Deploying GXextensions

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To deploy GXextensions to a GeneXus installation you can use the Visual Studio "Build Events" option in conjunction with the Updater Utility to copy the necessary files when a successful build finishes. By specifying a custom build event, you can automatically run commands before a build starts or after it finishes.

Your GXextension needs a .xml (Catalog.xml default value) with the list of resources to be copied.

Then, you need to call the Updater Utility in the Post Build Event command line detailing the .xml files and some extra parameters such as the GeneXus Target Folder.

Sample

Suppose the following Catalog.xml file is included in your GXextension project:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Projects>
    <Project Name="NewObject" Location=".">
        <File Name="NewObject.dll" Target="Packages" />
        <File Name="NewObject.pdb" Target="Packages" />
    </Project>
</Projects>

The output of your Solution is the NewObject.* files. The Catalog.xml file details to copy two files to a relative Packages folder.

Make sure to set the following on the Visual Studio | Project | Build Events | Post Build Event command line option:

"$(GX_SDK_DIR)\Tools\Updater" ..\..\Catalog.xml ..\..\ "$(GX_PROGRAM_DIR)"\ $(Configuration)
"$(GX_PROGRAM_DIR)"\Genexus /install

After the build succeeds, NewObject.* files will be copied ton the GeneXus installation detailed in the variable $(GX_PROGRAM_DIR) using the Updater executable and a /install operation is executed to register the new component in the Genexus installation folder.

Notice the associated sample output:

1>------ Build started: Project: NewObject, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
1>  NewObject -> C:\gx\gxxev2u6s\SDK\SDKBase\Samples\NewObject\bin\Debug\NewObject.dll
1>  Configuration:Debug
1>  Copying '..\..\.\bin\Debug\NewObject.dll' to 'C:\gx\gxXev2u6s\Packages'
1>  Copying '..\..\.\bin\Debug\NewObject.pdb' to 'C:\gx\gxXev2u6s\Packages'
1>  Total files copied: 2
1>  Errors: 0
========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 8 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

Run the associated GeneXus (C:\gx\gxxev2u6s\genexus.exe) and the new component will be available.