.NET Framework, COM and Excel Development

Using this method, you write an installer for your application, and include an installation of OPC Studio elements in it as well, step by step.

The installer for your application should contain following steps:

1. Check that prerequisites (in their proper versions), are installed, and if they are not, instruct the user to install them (or install them automatically).
2. Install OPC Studio assemblies to their target locations for your application. The assemblies should be taken from the output directory of your build tool. You must also include the .config file which contains the necessary binding redirections.
3. For COM development, perform additional actions (such as the assembly registrations) as described with the respective files in Installing COM Components and Type Libraries .
4. Perform any steps needed to install your own application.
5. Only when using OPC UA: While running with administrative privileges, execute your application with a special command-line switch that will cause it to call static EasyUAClient.Install method. This will create the client instance certificate, in accordance with settings of other static properties on the object (this step is only needed if you do not provide the client instance certificate in some other way). For more information, see Providing OPC UA Application Instance Certificate and OPC UA Certificate Stores.
6. If you are using a license key located in the Registry License Store, take care of the license key installation (this is described further down).

If you want the end user to install the license:

1. Install LicenseManager.exe  or LMConsole.exe (from Bin or Bin\x64).

2. If the application uses OPC Data Client, create an empty registry key
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Licensing\QuickOPC

   If the application uses OPC Wizard, create an empty registry key
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Licensing\OPCWizard

3. Offer the user an option to run the License Manager. 

The end user who deploys the application will then:

1. Run your installer and follow the steps.
2. Use the License Manager (GUI or console-based) and install the runtime license.

If the above described procedure for installing the license key (presenting the user with the License Manager utility user interface) does not fit the needs of your application, you can automate the deployment of the license as well. This can be done in two ways:

1. Directly - by writing information into the license store. For more information, see Direct License Deployment.
2. By using the LMConsole Utility (License Manager Console). Your installer will (at least temporarily) place the LMConsole.exe and the actual license key file on the disk, and then call the LMConsole utility with corresponding parameters on the command line.

The LicenseManager (GUI-based) and LMConsole (console-based) License Manager utilities are installed on the disk using the OPC Studio Setup program.

.NET 6+ Development

In .NET 6+, the major installation element is not an assembly, but rather a (NuGet) package, which may consist of multiple assemblies, differentiated by the target platform, and may depend on other packages.

The OPC Data Client or OPC Wizard license key needs to be stored inside your application in the Managed Resource License Store (the Registry License Store can also be used, but only on Windows). Consequently, there are no additional deployment elements or steps needed with regard to licensing, because the license key is already embedded in your project's assembly by the build process.

Only when using OPC UA: After deploying the assemblies, your installation may want to execute your application with a special switch that will cause it to call static EasyUAClient.Install method. This will create the client instance certificate, in accordance with settings of other static properties on the object. With the default settings, this step is optional, and the application will create the client instance certificate on the first run anyway. If you, however, change the location of the application certificate store to a store that requires administrative privileges for write access, you should use this approach (while running with administrative privileges) in order to assure that the client instance certificate is properly created. For more information, see Providing OPC UA Application Instance Certificate and OPC UA Certificate Stores.

.NET 6 or 8

In order to deploy your application developed with OPC Data Client or OPC Wizard for the .NET 6 or 8 runtime (on Windows, Linux, macOS or other operating system if supported), you can use either:

• Framework-dependent Deployment (FDD), or
• Self-contained Deployment (SCD).

Both these deployment types are described in Microsoft's article .NET application publishing overview. Applications developed with OPC Data Client or OPC Wizard do not have any special requirements or procedures needed above that.