control a Visual Studio deployment project? Through trial-n-error, I just spent more than a day building my first deployment project. The biggest problem/frustration was getting the files to go into the 'right' directories. I've got at least a half dozen VB.Net books. Only the college text book mentions deployment in any detail, but it's working with some simple examples. I've got lots of questions and I can probably dig out most of the answers if there is a good book or web site out there about deployment projects. Thanks for the help. You can reply here on the board or via e-mail to CP@lastnamesoftware.net. --HamCoder Andy Arnold, WV8AA