4 replies to this topic

[shippy]

I am using the Visual Studio.NET installer projects. It seems like you can only have one "defaultfeature" feature when using these projects. Is there any way to have more than one feature? For example, I have 3 merge modules and I'd like each to be considered a different feature.

Thanks!

[Stefan Krueger]

Windows Installer by itself supports multiple features and subfeatures. However this functionality is not exposed by VS.NET so you would have to use Orca or a VBScript to modify your msi file in a post build step. Alternatively you can use one of the full featured authring tools that are available.

[shippy]

Thank you for your reply. In reference to your comment, are there any standard VBScripts out there that do things like this? Perhaps ones that come with the SDK?

The main reason I want to try to use Visual Studio.NET's installer features as opposed to something like InstallShield is because the application I am deploying is VS.NET based and I have found that it is not possible to have more than one InstallShield project in a VS.NET solution at the same time. Maybe there are others out there who are using InstallShield with .NET applications and are having an easier time?

[Stefan Krueger]

I don't know of a VBScript in the SDK which will do exactly this. You would have to use one of the sample scripts that modify the .msi and change it to your needs (modify the Feature and FeatureComponents tables).

(P.S. InstallShield is planning to add support for multiple projects in one solution)

[shippy]

Thank you. I'll keep my eyes open for the multiple project support. I think I would definitely use InstallShield once the feature is added.