How to: Deliver a private .NET runtime

Users' PCs have no .NET 10 Desktop Runtime, and the IT does not install it; the application - for example an Access application with WKL Forms Object Library - should still run.

Requires WKL Bootstrapper 2.0 (project file format 2).

• The delivery brings a .NET runtime per bitness in dotnet\x86 and dotnet\x64 of the source.
• A files entry per bitness copies it to [WklRoot]\Dotnet\<release>\<bitness>, that is %LOCALAPPDATA%\WKL\Dotnet\<release>\<bitness>. <release> is the product version of its dotnet.exe without a build id.
• start.environment hands the folder to the started program: DOTNET_ROOT(x86) for 32 bit, DOTNET_ROOT for 64 bit. The .NET host of the program, and of the WKL components loaded into Access, then finds the runtime there.
• The template dotnet of /new-project writes both entries; see How to: Create a project from templates.

1. Fill the delivery. Copy a .NET 10 runtime of each bitness into the source: the content of an installed .NET folder (%ProgramFiles(x86)%\dotnet for 32 bit, %ProgramFiles%\dotnet for 64 bit) - dotnet.exe and the folders host and shared - into dotnet\x86 and dotnet\x64:

   <delivery>
     app-manifest.json, Customers.accde
     components\x86, components\x64
     dotnet\x86\dotnet.exe, host\..., shared\...
     dotnet\x64\dotnet.exe, host\..., shared\...

2. Write the project file, or let /new-project ... /template access,components,dotnet write it. The entries for the runtime are:

   {
     "files": [
       { "id": "dotnet-x86", "source": "dotnet\\x86", "target": "[WklRoot]\\Dotnet\\[ItemVersion]\\x86", "bitness": "x86", "versionOf": "dotnet.exe" },
       { "id": "dotnet-x64", "source": "dotnet\\x64", "target": "[WklRoot]\\Dotnet\\[ItemVersion]\\x64", "bitness": "x64", "versionOf": "dotnet.exe" }
     ],
     "start": {
       "environment": [
         { "name": "DOTNET_ROOT(x86)", "value": "[Dir:dotnet-x86]", "bitness": "x86" },
         { "name": "DOTNET_ROOT", "value": "[Dir:dotnet-x64]", "bitness": "x64" }
       ]
     }
   }

   With a private runtime the project needs no condition of kind dotnet; remove one that asks for an installed Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 10.0.

3. Check and try it: Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe /check bootstrapper.json, then /whatif bootstrapper.json.

• Only the runtime of the project's bitness is installed (bitness of the project; by default that of Microsoft Access, and of Windows when no Access is installed).
• The runtime folder is shared and counted: every product delivering the same release uses one copy, which stays until the last product version using it is removed. A newer release goes into a folder of its own beside it.
• Limitation: the variables reach only programs the starter starts. Access opened in any other way - from the database file, from the start menu, by automation - and Office UserForms that use the WKL components do not find the private runtime; they need a runtime installed for the computer.
• The installed version keeps the variables, so a start without the source sets them too.
• A private runtime is supported for 32-bit and 64-bit Access on 64-bit Windows; 32-bit Windows is not supported.

• The project file (format 2) - files, start.environment, placeholders
• How to: Create a project from templates
• How to: Start any program with the starter
• The .NET 10 Desktop Runtime is missing (code 33)
• WKL Bootstrapper