Prepare the distribution

This section describes how to distribute the necessary Engine files with your application developed using this CSDK. The conditions under which you can redistribute these files are described in the licensing section included in the CSDK documentation.

The Distribution Wizard is a separate executable which you can use to collect distribution file sets. Because it collects the files from the CSDK installation folder, it always gets the latest installed content, so if you have any patch or point release installed, the file set collection will reflect this updating.

To distribute an application, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the proper checkboxes in the Select API section of Distribution Wizard according to the interface you use.
    InterfaceOptions to select
    RecAPI interface, Simple text output, Native RecAPI (Page oriented, Kernel API)
    RecAPI interface, Simple text output, .NET RecAPI .NET Support (P / Invoke for Kernel API and API Plus)
    RecAPI interface, Formatted output, Native RecAPIPlus (Multipage, formatted output extension)
    RecAPI interface, Formatted output, .NET RecAPIPlus (Multipage, formatted output extension) and RecAPI .NET Support (P / Invoke for Kernel API and API Plus)
    IPRO interface, Without Visual toolbox, Native IPRO (COM Interface)
    IPRO interface, Without Visual toolbox, .NET IPRO .NET Support
    IPRO interface, With Visual toolbox, Native Visual Toolbox (Active X control extension for IPRO)

    The Distribution Wizard is a utility program you can use to collect the required file set for your application. The file set also contains a file named DistributionWizard.LOG that lists the selections used for the file set generation. Note that this log file contains data you may not want to distribute. There is a utility program called DISTR_TST, which is also copied to the Destination Folder. This utility serves to check the availability of modules. This executable is not needed to run your application.

  2. In Select Technologies section, you can select the recognition technologies your application uses. Select the desired technology or any of their sub-components where applicable, then click Go!

    You can find a short description of the currently selected items in the Description field.

  3. Remove unnecessary files.

    The selection and deletion of the Engine files helps you create an Engine configuration that fulfills the needs of your application.Superfluous files have two disadvantages:

    • These files are unused and require additional space on the hard disk (for example, each language dictionary file size ranges from 300 to 800 Kbytes and Standard Page Parse needs 20 MB).

    • The Engine requires more initialization time, since most of the dynamiclink libraries (DLL files, DLN files, DLC files, and so one) residing in the Engine Binary directory are loaded and have their versions checked.

  4. Create the installer.

    You can use any of the generally accepted installer wizard software; just make sure that you include:

    • Your application executable and prerequisites

    • OCR binary file set and prerequisites (see DistributionWizard.LOG )

    Note As a final result, the Destination Folder contains the compiled Engine file set. Those are the necessary binary files of the Engine that you have to copy together with your application. The DistributionWizard.log file contains important instructions in the Hints section about the Microsoft merge modules and executables that your installer software should build into your installer.