How to: Create a package manifest

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac

To deploy prerequisites for your application, you can use a bootstrapper package. A bootstrapper package contains a single product manifest file but a package manifest for each locale. Shared functionality across different localized versions should go into the product manifest.

For more information about product manifests, see How to: Create a product manifest.

Create the package manifest

To create the package manifest

1. Create a directory for the bootstrapper package. This example uses C:\package.

2. Create a subdirectory with the name of the locale, such as en for English.

3. In Visual Studio, create an XML file that is named package.xml, and save it to the C:\package\en folder.

4. Add XML to list the name of the bootstrapper package, the culture for this localized package manifest, and the optional license agreement. The following XML uses the variables DisplayName and Culture, which are defined in a later element.

   <Package
       xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/2004/01/bootstrapper"
       Name="DisplayName"
       Culture="Culture"
       LicenseAgreement="eula.txt">
   

5. Add XML to list all the files that are in the locale-specific directory. The following XML uses a file that is named eula.txt that is applicable for the en locale.

   <PackageFiles>
     <PackageFile Name="eula.txt"/>
   </PackageFiles>
   

6. Add XML to define localizable strings for the bootstrapper package. The following XML adds error strings for the en locale.

     <Strings>
       <String Name="DisplayName">Custom Bootstrapper Package</String>
       <String Name="CultureName">en</String>
       <String Name="NotAnAdmin">You must be an administrator to install
   this package.</String>
       <String Name="GeneralFailure">A general error has occurred while
   installing this package.</String>
   </Strings>
   

7. Copy the C:\package folder to the Visual Studio bootstrapper directory. For Visual Studio 2010, this is the \Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages directory.

Example

The package manifest contains locale-specific information, such as error messages, software license terms, and language packs.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Package
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/2004/01/bootstrapper"
  Name="DisplayName"
  Culture="Culture"
  LicenseAgreement="eula.txt">

  <PackageFiles>
    <PackageFile Name="eula.txt"/>
  </PackageFiles>

  <Strings>
    <String Name="DisplayName">Custom Bootstrapper Package</String>
    <String Name="Culture">en</String>
    <String Name="NotAnAdmin">You must be an administrator to install this package.</String>
    <String Name="GeneralFailure">A general error has occurred while
installing this package.</String>
  </Strings>
</Package>

See also

• Product and package schema reference