VS 2005 Setup Projects: Deploy Many Projects With

Question

I have 3 projects in my solution that I want to deploy. Is there a nice and quick way of using Visual Studio's setup projects to deploy all three apps using one MSI and letting the user decide which apps he wants to install during the install process?

I have setup projects for the 3 individual apps, I also have an overarching setup project that has the output of those other three projects. Am I on the right track or is there a better way?

Answer 1

I think you want to use the Windows Installer conditions. They are explained in this Walkthrough on MSDN. Go down to the section labeled: To add the samples to the installer

Answer 2

OK, this is what I ended up doing. I build my three MSI and then a small splash screen app that gives a checkbox for each app. When the user clicks install on that splash screen it calls msiexec using the /qb- option to present a minimized install on all the selected applications in sequence.

I then use SFX Compiler to package my splash screen app and the three installers all together, and then the splash screen will show up after extraction.

Answer 3

You can try Wix to create your installer. There's WixUI_FeatureTree and WixUI_Mondo which are GUI options that are designed to allow users to customize the features that are installed when the package runs.

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/install/WixTutorial2.aspx