First Project For SetupBuilder Users

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The SetupBuilder Build Report

SetupBuilder users enjoy a high degree of automation in SetupCast.

To enable this automation you need to link your SetupCast project to the relevant SetupBuilder projects. In the current revision of SetupCast and SetupBuilder, this is done via the SetupBuilder HTML Build Reports. In the future plans are for direct linking between the two programs.

Note: In a SetupCast project that has multiple installer types, each installer type will need to be linked to the relevant SetupBuilder project.

When building a new SetupCast project you will normally start with the full installer (or the web installer if needed) and then add support for the other installer types as needed.

If your full installer or web installer has a web update associated with it, SetupCast will automatically detect this association and enable that feature. Then when you have the web update installer available you simply add it to the existing SetupCast project.


The SetupBuilder Build Report is created after you click the Compile button in SetupBuilder and a successful compilation of your project has completed.




Now that you know where the SetupBuilder Build Report comes from you can continue with this tutorial.

Creating the new SetupCast project

Note: to keep things simple for your first project, only the relevant fields on the screens that follow will be discussed in this Quick Help Guide. See the regular help for detailed information.


After you click Yes to the prompt that your project is SetupBuilder related you will see a file dialog box where you can select the relevant SetupBuilder Build Report.

Note: SetupCast knows where the SetupBuilder projects are saved by default and the file dialog box opens to that folder. If you are using a different location you can change the default in the SetupCast Program Settings.



To find the SetupBuilder Build Report, double-click to drill down into the folder that has the same name as your SetupBuilder project. In this example we will use a test project for a product named FirstProject.

The SetupBuilder Build Report will have the same filename as the project and folder, but an .htm file extension as shown here:



To select the Build Report, just click the filename to select it, then click Open.


The next step is to provide a name for your SetupCast project. By default SetupCast will use the same name as that of your SetupBuilder project as shown here:



Since you do not need to change the name of our SetupCast project just click Save to continue.


SetupCast will automatically process the SetupBuilder Build Report and create a new SetupCast project that matches the type of installer and web update options.

Then it will open to the open to the General Settings screen of the Project Profile as shown here:



What just happened?

From the SetupBuilder Build Report, SetupCast gathered the following data and made these assignments:

·	The name of the SetupBuilder Project file was used as the Shared Product Name (name of your software product).

·	The version was used as the Shared Release Version

·	The date was used as the Shared Release Date

·	The SetupCast project was marked as having its files created by SetupBuilder

·	A SetupBuilder Full Installer was detected and that type of content generation was enabled in SetupCast

What do you do next?

There are two other things that you need to do for the First Project tutorial.
Enable the publishing of the installer files and add some release notes.


Publishing Installer Files

SetupCast has the ability to publish the actual files for your installers as well as the content that it generates. To enable this feature check the box on this screen and the same setting will be enabled by default for each content type selected. You can also leave this box unchecked and selectively enable it on a "per installer type" basis.

To configure SetupCast so that it publishes the installer files along with the generated content later in this Quick Help Guide, check this box.



Adding Release Notes

Release Notes are a way for you to enter information that the end user can read on your website before downloading the installer or running the web update.

Note: We plan to add a new type of SetupCast content for publishing called "Version History" in a later release that will automate the creation and publishing of changes and feature additions. This will be published as a separate form of generated content from the release notes.


When you click the Release Notes sidebar menu option SetupCast displays this screen where you can manage shared release notes as shown here:



Note: The release notes that you enter in the Project Profile are "Shared Information". This means that they will be the same release notes that are displayed with each different installer type for this project. You do have the ability to override the release notes for any installer type and enter different or additional information there if needed.


What do you do next?

The next step of creating your new SetupCast project is to review the data gathered for each installer type and preview the generated content. SetupCast has a "Live Preview" so you can see exactly what the generated content will look like before you publish it.

Remember that the "First Project" project in this example only has one installer type - Full Installation.

In a project with multiple installer types or with additional generated content (such as a RSS feed), a separate menu option is displayed for each item.



Reviewing Specific Generated Content
Since a Full Installation was selected in the Project Profile, a new menu option for it appears below the Project Profile menu.



Next, review the Full Installer Specific Details for SetupBuilder users.

Note: There are other menu selections in the Project Profile but they are outside the scope of this part of the tutorial. Some will be discussed in the section on publishing your project, the others are covered in the main help file.