This article relates to discontinued products, but is retained for the benefit of our customers with existing licenses. For current information, please see Support Policy for RDK, BDK, EDK, and RODK.

KB Article: Redistributing Developer Kits for .NET Applications

Applies to:

• BestFit Developer Kit (BDK) 4.1

• Evolver Developer Kit (EDK) 4.1

• @RISK Developer Kit (RDK) 4.1

• RISKOptimizer Developer Kit (RODK) 4.1

Overview
This article explains how to redistribute the Developer Kits (DKs) for use with .NET applications. The information is adapted from the DK Redistribution Instructions.rtf, which also ships with the Developer Editions of the DKs.

All Developer Kits provide ActiveX (COM) interfaces. For .NET developers, each DK includes a Primary Interop Assembly (PIA) that allows the ActiveX interface to be used from the .NET environment via COM-to-.NET Interop.

By default, DK installation does not place files into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). However, Palisade provides all files required to do so.

Redistribution Options

Option 1: Install the PIA Manually into the GAC

You may use your own installer to place the required files into the .NET Global Assembly Cache on the target system.

• On the development computer, the PIA file is located in the Palisade\System folder.

  • Example (RDK): Palisade.RdkPia.dll

• The publisher policy files are located in:

  Redistribution Demo\GACDeployment\PublisherPolicyFiles\4.1.2
  

Your installer should copy both the PIA and the corresponding publisher policy files into the GAC.

Option 2: Use the Supplied MSI Installer

As an alternative, Palisade supplies a small MSI installer that installs the required PIA and policy files automatically.

Requirements:

• Windows Installer

• .NET Framework

Since modern .NET Framework installations include Windows Installer, these requirements are typically already met.

Location of MSI files:

Redistribution Demo\GACDeployment

For convenience, the following files are also provided with this article:

• RDKPIA.msi – for the @RISK Developer Kit (RDK)

• RODKPIA.msi – for the RISKOptimizer Developer Kit (RODK)

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Silent Installation Example

MSI packages can be installed from the command line. For example, to install the RDK PIA silently:

msiexec /I "C:\TEMP\RDKPIA.msi" /q

For additional options, see Microsoft documentation on Windows Installer command-line options.

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Integration with Your Installer

Either redistribution method—manual GAC installation or MSI-based installation—can be integrated into your own application installer, depending on your deployment requirements.

 

Related Article:
RDK Deployment on Citrix/Terminal Services

Attachments:
RDKPIA.msi
RODKPIA.msi
DK Redistribution Instructions.rtf