Setup_Stacky Documentation#

1. Overview#

Setup_Stacky is a WPF-based GUI utility designed to streamline the management of StackyNG workspaces View Readme . It replaces manual command-line configuration with an intuitive Windows interface, ensuring workspaces are structured consistently and launching them is as simple as clicking an icon.

Key Features#

  • Directory Orchestration: Automatically initializes new stack directories and prepares them for application shortcuts.
  • Config Management: Generates a standard stacky.json configuration file, which serves as the “brain” for how StackyNG handles applications within that stack.
  • Shortcut Automation: Automatically generates a properly configured Windows Desktop shortcut (.lnk) that points to your stacky.exe and passes the stack directory as an argument.

2. Technical Workflow#

The application gathers user input through its WPF front-end and executes the following logic:

  1. Validation: Verifies that the target workspace directory exists (or creates it) and confirms the provided stacky.exe path is valid.
  2. JSON Generation: Creates a base stacky.json file inside your workspace. The “Force” option ensures existing configurations are updated to the current schema to prevent corruption.
  3. COM Integration: Utilizes the WScript.Shell COM object—the same robust engine used by professional installers—to create fully compliant Windows shortcuts.
  4. Parameter Mapping: Sets the shortcut TargetPath to stacky.exe and maps the Arguments property to your selected folder path, ensuring correct workspace initialization on launch.

3. Build & Setup Guide#

Prerequisites#

  • OS: Windows 11.
  • SDK: .NET 10.0 SDK.
  • Compiler: Visual Studio 2026 (or 2022) with the “Desktop development with C++” and “.NET desktop development” workloads.
  • Dependencies: Windows Script Host Object Model (COM).

Automated Environment Setup#

If setting up a fresh build machine, use one of the following methods:

Using Chocolatey#

# Install Build Tools
choco install visualstudio2022buildtools -y
choco install visualstudio2022-workload-manageddesktopbuildtools -y
choco install visualstudio2022-workload-nativedesktop -y

Using Winget#

# Install .NET SDK 10.0
winget install Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.10

# Install Build Tools
winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools --override "--passive --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktopBuildTools"

Build Instructions#

From Visual Studio IDE#

  1. Open Setup_Stacky.slnx in VS2026/2022.
  2. Select the Release configuration.
  3. Build the solution (Ctrl+Shift+B).

Automated via Build.ps1#

The project’s orchestrator script, Build.ps1, automatically builds the GUI utility and deploys the necessary runtime files (.exe, .dll, .deps.json, and .runtimeconfig.json) to the dist\Tools directory.

  • Standard Build: Run .\Build.ps1 -BuildTools to build all project components.
  • Clean Build: Run .\Build.ps1 -Clean to remove all previous bin, obj, and dist artifacts before rebuilding.
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