Deploying a Project

Deploying a project

To create a deployment package of a Studio project for use with the Runtime application, you can use the Studio deployment functions or MSBuild command line build process. A deployment package consists of a .openspan file and a .manifest file. The .openspan file contains is a compiled version of the project which contains all of the necessary assemblies and all translator files required for the project.

When using the Start functions (either Start Debugging or Start without Debugging) within Studio, the project is built and then the resulting files are run using the Runtime application installed with Studio.

Note: An important difference between the project runtime files created using the Start/Build functions and the Studio deployment functions is that the runtime file created using Start/Build does not contain all of the translators required for the project since these files are already in the application folder and were used during the design process. When creating a runtime version of the project using the Studio deployment functions, all required project files, including translator files, are included in the deployment .openspan file so that the project can be run on any Runtime workstation (which has access to the required applications to be integrated).

Deployment functions

The Studio deployment functions are:

Deploy the Project With Current Configuration – Creates a deployment package based on the Project Property tab settings (using the Configuration profile specified in the Application Configuration property, if applicable), and the Solution Configuration selected (Release, Debug, and so on).
Deploy the Project with All Configurations – Creates deployment packages based on the Project Property tab settings (for all Configuration profiles in the project, if applicable), and the Solution Configuration selected (Release, Debug, and so on).

Basic steps

After selecting either of these options, the Project Deployment window is displayed. For more information, see Project Deployment Dialog Fields. The steps below provide an overview for creating a deployment package:

For a simple deployment where the project has no Configuration Items, start by selecting the Release Solution Configuration.
Click the Deploy Project with Current Configuration button. The Project Deployment window is displayed.
Browse the Deploy to: location. Specify a folder to which you want the deployment package written. Typically this is a temporary location on your local computer from where you will copy the deployment files for distribution to the Runtime workstations. Click OK to continue.
When the deployment process completes without error this message is displayed: "Studio has Successfully deployed 'xyz' project." Click OK.
The project deployment package files are created and written to the Deploy To location.

For example, for the project DeployDoc.osproj, the deployment will create a deployment file and a manifest file:

DeployDoc.manifest – manifest
DeployDoc.openspan – deployment file

The manifest contains information about the project, such as the version number and a listing of the assemblies used by the project. The deployment file is an assembly file, such as DeployDoc.openspan, which is a compiled version of the project for use with the Runtime/Agile Desktop application.

Related information

Project Properties

Project Deployment Dialog Fields