Sorry if this question sound weird. I am only now thinking about having an application that could use an installer.
I grew up on PC DOS where all of the app’s file were very visible. I store all of that stuff in a Documents folder.
I have learned enough to know my app’s stored data goes in Appdata, but that is about all I know.
What do I need to do? Of course that is besides copying files and using Tim Parnell’s TPSF?
Are there books (or files) out that explain the little details of getting an app ready for release?
If you’ve defensively programmed your app to set itself up on first launch you won’t need to do anything special for a Windows installer.
I know you’re working with a language learning app, so let’s say it comes bundled with a SQLite database that has the language setup in it or something. Use a CopyFiles step to copy the database into your app’s resources when you build. When your app launches use TPSF to check for the existence of the app data folder, and set it up if necessary. This would include copying the database out of resources into the app data location so it can be read from and written to. Once the app data folder is set up, installation is done!
That’s the process on Mac, it’s kind of like the app installs itself. If you set up your app to do the same process for Windows, your installer won’t have to. It should be as simple as duplicating the CopyFiles step and adding it to the Windows build steps.
You could make the installer create your app data folder and place the database if you so choose. For a simple situation though, having different processes for Mac and Windows just doesn’t have any advantage in my opinion.
I’m not sure if there are any books on the process for preparing an app for distribution, I thought there was a guide somewhere but I’m not seeing it looking quickly in the documentation. Maybe someone will know 
Thank you very much. Tim. I was hoping it was something as simple as you write.
I haven’t tried to learn SQLite. It’s a goal. I roll my own right now.
I too thought there was a guide. Maybe that’s in past versions.