Deploying Your Solutions

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Solution deployment is the act of moving your packaged solution to either the distribution media you have chosen or to a Web site from which it can be downloaded. There are two ways you can deploy your Office solution:

• You can use the Deployment portion of the Package and Deployment Wizard to deploy your solution to floppy disks, a local or network drive, or to a Web site.

• You can manually copy files to disks or shares, or you can manually publish files to the appropriate Web location.

The Package and Deployment Wizard provides shortcuts and automatically performs some of the same tasks you would have to perform if you manually deployed your solution.

Deploying to Floppy Disks, Directories, and CDs

You can deploy to floppy disks using the Package and Deployment Wizard only if you have created your package using the Multiple Cabs option. This option ensures that your package consists of multiple .cab files or of a single .cab that is smaller than the size of a disk. The system gives you the option of formatting each disk before you copy your .cab files to it. You do not have to format the disk, but you must use empty disks for this deployment process.

If you choose to deploy to a directory, the system prompts you to pick a local or network directory into which your files will be copied. You can then either direct your users to access the setup program for your solution from that location, or you can move your files onto CD-ROMs.

Note   If you have a writeable CD-ROM drive, you may be able to copy your files directly to that drive using the deployment portion of the wizard, rather than deploying to a directory and then copying the files to your CDs.

Deploying to the Web

You can deploy any package to the Web using FTP. When you choose Web Publishing as your deployment method, the system considers the project folder to be the local base folder for your deployment. The local base folder is used to determine how files and directories should be copied to the Web site you choose. Files and directories that are within the local base directory will be deployed to the Web server with the same directory structure as the base directory.

Note   By default, the wizard does not deploy source files from within the project directory or the \Support subdirectory. The packaging portion of the wizard creates the \Support directory and places files in it that can be used to recreate your .cab files.

****For more information   ****For more information about deploying Office solutions, see Chapter 2, "" in the Microsoft Office 2000/Visual Basic Programmer's Guide.

The Deployment Process

Whether you deploy your packages with the Package and Deployment Wizard or by hand, there are certain steps that must be taken.

• Create a package for deployment.   This can be either a single .cab file or a series of .cab files, depending on how you plan to distribute the solution.

• Identify the package you want to deploy.   You can choose any valid package for the selected project.

• Choose a deployment method.   You can deploy your solution to the Internet, to floppy disks, or to a directory on a local or network drive.

• Choose the files to deploy.   If you are deploying to the Internet, you can add files to and remove files from the list of files to be deployed.

• Determine the destination for deployed files.   For Internet deployment, this involves specifying a Web site to which the package should be deployed. For directory deployment, this means indicating the drive location to which the package should be deployed. For floppy disk deployment, this means choosing the appropriate floppy drive.

• Deploy your package.   If you are using the Package and Deployment Wizard, the wizard handles this process for you. If not, you must copy the files to the appropriate locations on your shared or local drive or publish your files to the Web.

To deploy your packaged solution

1. Access the Visual Basic Editor from the Office product in which you created the component.

2. Launch the Package and Deployment Wizard from the Add-Ins menu.

   Tip   If you have not previously run the Package and Deployment Wizard, you may need to access the Add-Ins Manager to make it appear on the Add-Ins menu. Start the Add-Ins Manager, then select the Package and Deployment Wizard, and select the Loaded\Unloaded option. For more information, see Accessing Office 2000 Developer Tools.

3. On the main screen of the wizard, click Deploy.

4. Continue through the wizard until you have set the necessary options for your file, then click Finish.